[leokennis]

They make sure enterprises can run Linux that doesn’t “suddenly” (read: with less than 2-3 years notice) break their critical workflows because some component loses support or some dependency reaches EOL - they do this by extended maintenance, backporting (security) patches to old versions, providing tailored support etc.

This is very valuable to enterprises and so they pay a lot for it.

For example, you can still run Red Hat 6 safely and securely until 2024; by that point Red Hat 8 will have been out for 5 years already.

[staz]

To save you a web search : Red Hat 6 was relased 6 November 2010. Roughly 1 year after Window 7, which ended support 2 weeks ago.

[KindOne]

Windows 7 went EOL in on Jan 14, 2020.

Are you talking about the Extended Security Update? That ends Jan 10, 2023.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-...