Software giant Microsoft is extending the life of its highly popular Vista product and its replacement, Windows 7.

According to TechEye, without making much of an announcement, Microsoft has extended support for the consumer versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista by five years. This will mean that they will have the same lifespan of enterprise editions.

Microsoft told Computer World that it wanted to change its consumer operating system support policies, which until now had only been for five years. Business software had been supported for at least ten years with the first half in mainstream support, the second in "extended" support.

If a company is on extended support, they will get fixes if they have signed support contracts with Microsoft.

Vista's consumer editions were to be retired from support in less than two months, on April 10, 2012, now they will be kept alive until April 11, 2017.

Windows 7's consumer editions were to lose support on January 13, 2015, but now it will be supported until January 14, 2020.