RIP Windows 7

Submission 9,194

Part of a series on Windows. [View Related Entries]

About

RIP Windows 7 refers to a series of memes referencing the end of support of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system.

Origin

On July 10th, 2014, Microsoft announced that the company would be ending mainstream support for the operating system on January 14th, 2020.^[1]

One of the earliest mentions of the phrase "RIP Windows 7" was published on the /r/softwaregore subreddit ^[2] on February 15th, 2018 in the thread "rip Windows 7 at a local Urgent Care" (shown below).

Spread

As the end-of-support date approached, memes about the end of the operating system grew in usage. On August 12th, 2019, Facebook ^[3] DankMemesGang shared a So Long, Partner meme about Windows 7. The post received more than 3,800 reactions, 645 shares and 400 comments in less than one year (shown below, left).

On January 14th, 2020, the date support ended, memers on /r/dankmemes shared Windows 7 memes en masse. Reddior^[4] oddzee shared an It Is Time To Go meme that references the operating system. The post received more than 42,000 points (92% upvoted) and 1,300 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, center). Redditor^[5] snnrsinx posted a John Is Kil meme about the OS. The post received more than 15,000 points in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

That day, the website StayHipp^[6] published a report on the meme.