Microsoft has once again backtracked on its decision to end support early for Skylake-based devices running Windows 7 and 8.1.

Microsoft controversially announced back in January that anyone still running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on a Skylake-based PC after July 17, 2017, would receive only "the most critical" security fixes - and these would only be released if they didn't "risk the reliability or compatibility" of Windows 7 and 8.1 on other (non-Skylake) systems."

In March, Microsoft pushed this date back a year to July 17, 2018, which still meant support would end earlier than for systems powered by its older Broadwell processors.

But today, the company is pushing the date back again to bring it in line with the support lifetime of Broadwell. January 14, 2020 is now the last day for Windows 7, and Windows 8.1 will be supported until January 14, 2023. This also applies to Windows Embedded 7, 8, and 8.1 devices.

"Enterprise customers are moving to Windows 10 faster than any version of Windows. At the same time, we recognize that, in some instances, customers have a few systems that require longer deployment timeframes. We listened to this feedback and today are sharing an update to our 6th Gen Intel Core (Skylake) support policy," wrote Microsoft director of Windows business planning, Shad Larsen, in a blog post.

The post also mentions that future Intel chips Kaby Lake and Bristol Ridge will only be supported on Windows 10.

Microsoft says the change is "to help our customers purchase modern hardware with confidence, while continuing to manage their migrations to Windows 10."