Microsoft pulls the plug on Windows Vista

Microsoft is pulling the plug on Windows Vista, the operating system CEO Steve Ballmer launched in 2006.

More than 10 years since then, the tech-giant has finally decided to scrap the system.

The company announced the news in a blog post, "Microsoft has provided support for Windows Vista for the past 10 years, but the time has come for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources towards more recent technologies so that we can continue to deliver great new experiences.''

Windows Vista users will still be able to use the system, but Microsoft will no longer issue security updates, fixes or support, which would render the system vulnerable to attacks.

The operating system has had a difficult history since its launch, as the system was reported to contain a range of bugs, causing many users to remain on XP despite support for the operating system being stopped in 2014. The OS was subsequently replaced by Windows 7.

''If you continue to use Windows Vista after support has ended, your computer will still work but it might become more vulnerable to security risks and viruses,'' the blog further read.

''Internet Explorer 9 is no longer supported, so if your Windows Vista PC is connected to the Internet and you use Internet Explorer 9 to surf the web, you might be exposing your PC to additional threats.''

Vista's poor reputation had led many users to dump it years ago and according to analysts its market share among all desktop computer operating systems was less than 1 per cent. As against this, Windows 7, which Microsoft quickly released two years after Vista in 2009, was currently the most popular operating system in the world, used on roughly half of all PCs.

In fact, Vista was never able to gain a significant market share to begin with; as many Microsoft customers continued using reliable Windows XP for years.