The impending debut of Windows 10 near the end of next month will start the clock ticking toward a deadline in 2016 when Microsoft will stop selling Windows 8.1 at retail, and a 2017 shut-off of sales of new devices armed with the soon-to-be-forgotten OS.

According to a long-established policy called “end of sales,” Microsoft stops shipping an operating system to retailers one year after the launch of the OS’s successor, and mandates that OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) stop pre-installing the older edition two years after the successor’s release.

Those deadlines would signal an end to retail sales in 2016 — likely in October, a month Microsoft favors for the stoppages — and a close to new Windows 8.1 devices in 2017.

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