San Francisco, Aug 21: Microsoft has announced it would stop accepting new apps for Windows 8 from October 31 in an attempt to redirect the focus of app developers towards Windows 10.

Microsoft would stop delivering Windows 8-based phone and device app updates from July 2019 and 2023 respectively, Microsoft Store Team wrote in a blog post on Monday.

"After these dates, we will stop distributing app updates to Windows Phone 8.x or earlier and Windows 8 or 8.1 devices; at that time, updates will only be made available to customers using Windows 10 devices," the post added.

Even though the tech giant would put a halt to accepting new app submissions for Windows 8, the company claimed that this would not affect existing apps based on the earlier Windows version.

"We encourage you to explore how you can port your existing app to the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) where you can create a single Windows 10 app package that your customers can install onto all device families," the post added.

Last year, Microsoft had admitted that it had blocked Windows 7 and 8 updates on Intel's seventh generation Core i3, i5, Qualcomm's 8996 and other processors to "force" users to upgrade to Windows 10.

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Chandigarh (PTI): The Congress on Thursday announced candidates for eight of the nine Lok Sabha seats it is contesting in Haryana, fielding former Union minister Kumari Selja, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda and youth leader Divyanshu Budhiraja, besides two sitting MLAs.

The party has also fielded former MP Jai Prakash and leaders Satpal Brahmachari and Mahendra Pratap, according to the list released late Thursday evening.

The Congress is contesting nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. It has not yet announced its candidate for the Gurugram constituency.

The Aam Aadmi Party, a constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc, will contest the Kurukshetra seat.

Congress general secretary and former Union minister Selja will contest from the Sirsa (reserved) seat and sitting MLAs Varun Choudhary and Rao Dan Singh from the Ambala (reserved) and the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seats, respectively.

Deepender Hooda, son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will enter the fray from Rohtak. He has represented the Rohtak parliamentary constituency three times in the past.

Jai Prakash has been fielded from Hisar, the Congress' Haryana youth wing president Divanshu Budhiraja from Karnal, Satpal Brahmachari from Sonipat and Mahendra Pratap from Faridabad.