Contrary to some reactions to this news, the end-of-life for 7.8/8 is not the death knell for Windows Phone. All it will mean will be the end of mainstream support for those operating system versions including security and user interface and experience features. Apple and Google operate in similar functions as older versions of iOS and Android (like Android 2.1 Éclair or 2.2 Froyo or iOS 4.0) tend not to see any critical updates after a year-and-a-half or so. 

End-of-life cycle for these versions of Windows Phone will only affect a small percentage of global smartphone users. Microsoft’s mobile operating system has struggled for mainstream acceptance and remains far behind Apple and Google in adoption. According to research analytics firm comScore, Microsoft had 3.1% of total U.S. smartphone subscribers as of Jan. 2013. 

Just four months ago:

http://pandawhale.com/post/9571/droidfooding-after-years-of-giving-employees-iphones-posters-at-facebook-hq-beg-them-to-test-android-techcrunch?comment=32758

The good news is that Microsoft can now release new Operating Systems every 18 months.

The bad news is that it's still going to be an uphill battle for them to get anyone to care.

In a world of Android and iOS, who cares about Windows Phone?