Although Microsoft claims that Windows 10 is now more popular than Windows 7, analyst firm NetMarkShare’s monthly usage figures paint a very different picture. In December, for example, Windows 10 hit 24.36 percent globally, but it’s dwarfed by Windows 7’s 48.34 percent share.
It’s clear that Windows 7 is going to remain the number one desktop operating system for some time to come — globally at least — but Microsoft is desperate for those users to switch to Windows 10 and warns that Windows 7 support is coming to an end, and that the OS has outdated security and can’t keep up with today’s security needs.
In a post headed ‘An early goodbye to Windows 7! Support ends in three years’ Microsoft’s German press site tells users that in three years Windows 7 extended support will run out permanently, and that from January 14, 2020 there will be “no security updates, updates and no technical support from Microsoft”.
One of the most successful Microsoft operating systems approaches gradually the end of its lifecycle: In three years of extended support of Windows 7 is running out permanently. This means for all customers with Windows 7 PCs that from January 14, 2020 there will be no security updates, updates and no technical support from Microsoft. After more than 10 years on the market a logical decision: 2009 appeared, Windows 7 was the first step on the way to the cloud. Today, Windows 7 can no longer keep up with the increased security requirements.
Rather, it provides for higher operating costs – for example, maintenance, lost working time due to increased malware attacks, or even increased support requests. At the same time, many hardware manufacturers no longer provide drivers for Windows 7, which means that modern peripherals such as printers are no longer recognized. To give users a contemporary interaction between software and hardware, new processor generations only by the respective current Windows platform supports: So Windows 10 is the only version of Windows provides the appropriate support for the latest chips from Intel, AMD and Qualcomm . In addition, many programs are already written or developed for the newer versions of Windows.
For the predecessor Windows Vista the extended support ends already on 11 April this year. Support for Office 2007 is also running out this year.
While Windows 7 support will run out in 2020, that’s still three years away yet, giving users and companies plenty of time to consider whether or not they want to switch, move to Linux or Mac, or just survive without extended support. There’s certainly no rush to wave an early goodbye to Windows 7. Third-party security software will continue to work just fine on that OS for many years after the deadline.
If you’re currently using Windows 7, what are your plans for the future? Will you upgrade to Windows 10, if so when, and if not, what do you intend to do once 2020 rolls around? Let us know by commenting below.
Photo credit: Vladimir Gjorgiev / Shutterstock
Source: Betanews
