Windows 7 End Cycle Forcing More Users to Upgrade to Windows 10

The deadline for Windows 7 to get security updates from Microsoft is fast approaching and users need to switch.

Windows 7 is still the popular choice for many people in markets like India. 

(Photo: The Quint)

With January 2020 deadline for Windows 7 end cycle fast approaching, it’s high time existing users look to make the upgrade to Windows 10. In less than six months from now, Microsoft will stop offering security updates to one of its popular version of the operating system.

And the effect on people has started showing up in the latest market report, which suggests that many Windows 7 have jumped ship and bought Windows 10 for their existing devices.

In July, user-base of Windows 7 dropped 3.6 percent -- down to 31.8 percent -- in the overall PC market, that led to a significant increase in the Windows 10 user-base, TechRadar on Sunday cited a report by analytics firm Net Applications as saying.

Windows 10 saw an increased user-share by 3.1 percent, to stand at 48.9 percent in the overall desktop market.

Even though Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 7 on January 2015, in January 2019, the software giant decided to put a final halt on the roll-out of free security patches for the OS on January 14, 2020.

The decline in userbase of Windows 7 in July is the second-largest drop that Net Applications has ever observed and the boost for Windows 10 is the second-largest increase, seemingly underlining the shift that is going on here, the report said.

Understandably, people are concerned for the health and security of their devices, and upgrading to the latest Windows version seems to be their only option now. Having said that, one has to commend Microsoft for continuing to offer updates for the Windows version which has been running on computers since October 2009.

The report doesn’t exactly mention what kind of users are making the upgrade but we’re hopeful that organisations as well as financial entities also do it. After all, in countries like India, you still have majority of ATMs and a lot of daily dependent machines powered by Windows 7, which doesn’t bode well for the digital security of these entities.