There Are Still 100 Million PCs Running Windows 7

Windows 7 was a much-needed breath of fresh air when it launched in 2009. Ten years later, it’s a millstone around Microsoft’s neck. The company officially ended update support for Windows 7 last year, but millions of PCs are still running this software of yesteryear. According to long-time Microsoft reporter Ed Bott, that number is probably north of 100 million a year after the end of support.

Microsoft doesn’t provide precise usage numbers for old versions of Windows, but Bott pulled data from US government digital analytics and commercial services like StatCounter to arrive at a rough estimate of 200 million in January 2020. A year later, that same method shows about half that many Windows 7 users. That’s good, but not that good — we’re still talking about 100 million PCs running software that is now more than a decade old and doesn’t receive security patches.

Bott notes that visitors to government websites were 18.9 percent Windows 7 as of last year when the OS got its final patch. Now, that number has dropped to 8.5 percent. The numbers from commercial services show similar 10-point drops. According to NetMarketShare, Windows 7 usage went from 31.2 to 21.7 percent, and NetmarketShare dropped to 10 points to finish at 17.7 percent.

While Microsoft has seen plenty of progress shedding Windows 7 installations, the rate of decline will probably slow. The warnings over the past years have probably encouraged average users to replace or upgrade their computers, but the remaining Windows 7 user base will be more stubborn. We’re talking about computers that are sitting in closets or enterprise setups. Businesses might not consider it feasible to update Win7 boxes until the hardware breaks down or the system they’re a part of is replaced.

So, suffice it to say that Windows 7 will be with us for a long time. While Microsoft is no longer releasing regular patches for Windows 7, the number of people still using it could force the company to revisit its aging OS from time to time. After all, even Windows XP has gotten a few critical patches in the years since Microsoft ended support.

Some of those 100 million PCs are probably still protected via Microsoft’s custom support program. Companies and governments that pay for that could continue using Windows 7 through 2023, but Microsoft considers this a “last resort option.” It’s also much more expensive than a new Windows 10 license.

Continue reading

Microsoft: Pluton Chip Will Bring Xbox-Like Security to Windows PCs

Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are working to make Pluton part of their upcoming designs, which should make PCs more difficult to hack, but it also bakes Microsoft technology into your hardware.

Apple: ‘It’s Up to Microsoft’ to Get Windows Running on New ARM Macs

According to Apple, the question of supporting Windows on the M1 is entirely in Microsoft's court.

How Does Windows Use Multiple CPU Cores?

We take multi-core awareness for granted these days, but how do the CPU and operating system communicate with each other in the first place?

Minecraft With Ray Tracing Now Available for All Windows 10 Players

You don't usually think of Minecraft as a realistic game, but the developers have been hard at work adding RTX ray tracing to the game for the last eight months. It's finally out of beta today, and it really works with the blocky look of Minecraft.