Windows 10 takes over
WINDOWS 7’S TIME AT THE TOP OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM CHARTS IS OVER AFTER ALMOST TEN YEARS.
IN JUST UNDER a year’s time, Microsoft plans to drop support for Windows 7. That’s entirely understandable – the ageing operating system was first released in mid-2009, and the venerable old girl has been succeeded twice since then. But will that actually happen? Windows 10, some three years and change since its own release, has only just exceeded its elder in terms of market share. In December 2018 statistics from netmarketshare.com, Windows 10 was shown with 39.22 percent of desktop OS market share, while Windows 7 held a still-respectable 36.9 percent. Somewhat amusingly, the same statistics showed Windows XP (first released back in 2001) maintains over four percent of the market, more than Windows 8.1.
KEEP ON KEEPING ON
Dropping support for an operating system isn’t easy to do, particularly one as widespread as Windows 7. Businesses around the world continue to be bought in to the old OS and, given the cost of upgrading the almost 700 million devices still reliant on it, that statistic isn’t likely to change soon. Microsoft isn’t completely abandoning Windows 7 – security updates will continue, for a fee, as part of the company’s Extended Security Updates program – but it’s also still supporting Windows XP to a certain extent, with the US Navy one notable client still paying to keep it secure. If you have a Windows 7 PC, it won’t just keel over in January 2020, though it’s now time to consider that vital upgrade. Another stat, this time from statcounter.
yearly round-up, shows Windows as a whole may not hold the global operating system crown for long. In terms of active devices, it’s being quickly caught by Android. At one point in 2018, the mobile OS even topped Microsoft’s desktop OS in terms of overall installs. This doesn’t signal Windows’ doom, by any means. Android isn’t likely to make a dent in the proper computer market for some time. It does highlight, however, that the devices we use are changing all the time – what will the statistics look like when Windows 10 hits a decade old?