14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft decided in late 2013 to offer Windows 8.1 for free to a number of non-profits and charities, according to a new report, but it appears that not everyone is excited with this giveaway campaign.
The Register writes that as part of this effort, Microsoft also signed a deal with Nethope, a global organization that represents several large charities across the world, in order to supply the existing members with free copies of Windows 8.1 for their PCs.
And still, one of the members, children's development charity Plan, will actually use the Windows 8.1 licenses to downgrade to Windows 7. The reason is as simple as it could be: the organization recently completed the migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 on no less than 14,000 PCs and laptops, and with 1,700 PCs left to be upgraded, it wants to run the same operating system across the whole IT department.
Windows 8 might, however, be installed on a number of computers, the charity said, but it's not yet clear how many of the Windows 8.1 licenses would actually be downgraded to Windows 7.
“Mostly we are going to Windows 7,” Plan's global chief information officer Mark Banbury told The Register. “We will have Windows 7 and 8. It shouldn’t be too bad, because most of our stuff is accessed over the web – as long as we standardize on the browser, it shouldn't be be too hard.”
One of the reasons why Windows 7 is a much better choice than Windows 8 is, Banbury explained, the familiar interface, as the new modern operating system might require a few weeks of additional training to make sure that productivity isn't affected.
“Anybody we hand it to with the new interface, it takes a few weeks of training to get back up to speed,” he said.
Of course, Microsoft can't be pleased with such news, especially because it struggles to boost adoption of its modern operating system, but the company is yet to release a statement on the intention of some charities to downgrade to Windows 7.
At this point, Windows 7 is the world's number one desktop operating system with a market share close to 50 percent and figures are very likely to grow as more companies and users switch from Windows XP to this particular OS version. Windows 7's ace up its sleeve is clearly the familiar interface, which also contains a Start menu.