14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft claims that Windows 10 is running on more than 350 million devices around the world, and now that the free upgrade offer has come to an end, the company is betting big on enterprises to continue the fast adoption of the new operating system.
But as far as businesses are concerned, convincing them to move to Windows 10 might really be a challenge, as a new study conducted by SoftChoice shows that most of them still see Windows 7 as good enough for their current needs.
The research involved more than 402,000 devices at 169 organizations in the United States and Canada and revealed that only 0.75 percent of devices were running Windows 10. The study was conducted between January 1 and May 31, and this could be one of the reasons why the adoption percentage is so low, as some companies might have upgraded after this date.
Windows 7 running on 91 percent of devices
Nevertheless, Windows 10 adoption is still surprisingly low, and one of the reasons is Windows 7. The research shows that 91 percent of these devices were running Windows 7 while 5 percent of them were still on Windows XP - shocking figures, given the fact that XP no longer receives updates since April 8, 2014.
“It appears businesses are hesitant to take advantage of the various Windows 10 upgrades and, at least for now, are satisfied with Windows 7,” said David Brisbois, Softchoice’s Senior Manager of Assessment and Technology Deployment Services Consulting. “Historically, OS upgrades have been viewed as major time and resource-consuming undertakings, and this may be influencing the decision today to hold off on Windows 10.”
Certainly, the adoption figures of Windows 10 will continue to grow in the coming months, but the biggest question right now is how fast this is going to happen. Microsoft needs to move users and companies off Windows 7 before the January 2020 end-of-support deadline, otherwise, it might have to deal with another Windows XP moment, when many will refuse to upgrade despite the obvious security risks.