14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is set to discontinue Windows 7 on January 14, and with just one month and a half left on the clock, you’d expect the majority of users to already be on their way to Windows 10.
But according to new data provided by NetMarketShare for the month of October, that’s really not how things are going for the 2009 operating system, as the market share of Windows 7 barely declined last month.
And what’s even worse for Microsoft is that Windows 10 itself recorded a slight drop at a time when it’s supposed to benefit from the approaching end-of-support of Windows 7.
More specifically, Windows 10 remained the number one desktop operating system, but declined from 54.30% to 53.33%. Windows 7 was still the runner-up, only that its collapse happens much slower than Microsoft expected, so its market share fell from 26.94% in October to 26.86% in November.
The upgrade struggle
Non-Windows desktop operating systems are still far behind in the charts. macOS 10.14 is the top non-Windows platform in November with a share of 4.15%, followed by macOS 10.15 with 3.93% - there’s a good chance the two would switch places in December as more devices are upgraded to the newer version.
Linux holds a market share of 1.21%, according to the same source.
The transition off Windows 7 is going to take much longer than originally anticipated, and this is because more than 1 in 4 PCs out there are still running the 2009 operating system. While home users might refuse the upgrade to Windows 10 because the modern concept that Windows 10 is based on may no be their favorite cup of tea, enterprises have more problems to deal with, including hardware struggles.
Dell has recently revealed that the Intel chip delays are likely to impact Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrades, forcing some companies to push their migration to the new operating system later in 2020.