14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft will retire Windows 7 in January 2020, but with around 35 percent of the world’s computers still running it, there’s a good chance a significant number of devices would be left without security patches when the time comes.
Research conducted by Kollective reveals that while 96 percent of the businesses have already started the migration to Windows 10, many are unlikely to complete the process before the January 2020 deadline.
And it’s all because of a series of factors that could slow down the process, including the typical compatibility issues that enterprises might have to deal with.
Earlier this year, Microsoft said that 99 percent of the software running on Windows 7 should also fully support Windows 10, with the company offering assistance for the rest of 1 percent.
Companies not in a rush to update devices
What’s also worrying is that according to the study, 79 percent of the organizations didn’t even install updates immediately, meaning they prefer to wait after Microsoft releases them. This could be caused by update reliability concerns, as some are worried that botched patches could be disruptive for their internal activities.
Additionally, 53 percent of the respondents said they wait at least a month before their install operating system updates, despite the fact that these often include critical security patches.
Kollective says this is also one of the consequences of the migration to a new Windows approach.
“This new ‘Windows as a Service’ model will come with a unique set of challenges. Monthly quality updates or bug fixes will normally be under 1GB; whereas bi-yearly feature updates can be up to 5GB. Due to the increased frequency and size of these updates, IT teams will have limited time for testing and distribution,” it says in its research.
Microsoft will continue to offer custom support for Windows 7 after the January 2020 milestone, albeit this option will become more expensive every year. Companies will be required to pay $50 per Windows 7 device in the first year after EOL, with the pricing doubling to $100 in the second year.