14 DAY TRIAL // We’re only a month and a half away from the moment Windows 7 will receive its last updates, so most people would expect the market share of this operating system to continue decreasing as more users make the switch to Windows 10.
But according to Valve data for its Steam gaming platform, Windows 7 is actually growing in terms of share, while Windows 10, the operating system that everyone should be moving to for uninterrupted support and security updates, goes down.
Specifically, the 64-bit version of Windows 10 dropped 2 percent last month, Valve says, reaching 74.23 percent. Windows 7 64-bit, on the other hand, increased 2.43 percent to 18.47 percent.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that Windows 7 can regain the leader position, but it’s without a doubt a sign that not everyone is willing to give up on the 2009 operating system despite the approaching end-of-support deadline. Windows 10 will continue to increase its share gradually, there’s no doubt about it, but at the same time, Windows 7 will also stick around for a little longer than anticipated.
The Windows 7 end-of-support
Overall, Windows increased its market share by 0.26 percent, reaching 96.28 percent on Steam.
Apple’s macOS platform, on the other hand, dropped 0.22 percent to 2.92 percent, while Linux nearly stagnated at 0.81 percent.
Windows 7 will get its last batch of security updates on January 14, 2020, after which the OS will be officially listed as unsupported. Businesses and enterprise can purchase custom support from Microsoft until they complete the migration to a newer version of Windows, with pricing to increase gradually until the third year.
For consumers, Microsoft insists that upgrading the device from Windows 7 to Windows 10 is the only way to go, albeit there still are ways to secure a computer without security updates, including limited Internet access.