14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has been struggling for years to make Windows 10 the number one desktop operating system worldwide, and now a new set of statistics from NetMarketShare shows that the adoption of this version keeps gaining pace.
Data for the month of July shows not only that Windows 10 is the top choice on the desktop, but also that the market share of Windows 7 keeps going down rapidly ahead of the end of support due in January.
Last month, for example, Windows 10 managed to increase its share from 45.79% to 48.865, while Windows 7 declined from 35.38% to 31.83%.
Without a doubt, most users who abandoned Windows 7 upgraded to Windows 10, albeit no specific data is available in this regard.
Windows 8.1 also increased its share in July, jumping from 4.51% to 5.29%.
The move to Windows 10
Windows 7 will officially exit support on January 14, 2020, so after this date, it would no longer receive security patches and other updates. Users and businesses still running it are recommended to upgrade or to at least prepare for the migration to Windows 10.
At 31% market share, Windows 7 is far from a dead operating system, and many believe it could become the new Windows XP, as some users could ignore the security recommendations and stick with it even beyond the end of support. This is very likely to happen especially in the case of companies where Windows 7 powers entire fleets of computers and where the upgrade typically involves additional costs.
Microsoft, however, says the transition from Windows 7 to Windows 10 should go smoothly, as software compatibility shouldn’t be a concern. More than 99% of the apps built for Windows 7 run on Windows 10 too, and for the remaining 1%, Microsoft offers assistance to make sure everything would run correctly after the upgrade.