14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 7 was officially abandoned in January 2020, and now Microsoft says this important milestone has generated quite a wave of upgrades throughout the year.
This is something that totally makes sense, especially because Windows 7 was running on nearly 1 in 4 computers at the time of its demise.
It’s not a secret Windows 7 has been one of the most successful operating systems ever released by Microsoft, so its end of support obviously wasn’t the best news for many.
In theory, a Windows 7 computer can run Windows 10 just flawlessly, as the hardware requirements haven’t changed much, though for the full experience, a new computer is still required.
And this is what Microsoft is saying as well, recommending customers to buy a new PC if they want the full feature lineup in Windows 10.
Solid wave of upgrades
Microsoft says the end of support for Windows 7 has generated an important number of upgrades throughout 2020. And what’s more, it’s expected to continue in 2021 as well, the company explains.
“In Windows, the stronger PC market resulted in overall OEM revenue growth of 1 percent, despite a strong prior year comparable in OEM Pro from the end of support for Windows 7. OEM non-Pro revenue grew 24 percent, and OEM Pro revenue declined 9 percent. Inventory levels ended the quarter in the normal range,” the company said earlier this week after publishing its latest earnings report.
“In our consumer business, we expect to see healthy demand for PCs and productivity tools continue, though growth rates will again be impacted by the end of support for Windows 7 last year. In Gaming, we expect continued strong engagement on the Xbox platform and significant demand for the Xbox Series X and S that will still be constrained by supply. And our Search and LinkedIn businesses should benefit from the improving advertising market.”
The market share of Windows 7 is slowly dropping, but right now, it still runs on about 20 percent of devices out there.