The market share of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system surprisingly increased last month despite Microsoft ending support for the old operating system on 14 January 2020. According to data from NetMarketShare, Windows 7 increased its market share from 22.31% in August to 22.77% last month.
However, it did not gain this market share at the expense of the latest Microsoft Windows operating system, as Windows 10 also increased its market share from 60.57% to 61.26% last month. Instead, the big loser was Linux, which saw its market share more than halve from 2.33% to 1.14%.
RELATED READING: MICROSOFT ENDS SUPPORT FOR WINDOWS 7 TODAY
Windows 7 end of life
Microsoft has recommended that Windows 7 users switch to Windows 10 because the former no longer receives technical support, software updates, and security fixes unless you pay for these services separately.
“While you could continue to use your PC running Windows 7, without continued software and security updates, it will be at greater risk for viruses and malware,” said Microsoft. “Going forward, the best way for you to stay secure is on Windows 10.”
To drive the move of Windows 7 users onto Windows 10, Microsoft even launched a webpage which shows home users and businesses can make the transition. As part of this, Microsoft recommends that users also switch to a modern computer.
“Not only are new modern PCs fast (thanks to solid-state drives) and durable with batteries that last longer, the average price for a great PC is considerably less than it was 5-10 years ago,” said Microsoft.
Windows 10 issues
While Microsoft wants users to switch to Windows 10, it has hampered its own goals by launching Windows 10 updates with major issues. In February 2020, it published a security update which it later retracted due to a number of severe issues experience by users.
This included users being unable to reset their computers, and others suffering installation failure errors when trying to install the update.
There have also been major security flaws discovered in Windows 10, including one in March which allowed malicious parties to gain access to the user’s computer using remote code execution vulnerabilities.
Despite this, Microsoft Windows 10 remains more secure than Windows 7 because Microsoft actively releases patches to fix any vulnerabilities.
