And how many still have a copy of it around, maybe on an old hardware machine, or in a VM (virtual machine), for those times when only Windows 7 will do?
Posted on 12/31/2020 7:14:13 AM PST by dayglored
Microsoft officially ended support for its one-time flagship operating system, Windows 7, at the start of 2020. As the year draws to a close, I ran the numbers to see how many PCs are still running this unsupported OS. Spoiler: It's a big number...
With a heartfelt nod to Monty Python, Windows 7 would like you all to know that it's not dead yet.
A year after Microsoft officially ended support for its long-running OS, a small but determined population of PC users would rather fight than switch. How many? No one knows for sure, but that number has shrunk substantially in the past year.
On the eve of Microsoft's Windows 7 end-of-support milestone, I consulted some analytics experts and calculated that the owners of roughly 200 million PCs worldwide would ignore that deadline and continue running their preferred OS. That was, admittedly, a rough estimate. (If you want to do the math yourself, read my year-ago post, "It's 2020: How many PCs are still running Windows 7?")
During the holiday lull at the end of 2020, I decided to go back and run the latest version of those analytics reports. They tell a consistent story.
Let's start with the United States Government Digital Analytics Program, which reports a running, unfiltered total of visitors to U.S. websites over the previous 90 days. One of the datasets includes a report of visits from all PCs running any version of Windows, which makes it an ideal proxy for this question.
At the end of December 2019, 75.8% of those PCs were running Windows 10, 18.9% were still on Windows 7, and a mere 4.6% were sticking with the unloved Windows 8.x.
A year later, as December 2020 draws to a close, the proportion of PCs running Windows 10 has gone up 12%, to 87.8%; the Windows 7 count has dropped by more than 10 points, to 8.5%, and the population of Windows 8.x holdouts has shrunk even further, to a minuscule 3.4%. (The onetime champion of PC operating systems, Windows XP, is now nearly invisible, with its device count adding up to a fraction of a rounding error.)
If my calculations a year ago were on the mark, that means more than 100 million Windows PC were retired, recycled, or upgraded in the past 12 months.
Other metrics tell a nearly identical story.
At NetMarketShare, for example, the numbers at the end of 2020 show Windows 10 usage up 11 points, from 63.0% to 74.0%, while Windows 7 usage dropped 9.5 points, from 31.2% to 21.7%.
Likewise, StatCounter Global Stats showed the number of PCs running Windows 10 increased more than 12 percent, from 64.7% to 76.0%, while the Windows 7 PC population dropped nearly 10 points to 17.7%.
Turning those percentages into whole numbers isn't a matter of simple division, unfortunately, because we don't know the denominator. Microsoft has told us for years that the Windows user base is 1.5 billion, but I argued a year ago that the number of Windows PCs is probably much lower than that, even with a pandemic-induced resurgence in PC sales. Even allowing for that uncertainty, it's clear that at least 100 million PCs are still running Windows 7, and that number could be significantly higher.
Some of those holdouts are paying Microsoft for the privilege of receiving security updates, although it's not clear how many are part of the Extended Security Update program. And those customers will face more pressure to upgrade in 2021 as the cost of those updates is set to double.
And how many still have a copy of it around, maybe on an old hardware machine, or in a VM (virtual machine), for those times when only Windows 7 will do?
Updates are where the money is, which is why smartphones stop doing updates after 5-7 years, they force/compel you to buy a new phone.
I still prefer Windows 7 and only have one computer on Windows 10 because some of my software required it.
I only keep Windows at all (instead of linux) because some of my software requires it.
"... it's clear that at least 100 million PCs are still running Windows 7, and that number could be significantly higher..."Gee, ya think?
I have it on my one pc. If I have to switch I’ll go Linux. Yeah or replace with a Mac.
“So how many of us FReepers are still on Windows 7 as their primary computer / workstation “
Me. Windows 7 on three laptops and one desktop. All have MS Office 2003 installed on them. When we’ve relocated, my Office 2003 program disks have been in my carry-on bag; can’t risk losing it.
I have a laptop with XP and am getting a blue screen when I turn it on. Am not sure if it’s repairable or not but will check it out. I like the XP sound recorder.
Hubby has Windows 10 on his machines and has constant problems.
I assume you know about the optional file-type converter pack that gives Office 2003 the ability to read and write Office documents in the "new" formats (.docx instead of .doc, etc.).
I ran Office 2003 with that pack until about a year ago, when I was finally forced to migrate to Office365 for my work.
Download and try out LibreOffice. Once you see that you can open and use all of your current docs with LibreOffice, you won't be so worried about MS Office.
I have W7 ...and XP laptops.
The XP laptop still works and the best part is that the anti-virus can still be upgraded.
I still have one machine at work running Windows XP because I have a database I occasionally need to access and the software I need to run to do that will only work up through XP. My other computer at work is Windows 7.
At home I did end up upgrading just because I can’t play many good games on Windows 7.
I have one PC still on Win 7 and one laptop on Win10.
The laptop would still be on Win8, if I had known about doing the rollback from Win 10 within the 1st 30 days after the update to Win 10. If I could roll it back now I would. I have found zero benefit to using Win 10 over Win 7. I think that has been true of many Microsoft updates to both its software and its OS updates. The only disadvantage that earlier versions of things have ever presented was how they were forced into “not supported” situations with respect to compatibility issues with software written specifically to be in sink with a newer OS. Their inherent functionality was never an issue and what was “new” was seldom seen as “better”, simply newer and often less ease of use (more complex) compared to an earlier version.
For instance, when did I give up Win98? When I could no longer get the newest versions of the antivirus application compatible with it.
I’m one of them. Bought a new laptop 3 yrs ago and insisted on W7. Love it.
“I have a laptop with XP and am getting a blue screen when I turn it on.”
Me too. Also W7 on 1 of them. The XP laptop, at that time was the best of it’s gen. Until now, I can upgrade the anti-virus.
I would still be running XP if it wasn’t for Bill Gates and Co., locking me out. I had to swap an audio card and the XP box wanted a non-available authorization code to use. Gave me 3 days to rectify, which I couldn’t so I was locked out. I consider this a breach of trust by microsoft. How many users got shafted by Gates piracy hurdles that were blocked as support for XP stopped?
Needless to say, no more windows for me. Linux with wine for running windows apps.
I have one PC still on Win 7 and one laptop on Win10.
The laptop would still be on Win8, if I had known about doing the rollback from Win 10 within the 1st 30 days after the update to Win 10. If I could roll it back now I would. I have found zero benefit to using Win 10 over Win 7. I think that has been true of many Microsoft updates to both its software and its OS updates. The only disadvantage that earlier versions of things have ever presented was how they were forced into “not supported” situations with respect to compatibility issues with software written specifically to be in sink with a newer OS. Their inherent functionality was never an issue and what was “new” was seldom seen as “better”, simply newer and often less ease of use (more complex) compared to an earlier version.
For instance, when did I give up WinXP? When I could no longer get the newest versions of the antivirus application compatible with it.
The upgrade to win 10 was free and if you check around you just might find out it’s still a free upgrade
“I assume you know about the optional file-type converter pack”
I know it exists ‘cause when I’ve tried to open a newer version I get a popup that asks if I want to use the converter. So far, I haven’t had to. (Since retirement, I “haven’t had to” do much - LOL!)
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