In the history of computer operating systems, for the better part of the past three decades or so the first and last word when it comes to an OS for a personal computer has been Microsoft Windows. The Windows OS series for PCs were in competition with Apple and their Macs, and defined how many computer-users saw their screens for years. After a time when Mac-OS seemed to take the lead Microsoft returned to form with Windows 7 in 2009, which has been in wide use even as Windows 8 and 10 arrived. But that trend has begun to change.
As The Verge tells it, with the start of the year 2019 Windows 10 has finally established itself as the most commonly-used desktop operating system in the world, surpassing even Windows 7 which has seen continuous presence in PCs since 2009. This is notable considering that time itself is winding down for Win-7. Its mainstream technical support from Microsoft came to an end back in early 2015, and 2019 is its last year under extended support which will itself be terminated in January 14, 2020.
Despite its obvious age Win-7 was still favored by many PC users over later versions. But that has now been overtaken by the latest Microsoft desktop OS, Windows 10, in terms of market share. As of December 2018 the share figures stand at 39.22% (Win-10) to 36.9% (Win-7). This is quite the struggle considering 10 was released in 2015 and thus took 3 years to outnumber the near decade-old Win-7, and that was with the free-upgrade initiative Microsoft launched in 2016 for Win-10. The company initially boasted a 3-year deadline from introduction that would see Windows 10 on a billion devices; due to slow adoption they had been forced to extend the schedule, likely because of still-many Windows 7 users.
With regards to the impending end of Windows 7 support, the 2020 deadline does not apply to the Win-7 Professional and Enterprise versions, which will retain extended support until 2023. The downside will be that Enterprise and Profession 7 owners will be paying for further security updates between 2020 and their end of support. Microsoft goes further by trying to convince businesses still relying on Win-7 to upgrade to Win-10 instead. In a way this reluctance to switch Windows versions recalls Microsoft’s earlier efforts to get Windows XP users to switch to Windows 7, a situation now apparently repeating itself.
Image from How to Geek
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