Microsoft will be ending support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. After January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or support for PCs running Windows 7. After the support ends, you can continue to use Windows 7, but your PC will become vulnerable to security risks as you will not receive security and feature updates. Microsoft has advised everyone to upgrade to Windows 10 to avoid potential security risks. Kollective, an enterprise software company, conducted a survey related to Windows 7 adoption on more than 200 US and UK IT employees and the survey results were surprising.
Almost a fifth of large enterprises are still on Windows 7. Even though many organizations have started the migration process, Kollective feels that migration will take several years and they won’t be able to complete the migration process before Jan 14th 2020. To support such customers, Microsoft last year announced that it will offer paid Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) through January 2023. Windows 7 ESU will be sold on a per-device basis and the price will double each year.
“When it came to migrating away from Windows XP it took some large enterprises as long as three years to transfer their entire systems to the new operating system, now, many firms will have to make the transition in less than 12 months. Those that fail to do so will have to pay for extended support, with the largest organizations paying more than a million dollars a year in order to remain on Windows 7,” said Dan Vetras, CEO of Kollective.