Windows 7 is “based on long-outdated security architectures,” Microsoft wrote today in a post published to its German newsroom. With the end of support now less than three years away, the company took the opportunity to encourage customers to upgrade to the more modern Windows 10.
Windows 7 will stop receiving security updates on January 14, 2020. Microsoft is keen for users not to miss the deadline after millions of consumers and organisations kept using Windows XP when support ended in 2014. Basic support for Windows 7, including standard functionality upgrades, was stopped in 2016.
Microsoft encouraged customers to start their upgrades to Windows 10 today. Many companies struggled to move away from XP after relying on it for years. It could be the same story with 7. It’s a very popular operating system and it’s also what most XP customers have transitioned to. By contrast, 10 is still quite new, relatively unproven in the enterprise and regularly dogged by privacy scares.
Windows 7 is currently still used by around 40 percent of Internet users. Windows 10 comes in at less than a third of the total, even after the year-long free upgrade offer designed to get all home users running the new OS. Microsoft is now falling to other tactics to convince more people to switch, such as highlighting the security advantages of Windows 10.
Seven years ago, Windows 7 was Microsoft’s flagship operating system. The times have changed since then though and new breeds of cyber threat have emerged. Since 2010, malware has become far more advanced and dangerous new strains such as ransomware threaten individuals and businesses.
Microsoft pointed to its Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection service as one way to defend against the risks. It can intelligently monitor for breaches and provide security alerts. The system only works on Windows 10.
Microsoft also claimed that Windows 7 is not capable of supporting the “increased security requirements” of modern devices and Internet users. It suggested that third-party manufacturers have already begun to abandon the platform. Some device drivers may not work correctly or even be available for Windows 7, leaving new hardware incompatible with older PCs.
There is still three years until the end of support though and Microsoft does seem to be saying goodbye to Windows 7 significantly early. While businesses should consider their long-term strategies, home users should not be concerned about the risks of using 7 until it’s much closer to the end of support. Microsoft will provide much more guidance on how to migrate to a more modern platform as the time approaches, seeking to avoid a repeat of XP’s end of support.
