Windows 7 still seems to be running on at least 100 million machines, despite Microsoft terminating support for the operating system a year ago. ZDNet analyzed the number of computers still using Windows 7 in different analysis reports. While each data source connects Windows 7 to different percentages of market share, most agree that the operating system still makes up about 20 percent of the computers.
Microsoft has said for years that there are 1.5 billion different versions of Windows worldwide. It’s hard to get an exact number of Windows 7 users because of the different methods used by analytics companies, but it’s at least 100 million. If you drop Microsoft’s estimate from 1.5 billion Windows users to just one billion (there are 1 billion active Windows 10 users), Windows 7 is still on a large number of computers. In fact, it can still be used by more than 200 million devices worldwide.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22007661/mchin_190124_4274_0004.0.jpg)
Support for Windows 7 ended in January 2020, almost 11 years after the operating system was first launched with its “I’m a computer and Windows 7 was my idea” marketing campaign. It quickly became a very popular version of Windows, especially for businesses. It was clear when we looked at the operating system’s market share last year, that it would take a year or two to get Windows 7 strongly below the 10% share.
It may take even longer before Windows 7 finally disappears, especially after a year when many turned to computers for remote work and homeschooling. Microsoft has reported an increase in PC demand and usage as a result of the pandemic. It’s likely that part of the computer usage also comes from households that dust off old computers and laptops that have not been used regularly, and that some of these devices can still use Windows 7.
It is clear that the pandemic has also affected the computer market in recent years. We are still waiting for computer estimates from Gartner and IDC, but some analysts believe that in 2020 we could see almost 300 million computers shipped alone. This would be a major change for the PC market, after PCs had a first year of growth since 2011 during 2019. Growth intensified at the end of Windows 7 support, and most analysts did not expect the market to continue to grow. 2020.