Home windows 7 is lastly being deserted if new stats are something to go by, with its userbase virtually minimize in half following help for the OS being fully discontinued – and naturally the end-of-life being reached for Home windows 8.1, which equally noticed its consumer numbers minimize in half.

That is in line with Statcounter’s figures for February (opens in new tab), which present that Home windows 7 market share (amongst all Home windows variations globally) has dropped from 9.55% to five.39%, an enormous slide. Home windows 8.1 equally halved from 2.28% to 1.15%.

The timing is notable, seeing as Home windows 8.1 simply went out of help in January 2023, and whereas Home windows 7 turned formally unsupported in January 2020, since then it has had a interval of Prolonged Safety Updates (ESU) – and that simply expired in January 2023.

As Home windows 8.1 isn’t getting an ESU programme, successfully each Home windows 7 and eight/8.1 are lastly and fully on the scrapheap relating to safety updates, so it’s not protected to run them. And with February’s figures, we’re seeing the outcomes of that fairly clearly certainly.

The place are these folks migrating to? It appears to be like like primarily Home windows 10, which acquired a 4.39% uptick for February to hit a 73.25% market share. The ranks of Home windows 11 customers had been additionally bolstered considerably to the tune of a smidge over 1%, with that OS now at 19.13% of general share, however Home windows 10 was clearly the large gainer right here.

Evaluation: An extended sluggish goodbye, most definitely

You may say that this was predictable sufficient, given that every one help and safety updates at the moment are out of the window (sorry) for each of those outdated Microsoft working programs – however not likely.

Of us are susceptible to staying with a favourite OS even previous its safety sell-by-date, and if ever there was a testomony to that, it’s Home windows XP. In the event you recall, Home windows XP nonetheless held a 10% market share two years after it ran out of street for help (15 years after the OS first arrived).

Certainly, there have been nonetheless XP customers in proof (a small however significant quantity – simply over half a %) when it turned 20-years-old, are you able to imagine? This is the reason Home windows XP turned referred to as the OS that refused to die.

It doesn’t seem like Home windows 7 might be pulling related ranges of longevity, given this February plunge. Though we do count on that erosion of its share will decelerate significantly after the preliminary defection has taken place.

After all, keep in mind that this is only one set of figures on desktop working programs, so we mustn’t get too carried away with drawing conclusions – although that is such a robust indication, you’d be laborious pressed to not learn one thing substantial into it.

By way of Neowin (opens in new tab)