Windows 7

Is being abandoned at a faster rate than expected.

The operating system is now being run by less than half of all Windows users.

According to NetMarketShare, in November the overall desktop market share of Windows 7 dropped by a hefty 3.5% down to 43.12%. Microsoft will doubtless be pleased to see that Windows 10 now isn’t that far behind on 31.95%, as they want customers to move to the newer Windows 10 as soon as possible.

Windows 10 is now only just over 10% behind Windows 7 according to NetMarketShare, and it might not be too long before that gap is fully closed.

Microsoft has set Windows 7's retirement for January 2020, a date that is quickly approaching. The slower Windows 7 declines in user share, the greater the chance that panicked businesses will overspend to replace the operating system with Windows 10, causing a repeat of the chaotic end times of Windows XP.

By lagging behind XP's reduction time, Windows 7 risks ending its support life-cycle with an even larger fraction of the world's PCs still relying on what will then be an unpatched operating system. And May's Wanna-cry cyber-attack illustrated just how dangerous that can be.