Microsoft will stop providing vital security updates to the Windows 7 system by January 2020. This could cause trouble for businesses who are still using Windows 7 as almost half are still running Windows 7 and a fifth don’t even know the support is coming to an end. You may check this post for more information.
According to a study from Kollective, a content delivery company, Microsoft will stop providing vital security updates to the Windows 7 system by January 2020, which could cause great security concerns for companies. However, almost half are still running Windows 7 and a fifth don’t even know the support is coming to an end.
The IT departments are completely unprepared for the end of Windows 7, and almost half of the companies are still running Windows 7. As a result, when Windows shuts down the platform in just over a year, it will have a considerable impact on the system.
This was based on a survey conducted by Enterprise content delivery platform Kollective, which found that two-thirds of the 260 corporate decision makers in the UK and the US haven’t developed a strategy to migrate to Windows 10 (SEE: Easily Migrate Windows 10 to SSD without Reinstalling OS Now!), and some companies noted that they did not even know that Microsoft was withdrawing support.
According to Kollective, it found that 17 percent of businesses were not aware of the end of support for Windows 7. Users will no longer be able to ask Microsoft staff for help on the official forums, the company announced in early June.
Besides, 33 percent of large businesses with over 100k terminals are still running Windows XP. However, 33% of enterprises believe that the migration of Windows 10 is the top priority of 2020.
The report also revealed that 24 percent of businesses will leave their employees to update and migrate their systems to Windows 10. But if the process is not overseen properly, many will face fragmentation and security risks. While 6 percent of companies are not planning to migrate away from Windows 7, which represents a serious security concern as Microsoft will no longer issue security patches to its older operating systems once it officially ends support in 500 days.
Nowadays, it is more different for enterprises to protect themselves from today’s growing cyber threats. And using outdated software will inevitably make this challenge even more complicated.
“While 500 days may seem like a long time, it took many businesses upwards of three years to transition from Windows XP to Windows 7,” Jon O’Connor, solution architect at Kollective said. “Although Microsoft has since streamlined the process, we are expecting similar migration timelines for Windows 10.”
However, he warned businesses to take the news seriously. Enterprises may need at least a month to migrate to a newer computing platform, and 27 percent said they might have network problems when they migrate to Windows 10.
“For large enterprises, the key will be ensuring that the update can be rolled out automatically and at scale,” O’Connor added. “Unfortunately, our research suggests that many businesses simply don’t have the network infrastructure needed to achieve this simultaneous update, as such many will spend months – or even years – migrating their systems entirely. If the January 2020 deadline is missed, this will pose a major security threat for the world’s businesses.”
Although Kollective believes that companies are not ready for the Windows 7 phase-out, the data released by Net Applications showed that the adoption rate of Windows 10 is rising rapidly and should surpass Windows 7 by November. 36.6% of total PCs use Windows 10, which accounts for Windows machines 41.4%. In contrast, Windows 7 is running on 41.2% of all PCs and 46.6% of those running Windows.