Microsoft ends support for Windows 7 today, January 14. And for anyone still running the ten-year-old operating system, that’s a major security risk—no more updates means that any new vulnerabilities can spread like wildfire. And speculation is now rife that the first such issue is just hours from being disclosed.
As much of an issue as the end of life of Windows 7 is around the world—by all accounts hundreds of millions of PCs have yet to be upgraded to Windows 10, in China the situation is worse, much worse. As reported by Abacus and picked up in the South China Morning Post, “more than two-thirds of PCs running Windows in the country are still on the 10-year-old platform.”
Last year, China’s National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team, CNCERT, published an overview of China’s install base, reporting that “Windows 7 accounted for the highest proportion at 62.49%.” The government body advised those users [to] update “as soon as possible.” At the time of publishing its report, CNCERT found that “Windows 10 accounted for just 11.71%.”
And so, even as Windows 10 has spread to 50% or more of PCs world-wide, China remains a huge challenge for Microsoft to push this need to upgrade. Especially where, as reported by Chinese media, much of the user base prefers the tried and tested and familiar Windows 7 systems still in use.
The warnings are now hitting western media, including one from the U.K.’s GCHQ spy agency urging remaining Windows 7 users to use alternative platforms for any financial transactions or even email, as reported for Forbes.com by Davey Winder. It is uncertain how many of those warnings will hit the Chinese press in the same way, though. And, as such, and as new vulnerabilities are disclosed, there is a disaster waiting to happen in China. Remember WannaCry?
The coincidental timing for Microsoft’s Windows 7 shift—which has been in the public domain for more than a year and heavily publicised—is notable given the impending technology split between east and west, driven by the U.S. campaign to restrict China’s technology giants over security and human rights concerns, and China’s continued blocking of major western software and media outlets.
This technology split could well see a new mobile operating system emerge, driven by Huawei’s need for an alternative to Google. But the split could well be wider and hit desktops as well. China is accelerating investments in the production of the high-value components used in the latest technology innovations, and the U.S. is restricting China’s access to U.S. research and development under the guise of AI defence.
All told, as China’s millions of Windows users are pushed to update or upgrade, it’s not guaranteed that Microsoft’s overall market share will remain intact given the wider politics in place. In the meantime, though, whether in China or elsewhere, if you’re persisting with Windows 7 you do need to sort that out—and fast.
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