Survey Predicts the Rise of Windows 7 Zombies

While Windows 10 migrations are movingly slowly but steadily, many organizations remain challenged to complete the move fast enough. This finding appears in the just-released Adaptiva 2019 Windows 10 Enterprise Impact Survey. Nearly a quarter of respondents expect their organization to run Windows 7 machines after the official End of Support date: Jan. 14, 2020.

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Over 450 IT pros completed the survey. The respondents predominantly come from enterprises, with more than a third (35%) coming from organizations with over 10,000 workstations. Eighty-six percent of organizations have not yet completed their Windows 10 migrations.

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The most-cited reason cited for migrating to Windows 10 is continued support from Microsoft at 89%. Security came in second at 72%. Windows 10’s security features are very popular among survey-takers. Features like BitLocker and MFA are a much bigger incentive to move to Windows 10 than general improvements such as Edge, the touch interface and Cortana.

Over a quarter (27%) expect to take more than a year to complete the move to Windows 10. This would indicate they either are not in a rush to beat the clock, or simply can’t.

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The IT pros identified time as the greatest challenge to deploying and maintaining Windows 10. Also, more respondents said their IT staff was stretched thin than in any of the previous Adaptiva Windows 10 Enterprise Impact Surveys.

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Companies still running Windows 7 will have the option of purchasing Extended Security Updates (ESUs) for Windows 7, which will buy them more time. This comes at a per-endpoint cost from Microsoft. The ESUs will be available for three years.

Industry experts point to one scenario where running Windows 7 after the end of support is less of a risk: Systems have no network connections, and never will have network connections. There may be kiosks or industrial applications where this applies. However, even these devices may be more easily compromised if physical access is secured.

To see all of the results of the Adaptiva 2019 Windows 10 Enterprise Impact Survey along with analysis, download the full report from Adaptiva here.