As the article notes, the increase seems to be driven mainly by users in Asia, where recycling and reusing older hardware is quite common. I wonder if third-party companies are offering extended security patches there, which could make affordable second-hand Windows 7 machines more appealing for people who just need them for browsing or light tasks. It would certainly make sense given recent fiascos and Microsoft’s current stance on AI, especially with generative AI being used to develop system-level code.
I still have my old Win7 pro disk with unlimited installs :p
I didn’t think i would ever use it, but I’m also not ever gonna use win11, so maybe upgrading from 10 to 7 will be my plan for my windows needs if they are both gonna be insecure anyway.
7 is just the best OS Microsoft has made, it’s been downhill since.