Although Microsoft has stopped offering security updates for Windows 7 almost two years ago, this version of the operating system is still present in many computers, individuals and businesses. So many that Google has decided to continue supporting its Chrome browser for Windows 7 until 2023.
According to Ghacks, Google has updated a blog post dating from November 2020 to clarify that will now support Chrome on Windows 7 “until January 15, 2023, for critical security and stability updates. ”
In January 2020, just days before Microsoft announced the end of the life of Windows 7, Google said that Chrome would continue to be compatible with the operating system. until at least July 15, 2021, that is, about 18 months after Microsoft stopped supporting it.
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Still many users migrating to Windows 10
Although we already have Windows 11 available, according to the data handled by Google there are still a large number of companies and entities that are using Windows 7. Google has decided to offer more time to Chrome for this version of the OS with the aim of help organizations still migrating to Windows 10.
Even with the new versions, Windows 7 refuses to die, or does it very little by little, although this presents security problems. According to a graph from the Mountain View company itself (which dates from the end of 2020 and has not updated now) 78% of companies have already migrated, but 21% are still in process and 1% expect to start the process of switching from Windows 7 to 10 soon.
Remember that before the end of Windows 7 support, Microsoft released Edge, a browser based on Google’s open source Chromium project. Microsoft announced the switch to Chromium in December 2018 and by doing so, extended Edge support from Windows 10 to Windows 7, macOS, and more recently Linux.
The new Google extension translates to supporting Chrome for Windows 7 for two years from its original end date. This new date aligns with Microsoft’s plans for business customers They pay for Windows 7 security updates.
Despite the fact that the life of Windows 7 has been lengthening in one way or another, Microsoft has already said that this paid support will not continue to extend: “for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 7 Professional for Embedded Systems, the Extended Security Upgrade Program (ESU) will enter its third and final year of extended support beginning February 8, 2022 and ending January 10, 2023. ”
According to Statcounter, Windows 7 is still present in the 13.5% of desktop computers all over the world.