Google Extends Support For Chrome on Windows 7 Until January 2022
Revisiting its initial plans to drop support for Chrome for Windows 7 by next July, Google has extended the deadline by 6 months. According to Google, Chrome will continue to support Windows 7 at least until January 15, 2022.
The move is based on the reactions of Chrome’s corporate customers in light of the global pandemic. The company says it will continue to “assess the conditions our business customers face and communicate any further changes in the future.”
This is a 6-month extension from the July 2021 deadline that the company previously announced, and the reason is as simple as it gets: The migration to Windows 10 is progressing slowly due to the health crisis worldwide, and since many IT administrators are forced to work remotely, it is obviously very difficult to switch to installing a new operating system to receive updates.
Google points out that migrating to Windows 10 was on the roadmap for many organizations this year. According to a Kantar study commissioned by Google Chrome Enterprise in the second quarter of this year, nearly 21% of companies are migrating to Windows 10, while at least 1% have not even started the migration process.
With this extension of support, companies with updates still in progress can rest assured that their users staying on Windows 7 will continue to enjoy the security and productivity benefits of Chrome ,” said Max Christoff, director of engineering at Chrome.
A more updated OS
Coincidentally, Chrome’s new deadline means that almost two years have passed since Microsoft officially abandoned Windows 7. The Redmond giant stopped releasing security updates for Windows 7 on January 14 of this year. Since Microsoft quit, businesses and IT companies have migrated to Windows 10 and other Linux distributions.
Google’s initiative to expand support for Windows 7 is a smart move towards the business market, which is already facing many hurdles due to the coronavirus pandemic. This extension should provide more flexibility to ensure a smooth migration process.
The latest market share statistics have shown that at least 20% of the world’s PCs are still running Windows 7.