If you know anything about Laplink, you understand that we’ve been around for a long, LONG time. We’ve handled almost every major Windows transition – from DOS to 95 to XP to Windows 8. Now we’ve hit another big milestone in Microsoft’s OS journey. Windows 7 end of support is January 14, 2020 and you must move to Windows 10 or pay to stay.

Look, we get it. Windows 7 worked great and continues to power almost 42% of SMBs & Enterprises (Jan 2020 est). Why would your organization move until you absolutely have to? Well, now time has run out and the rush to move to Windows 10 is in full force!

Past End of Service / End of Life Issues

Microsoft officially ended primary support for XP in April 2014, making XP the longest-supported OS ever due to the record number of users and essential global systems relying on it. So what happened back when XP had its end of life? Weren’t organizations fine even after missing the end of support deadline? Shortly following, Microsoft released extended support packages for organizations willing to pay between $25 to $200 per PC. This proved to be costly, especially for those who continued extended support for lengthy amounts of time or had many PCs. We’ve heard nightmare stories of unfixable bugs getting out of control – especially after support ends. Don’t let this happen to your organization.

Lessons We Can Learn:

Don’t wait. The earlier that organizations move from Windows 7 to Windows 10, the more time they will have to ensure all vital programs, files, and settings are configured. These need to either be migrated to Windows 10, or be properly phased out or replaced beforehand. You don’t want to figure out how to do these things while Windows 7 is experiencing problems with a bug – or possibly worse – add more support costs as well.

Microsoft’s Solution

Windows 7 end of support doesn’t have to be a total nightmare. For full-blown migration projects & OS refreshes, Microsoft officially recommends PCmover. Its also the only recommended migration solution from Intel as well. In fact, Intel has even partnered with Laplink to offer a free, fully-functioning version of PCmover for anyone wanting to check it out. You can find that here:  https://www.pcmoverforwindows7.com/