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.
A friend of mine was still on win7 and just recently made the switch to linux. In the end the issue was that most of the software stopped working.
I hated when software didn’t work on Windows. After switching to Linux my mouse, keyboard, monitor, hard drive, OS, and software don’t work 😂
(this comment is a joke I love 🐧)