Most councils still running Windows 7, FoI request finds

Freedom of Information request finds that 83 per cent of Windows machines in local authorities are still running ageing operating system, despite support ending in January 2020

Nearly a fifth of local councils have yet to plan a migration away from Windows 7, a Freedom of Information (FoI) request has found, despite its looming end-life date.

Microsoft will withdraw support for the popular but ageing operating system on 14 January 2020.

Despite this, 83 per cent of Windows machines in local authorities are still running Windows 7, according to the FoI request, carried out by application migration specialist Cloudhouse.

Some 17 per cent of the 317 councils that responded said they are yet to plan a migration away from the OS, while just one per cent have completed a migration to Windows 10, it also found.

Despite this, 35 per cent of IT teams who responded said that previous migrations have taken between one and two years.

"The perils of running applications on Windows XP and 7 were highlighted by the widespread impact of the WannaCry ransomware attacks in 2017," said Mat Clothier, CEO, CTO and founder of Cloudhouse.

"Security patches are not produced for legacy systems, such as XP, and Windows 7 will join the list of legacy operating systems at the start of 2020."

Local councils are not alone in clinging on to Windows 7, with the latest data from Netmarketshare finding that the much-loved operating system still boasts a market share of over 43 per cent, compared with 33 per cent for Windows 10. Windows XP has a five per cent share of the market, despite support for it being withdrawn in April 2014.