Google extends Chrome support for Windows 7 until January 15, 2022

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Google revealed this week that it decided to extend support for Google Chrome on Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system until at least January 15, 2022.

Support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020 officially for all Home systems while Enterprise and business customers could extend support by up to three years. The organizations and companies had to pay Microsoft for the privilege of receiving up to three years worth of security updates for the operating system.

While Microsoft gave Home users no option to extend the life of the operating system, browser makers and other software companies decided to extend support of their products because large numbers of users were still using devices with Windows 7 when official support ended.

Google announced that it would support Windows 7 until at least July 15, 2021 initially. The company revealed that it could extend the period, and that is what it did. The new support end has been moved to January 15, 2022 so that Windows 7 users get an additional six months of Chrome support.

The new end of Chrome support for Windows 7 is still a year short of Microsoft's own maximum end of support for paying customers. Microsoft will provide support until January 2023 for companies and organizations that pay the company for three full years of extended security updates.

Another extension is not out of the question according to Mac Christoff, Chrome Engineering Director; this would depend on a number of factors including the speed of migration and usage numbers. It is therefore at least in theory possible that Chrome will also be supported after January 2022 if the figures justify it.

Google's announcement focuses on Enterprise customers and the challenges that some of these companies faced in 2020. According to Christoff, 21% of organizations are still in the process of migrating devices to Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system, and 1% of Enterprise customers have not even started the process.

Now You: are you still on Windows 7?
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