Windows 7 Extended Support: Dirty invoices in Germany and Australia

800,000 euros, this is what the German government will have to spend over the year for not having completed its migration to Windows 10 before the end of support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020, forcing it to use paid extended support to continue using the OS securely. The information is reported by the German business magazine Handelsblatt. According to the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, Windows 7 still runs on at least 33,000 PCs, which requires the extensive support provided by Microsoft. This costs around $ 25 per workstation for Windows 7 Enterprise, a price that will double in 2021 and then again in 2022. Across the Rhine, many administrations also still use Windows 7. In Berlin, it is around 20,000 PCs still running this version of the operating system, out of a total of 85,000 computers, Handelsblatt further indicates.

For other administrations, the bill is even higher. Thus, it will cost the Australian government $ 8.7 million. This is the total amount of the contract signed by the tax administration and the Defense Department with the services company Data # 3 to benefit from the extended support on Windows 7, the ITnews news site reported a few days ago. . In this envelope, $ 6.1 million relates to support for Windows 7 at the Department of Defense. The latter has already migrated 105,000 terminals from Windows XP to Windows 10 last year. The migration of environments remaining under Windows 7 will be done within 12 to 24 months, but the number of workstations affected is not specified. The invoice is lower for the tax administration, which provides for extended support over one year.

For users who, by choice or necessity, continue to use Windows 7 after the support has stopped, some precautions are in order to limit the risks, such as for example, to avoid using Internet Explorer, a certain number of malware taking advantage of the flaws of the web browser.