While Vole pulled the plug on Windows 7 for consumers last October, and Windows 8.1 in September, OEMs could still release hardware with the software on board.

The software itself is not completely a Norwegian Blue. Vole has promised to “sort of” support it for a little while longer, it is just that no one will be able to buy new licences. Neither have mainstream support, but security updates will be provided until 14 January 14, 2020 for Windows 7, and January 10, 2023 for Windows 8.1.

All this means is that OEMS must make PCs with Windows 10. This should push its take up as the software is already on 400 million devices. This figure would have been impossible if Vole had not provided Windows 10 as an upgrade Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 PCs. Take up of Windows 10 has slowed lately, mostly because people don't really want to pay for an upgrade.