Many computers in the National Health service in the UK are still running Windows 7. This is not too shocking really, but why are some people making such a fuss over the decision to not update to Windows 10? Some software does not work very well on Windows 10 and the many updates to the operating system have caused more harm than good. And it contains dubious spyware services that take up a lot of computing resources, and cannot be turned off. If a company is still using Windows 7, they should still get support from Microsoft. And the software and databases would require a long migration time to a new operating system. Just leave it alone and keep the systems well maintained, this will prevent problems. Even Windows XP systems can be fine if on a secure network with very competent systems administrators and a secure locked down desktop. Many things that users can access to harm a system can be locked down with Active Directory on Windows 7, this keeps the systems safe from viruses and malware. Software Restriction Policies on Windows XP and up restrict what can be run on a computer system, therefore, bringing in a cool game on a USB drive and running it will not work on a company PC, as only certain directories allow the execution of binaries. Changing the file extension from exe to bin does not work either.
The SRP configuration by default will not fall for that trickery. So this can keep older Windows 7 machines very safe, this coupled with Active Directory and user training, keeps the network safe. Why are Microsoft so keen for everyone to upgrade to Windows 10? It is not even finished yet. Will they even release Windows 11? More information on SRP for Windows.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/software-restriction-policies/software-restriction-policies-technical-overview. Users of Windows 7 will be able to extend the EOL of the operating system by paying for security updates. This would be very expensive past 2023, but is a good way to keep legacy systems running in the future.