David McManus says users just aren’t switching on to the new Windows 10

Until just before Christmas I had been struggling to do my day-to-day work on a laptop that my employer had bought for me almost seven years ago.

Many of us experience the problem of constantly comparing the modern, powerful computers we might use at home with the clunkier hardware that companies are understandably less inclined to upgrade.

When the screen went forever dim a couple of months ago, it was time to approach the boss.

Like many employers, mine has a contract with Dell which certainly wouldn’t be my personal choice, but at least I am fortunate enough to be able to specify my own requirements and I configured a high-end portable device. After all, if I’m lucky it will have to last me another seven years.

As with all modern Windows laptops, the Dell business models come with Windows 10 pre-installed. Unlike standard consumer products, Dell’s business contract offers out-of-the-box downgrades to either Windows 8 or Windows 7. This being purely a working machine, I have no desire for any flashiness, or home entertainment, so I opted for plain old Windows 7 and I am happy with my choice.

Then last week I heard an interview with Microsoft marketing chief Chris Capossela who started explaining how it was very important that all Windows users should upgrade to version 10 and suggested there could be security implications for anyone who did not.

Microsoft has a track record of using such scare tactics to encourage software updating. It has such a massive user base around the world that mobilising them all is certainly a problem. Just look at how long Windows XP stuck around. Even nearly two years after Microsoft officially ended all support for its most popular operating system, it still accounts for over 10 per cent of all computers.

Microsoft wants everyone driving the same brand of car because it makes its job of maintenance that much easier but the company must know deep down that it is fighting a losing battle. Even after giving away Windows 10 free – completely and with no catches – it ended 2015 with a smaller share of the computer market than XP and that is because by far the greatest percentage of computers in the world (more than half of them) are running Windows 7. It seems that people have been stung by the jarringly different experience that was introduced with Windows 8 and the huge amount of negative publicity that brought.

Windows 10 is the company’s way of making peace and trying to backtrack, but even when giving it away for nothing, people are not choosing to upgrade and will only eventually experience it if and when they buy a new computer – which goes to the heart of Microsoft’s problem.

People are not buying new computers like they were a decade ago.

Broken and underpowered work machines aside, that elderly purchase still works well for the web and email or maybe a tablet was the choice of a recent upgrade – and we all know how well Microsoft does in that market.