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Canonical today published the first part of a tutorial series designed to help Windows 7 users migrate to Ubuntu Linux after Microsoft's decade-old OS reached end of support this month and stopped receiving security and bug fixes.

"We will provide a series of detailed, step-by-step tutorials that should help less tech-savvy Windows 7 users migrate from their old operating system to Ubuntu," Canonical developer advocate Igor Ljubuncic said.

Today's post covers the steps before the actual migration and the data backup stage, and it will be followed by other tutorials detailing the installation steps as well as the post-install configuration and desktop environment setup process.

While Windows 7 refugees also have the option to upgrade to Windows 10 or to buy a new computer with an operating system under active support such as macOS or Windows 10, Canonical would gladly have them switch to its free Ubuntu Linux distribution.

Reasons to install Ubuntu

Among the reasons listed by Ljubuncic for switching to Ubuntu, the fact that it is an open-source and free operating system is at the head of the list.

Ubuntu is also presented as a safe and robust OS with a bi-annual release model, currently used by millions of other users with support for most of the apps also available on the Windows platform, including but not limited to well-known apps such as Chrome, Firefox, Steam, Spotify, Skype, Steam, and VLC.

If you have to run a specific Windows program that hasn't yet been ported to Linux, the Wine compatibility layer will, in most cases, allow you to use most Windows apps.

Linux is also quite good at gaming too these days seeing that lots of games now come with native Linux support, while Proton, a Steam Play tool used to provide Windows compatibility, enables you to play unsupported games with the help of a gaming-focused Wine version.

Ubuntu can be fully tested prior to installing by creating a live DVD or drive so that Windows 7 users who are not sure if Ubuntu comes with support for their computer's hardware components can get a quick feel if everything works properly.

"If you find something you don’t like, you can simply try a different Linux distribution," Canonical suggests.

In addition, on the day Windows 7 reached its end of support, Canonical product manager Rhys Davies published another article presenting the advantages of migrating to Ubuntu and info on how to achieve this.

One reason why you should switch to Ubuntu? It brings the security that you and your company need.

"You can install Ubuntu on a computer you already have. This can be difficult if you haven’t done it before but there are tutorials available and an upcoming blog series to walk you through how to do it."

Others welcome Windows 7 users too, Microsoft not letting go

The KDE Community said on January 9 that it wants to help Windows 7 refugees migrate to help them migrate to one of the 25 Linux distributions that come with support for the Plasma desktop environment.

"Instead of migrating to Windows 10 and putting up with hours of updates, intrusions on your privacy and annoying ads built into your apps, install a Linux operating system with Plasma," KDE said.

"In 30 minutes you will be up and running and you will have all the security and stability of a Linux system, with all the features and ease of use of Plasma."

Out of Windows' current 77% market share, over 26% are Windows 7 users which means that hundreds of millions of people can't let go of the 10-year-old OS because they don't want Windows 10 installed on their devices or are scared of the change. Out of these, the ones who hate Windows 10 with a passion might be the ones also considering a future Linux switch.

However, Microsoft is still providing security updates to enterprise customers through the Extended Security Update (ESU) program and free Windows 10 upgrades are also a thing — here's a step by step Windows 10 upgrade procedure for Windows 7 users.

 'Why you should upgrade Windows 7 to Ubuntu' article saying that "if you know anyone still running Windows 7, a relative, a small business owner or any other less than techy person in your life, let them know Windows 7 is soon going to leave their system exposed.

There are a few options to take, one of which is Ubuntu. A Linux operating system that offers thousands of new apps to explore and most of the features you can get from Windows, for free."