Microsoft → Windows 7 gains more market share than Windows 8 and 8.1 combined

Looks like Windows 8 and it's variations are fast becoming Bob Part Three.
They only reason they have any share, is that it's bundled with all OEM purchases.Look at XP's numbers, it dwarfs Vista, and the Windows 8 variants COMBINED.

»www.theinquirer.net/inqu ··· 8-and-81

666 - Hmmmmmm.......

I know LOL

... and even then, those numbers are falsely skewed in Windows 8's favour as most business oriented laptops are preinstalled with Windows 7 (like HP Elitebooks, HP ProBooks, Lenovo Ideapads, etc.) so they come with a Windows 8 license but users are using Windows 7.

Those numbers don't line up very well with StatCounter.com

»gs.statcounter.com/#os-w ··· 7-201312

They have
Windows 7 at 51.34%
XP 17.1%
Win8 8.15%
MacOSX 7.25%
iOS 5.32%
Vista 4.74%
Android 2.63%
Linux 1.22%

I wouldn't doubt at all that Windows 7 is growing like wild fire given that XP is going bye-bye and corporations are moving to Windows 7 in a big way from XP and these are the same companies who never move to the latest and greatest in anything, but like going with the safe bet (and lets be honest here Windows 7 is a heck of an OS).

Other than test machines, everything here is Windows 8.1.

Blake

My guess is my post is Windows only/

2nd, how the hell can IOS have a bigger marketshare then Andrioid, there are a more android phones in the wild then IOS.

Did your place of work go and buy everyone a touch screen?

IOS runs on iPads as well and apparently those are popular (Surfaces out number iPads here 2 to 1).

Mostly regular non-touch screens here.

Blake

Many of the corporations I've interfaced with have an Apple-only rule concerning tablets due to the difficulty in writing consistent procedures for Android based devices.

I haven't seen any Microsoft Surface tablets in the wild yet although I tried to get one for myself on the weekend (sold out at the black Friday price).

Windows 8.1 is now ahead of OSx 10.9.

»news.cnet.com/8301-10805 ··· D090e536

You need to look at the big picture, not the snapshot. What OS will Windows users buy next April and beyond when Windows XP support ends?

Burlington, On greetings from Burlington, WV.

I for one will not purchase Windows 8 or 8.1. I have played with it and find it problematic. When I purchase another platform it will be Windows7. I have had less problems with Windows XP and Windows 7 that with other versions.

A lot of businesses have been upgrading from XP to 7 lately. I wouldn't call it Win 8 doom and gloom.

In my experience, those who gave Win 8 an honest shot ended up liking it. All this hate is irrational.

My work computer runs Win 7 and the only reason I switch from XP was I needed a faster computer and figured XP was on it's way out so might as well go Win 7. I really don't notice a difference from XP except of course my computer is much faster now.

Next I bought a cheap laptop for the kids to use and to stream media to any of my TV's it came with Win 8. Sorry I don't like Win 8. First problem is I just don't like how it's set up for a touch screen which I don't have. Second, everything wanted to use win this, win that. login to win account etc. so it took a while to get rid of all that and install all my programs. I don't need one wrong click and I'm spamming face book or whatever. I don't use social networks much and I certainly don't want my kids connected. 9 and 10 year old BTW. In general Win 8 is just flat out harder for me to use, I don't want to learn how to use a new OS, it's an OS operating system it shouldn't be hard to understand in the first place.

My employer is migrating from XP to Win 7. The kicker here is, they're going thin client. Right now, from what I heard anecdotally, it is not as good as the XPs we're currently using. So my department is stalling migrating to Win7 while they continue to improve the thin client.

But, by April, I'll be on a thin client. If a lot of businesses do that, it will change the hardware picture. Might change the software picture, since less VM would be active at any one time, versus desktops sitting around while people are on vacation, sick and so forth. I guess it depends on the licensing arrangement.

We did the same thing with Win2000. Didn't change to XP until the last moment. By the time we did, service packs had already come out. The problem with Win 8 is, it is too new. They've been working on getting the company applications to work on Win 7 for more than a year. And that work is not completed yet - another reason why we haven't migrated.

I'm actually beginning to like Win 8.1 since I installed Classic Shell. I completely bypass the whole Metro thing and I haven't yet associated a Microsoft account with this computer. I don't have a touchscreen so there's no incentive to bother with the tiles. I work off the desktop, just like I've done with all of my previous Windows computers. So far, it's quirks are less annoying that Vista's are.

^ I think this is what it is as well.

Companies big and small will ride XP as long as possible, and it seems clear they are for the most part choosing to stick with the familiar interface of Win7 as they upgrade/refresh.

Windows 7 was released in July of 2009. It is 4.5 years old. For Windows 8 to have a 10% market share in a year, doesn't indicate a lot. Windows 7 had a 15% share in less than a year, but we are in a period where people no longer buy computers. Tablets have replaced the personal computer for a lot of individuals. I'm not a Windows 8 fan. In fact I pretty much hate it without modification. I just don't see these numbers saying that Windows 8 has been a failure.

Which is fine for you and me and the 100's of tech people who hang out here. Do you think a fortune 500 company would roll out an unsupported product across the entire company?

This is where Microsoft made it's biggest mistake, trying to be Apple, and use the same shell across all it's platforms. Forget hardware, the cost of training alone (new interface) would far outweigh the benefits of the new OS.

How was Apple that stupid? In no way does an iMac share the same shell as an iPad.

You're going to see OS X morph into iOS with time, it's already going that way slowly, at least Apple will update the shell incrementally, MS just threw it on there.

And at the Server level too?

I hear what what you're saying, I think,...

However, the use of the new Windows UI / Metro even in Server 2012 / 2012 Essentials didn't seem like much of a barrier IMO. Acclimating to the new server OS for me had nothing to do with Metro. I mean for my needs clicking "All apps" and then clicking "Server Manager" isn't all that hard and not all that different from the start menu.

However, what comes next is the real question IMO. Where will Microsoft take Windows from here annually,....?

Microsoft codename 'Threshold': The next major Windows wave takes shape

What comes next after Windows 8.1?

Naturally its too early to tell but I don't know if "Threshold" will diverge from the route taken with the controversial or oft detested Metro UI. Especially so given its an intended unified update of Xbox One, Windows and Windows Phone (Xbox One and Windows Phone being perfectly suited for Metro).

So that supposedly maps out to the spring of 2015 if accurate.

Edit:

Anyway, annual OS updates means more OS release which increases the potential for fragmentation due to the increase in choice (of Windows OSes).

Holding out on Windows XP was a phenomenon in the past and holding out on Windows 7 is not very different now.

So people like windows 7 because it has a start button. I respect those masses.

I agree, I've been using the new servers on some projects and it has been rather easy.

Getting to tackle new projects from 2012 in the back end to HTML5 clients on the front while dumping legacy systems is a real pleasure. I've been lucky to work in places where the software, not the hardware or fear of change, dictate the systems in use.

Windows 8 is not very user friendly as much as they clam it to be.

It's more Anti-user friendly. If you do not have a touch screen the OS is useless

Plus you will need 4.6GB worth of windows updates once you install it

I'm including the update to 8.1 since you are required to install ALL the updates before installing the 8.1 update

Maybe you can try pressing windows button + D. There is fully functional unadulterated Windows OS.

That would be tough, since I'm still using the old IBM M style keyboard. I refuse to let it go.

Lots of group think going on at MS. "We'll build Win 8 because the world is going to touch screens, PC's are dying." Self fulfilling prophecy, build an OS that's many people don't like and they just wait for the next OS. "Apple will follow suit." No not so far, again group think and talking yourself into feeling good about your flop.

Comes down to this business wise. MS has no growth rate in their core business and wants to lock people into a whole product stream like Apple. Buy one thing Windows and you have to buy everything else Windows.

Eventually they will adopt 8.1, it's just a factor of time and the expiration of support for earlier Windows versions. If we all can side-step the new interface, surely it can be implemented on a company-wide basis. Strip that away and there are more similarities than disparities to earlier versions so the learning curve shouldn't be that steep for the majority of employees who aren't involved in the actual running of the system.

When my office computerized, we started off with Win95 running on our computers even though higher versions of Windows had already been released. When I left, we had finally made it to XP.

Any graph of the popularity of a Windows product that takes into account corporate usage is going to be skewed just because corporate is always going to stay with the devil they know before they are forced by circumstances to use a newer version.

I don't disagree, but when you make a radical shift in the GUI, that's a whole different ball of wax.

I can just see it now, the IT Director in a meeting with the CIO of a fortune 500 company trying to pitch the installation of a 3rd party application that has little or no support, and of which nobody knows (or will know) is a security risk.

That's an IT Director worth firing. Why would they do what you're supposing?

I don't understand all the fuss. Seriously. Run the desktop, end of story.

Yeah, I kind of have to agree with you,....

I have used this example before and I'll use it again here:

My Wife is a developer / programmer for a not so small and well known company. She was eventually switched off of a Dell box running Windows XP to a 27" Apple iMac and given an Apple Mac Book Pro for travel and occasional telecommuting. Other changes were made too like a switch to Drupe,...

Generally speaking, changes sometime are made and you, as an employee don't always have a say in the decision making process. Either you keep up with the changes or find employment elsewhere. In the world of technology, if you can't keep up how employable are you really,.....???

IMO, the switch from XP to OS X is much greater then the switch from a quasi modern Microsoft OS like Windows XP to a totally modern Microsoft OS like Windows 8 / 8.1.

Now I do understand that widespread corporate adoption of Windows 8 / 8.1 at this time is highly unlikely (snowballs chance in hell unlikely). However, that doesn't change the spirt of what I am saying even if it is totally leapfrogged in the coming years for a newer Microsoft OS.