Windows by the numbers: It’s a topsy-turvy world, with Windows 10 down, 7 up

[Karlston]

Migration watch: There were unexpected gyrations in the market in March, with Windows 7 gaining strength and Windows 10 falling back.

Microsoft

 

Just when it looked like Windows 10 was gathering momentum, the operating system last month sloughed off its biggest-ever chunk of user share, new data showed.

 

According to analytics vendor Net Applications, Windows 10 lost eight-tenths of a percentage point in user share — an estimate of the portion of all PCs powered by that operating system — during March, ending the month on 33.3% of the world’s PCs and 37.4% of all systems running a Microsoft edition. (The second number is larger than the first because Windows accounted for 88.9% of all operating systems, not 100%.)

 

The downturn was the largest ever for Windows 10, which has been trending up since its mid-2015 debut. That movement has not been a straight line, as March’s dip showed, but it has been impressive, averaging more than eight-tenths of a point monthly.

 

It’s certain that Windows 10 will again post gains — there is no other reasonable alternative to Windows 7, which Microsoft will retire in January 2020 — and that last month was a blip. But the screeching stop was accompanied by an even larger increase in Windows 7’s user share: The veteran OS added 1.8 percentage points to its tally, ending March with 43.4%, slightly more than Net Applications had pegged it at in November 2017.

 

Windows 7’s uptick was bad news on multiple fronts.

 

First, if accurate — and there’s no guarantee any third-party measurement is — then Windows 7 will retain a larger number of users than earlier anticipated when it slips off the support list in 21 months. Using the 12-month average of Windows 7’s share movements, Computerworld now forecasts that the 2009 OS will account for about 38% of all active Windows editions in January 2020. At that time, Windows 10 should power approximately 56% of all Windows laptop and desktop PCs.

 

The latest prediction for Windows 7’s end-of-support remainder was three percentage points higher than that of last month, which was calculated the same way.

 

Second, the boost to Windows 7 pushes back the cross-over for Windows 10 — when it will power a larger percentage of all Windows PCs than Windows 7 — from August (as of February’s data from Net Applications) to December (using March’s numbers). The trend line for the two operating systems now indicates that at the end of this year — and just over 12 months from Windows 7’s retirement — Windows 10 will run 45.1% of all Windows systems, while Windows 7 will be on 44.8%.

 

And third, the large jump in user share for Windows 7 immediately raises suspicion that the measurement was flawed, perhaps because fraudulent bot traffic — scoured by Net Applications from its data last year — has returned with a vengeance. If so, it would call into question the entirety of Net Applications’ user share estimates.

 

All of those would point to a failure of sorts for Microsoft, because it would mean there will be many more PCs running Windows 7 in January 2020 than were on Windows XP when that OS exited support in April 2014. During the latter month, XP accounted for about 29% of all Windows editions. Since then, Microsoft has waged an unprecedented campaign on the part of Windows 10, using both strong-arm tactics and a wealth of new tools, to persuade and push customers into migration.

 

Elsewhere in Net Applications’ data, the user share for Apple’s macOS plummeted a full percentage point to 8.9%, making moot its recent charge toward the once-fanciful 10% milestone for the company’s Macintosh line.

 

Source: Windows by the numbers: It’s a topsy-turvy world, with Windows 10 down, 7 up (Computerworld - Gregg Keizer)

[funkyy]

The bottom line is that Windows 10 was released with innumerable bugs and a host of ways to "spy" and harvest information about users. Many people had performance problems especially after "patch Tuesdays" which by definition were supposed to improve the operating system's use not disrupt it. I know that it is a "good" operating system technically speaking...but like many folk I'll pass for a year or two more until all the bugs are ironed out and a reliably stable version is guaranteed.

[TheRuan]

Soon the bottom line will be move to WIndows 10 (Or linux) or have no support at all anyway, Windows 7 is becoming a minefield by the minute... same is valid for 8 and 8.1 in a year or two ... but by then 10 should be more stable.

[Karlston]

Windows 10 changes with every monthly patch, and wonderful new "features" are added every 6 months, so it'll never ever be stable or mature. And user control is a joke.

 

I'll happily stick with Windows 8.1, Microsoft's newest OS that's stable and mature and gives users control. Just replace the Start Menu with a 3rd-party one like Stardock's Start8 and if you think the windows are a bit bland and boring, use something like Stardock's WindowsBlinds.

 

[psyko666]

-nevermind-

[mirassol]

Windows 10 five-and-ten-cent store

[luisam]

I feel that the increase in Windows 7's user share is simply some kind of a statistical error. People who buy new PCs might or might not be enthusiastic about Windows 10 but I haven't met yet the first user who, having bought a computer with Windows 10, might have "downgraded" it to Windows 7.  Not even to Windows 8.1! By the way, I don't know anyone changing from 10 to Linux.

Ordinary users are not members of forums, don't have access to technical info about OS and aren't even familiarized with downloading "cracked" software. I'm asked quite frequently how to get "free" some licensed application because they have no idea how to get them searching the web.

Of course, my observation is just among a very limited number of users but fact is that a standard user won't mess with the OS. People, at least those I know, just ordinary computer users, simply won't go changing Windows versions, except those whose system was "upgraded" compulsively by Microsoft's upgrade craze. Those with older computers, still use Windows XP. Again, my experience is that those who were upgraded from Windows 7 and 8.1 to 10, haven't rolled back to the original system. At least 2 users I know hadn't even realized that the OS was changed until I explained them what happened!!

[Wartas]

Yes but windows 7, it is still better than windows 10 because of many changes and updates that are made to it

[plb4333]

On 4/6/2018 at 5:47 PM, luisam said:

I feel that the increase in Windows 7's user share is simply some kind of a statistical error. People who buy new PCs might or might not be enthusiastic about Windows 10 but I haven't met yet the first user who, having bought a computer with Windows 10, might have "downgraded" it to Windows 7.  Not even to Windows 8.1! By the way, I don't know anyone changing from 10 to Linux.

Ordinary users are not members of forums, don't have access to technical info about OS and aren't even familiarized with downloading "cracked" software. I'm asked quite frequently how to get "free" some licensed application because they have no idea how to get them searching the web.

Of course, my observation is just among a very limited number of users but fact is that a standard user won't mess with the OS. People, at least those I know, just ordinary computer users, simply won't go changing Windows versions, except those whose system was "upgraded" compulsively by Microsoft's upgrade craze. Those with older computers, still use Windows XP. Again, my experience is that those who were upgraded from Windows 7 and 8.1 to 10, haven't rolled back to the original system. At least 2 users I know hadn't even realized that the OS was changed until I explained them what happened!!

I bought a DELL 6 months ago that I had downgraded to Windows 7 and done by DELL. I was  in no way going to go with Win10, not in my lifetime. Of course this meant it couldn't be later than 6th Gen. No prob there.

[steven36]

On undefined at 2:54 AM, plb4333 said:

I bought a DELL 6 months ago that I had downgraded to Windows 7 and done by DELL. I was  in no way going to go with Win10, not in my lifetime. Of course this meant it couldn't be later than 6th Gen. No prob there.

You would of been better off choosing  Windows 8.1  at lest you get a reprieve from having to chose  if you going to use Windows 10 , Linux or Mac OS  tell 2023  as soon as  the deadline comes in 2020 it's all down hill from there  just like it was for Windows XP .  It will be up to the vendors  when they plain to make all  there software no longer  compatible  with you're system  if you're lucky it will be a slow death like it was for XP users,  but death is coming unless you plain to not do software updates in the future .

 

Windows 7 market gains is not bad news too no one but Microsoft , It don't effect Windows 10 users but it could effect Windows 7 if Microsoft decides to use more trickery like pushing out more bad updates rendering it unusable, are something like that . i used Windows 8.1 from 2013  tell present   off and on  I  mostly use  Linux  all of 2018 and tested and used Windows 10 a lot  and Windows 7 has  been ahead  long before Windows 8 ever came out  and Windows 8.1 users never cared and I've not used Windows 7 since 2013   other than preforming  maintenance on different PCs i have with it on my network , what goes up must come down .

 

Windows usage in general  has went from 84.34%  to 81.91 in one year so it's on the decline . Linux  usage has a small decline in one year witch it's only a small niche market anyways and MAC OS has seen about a 1% rise  so the big losers are Microsoft  because the Dinosaur desktop PC  losing users left and right to Android , People can  do most of there computing on there smart phone ,  stream and watch videos on a cheap TV box that let you install Android software and also there  is a big market for console games , as well as game companies make a killing on PC . But PC  games can be replaced just like everything else has been and as the years go by windows will become more niche  and Microsoft knows  this and why they investing most of there money in the cloud now and they could care less about consumers because there just beta testers to them now and the only real money to be made on Windows is with businesses now .

http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide

 

Someone will always will make  open source Linux  for desktop,  long after Microsoft throws in there proprietary towel  for it no longer being profitable from home users and  only is   rented as a service to businesses  and this will be the year of the Linux desktop.  Because any consumer  won't want to rent windows  now will they ? And people staying behind are just helping it  out in the long run because they can't make no profit off you .

[plb4333]

On 4/25/2018 at 7:58 PM, steven36 said:

You would of been better off choosing  Windows 8.1  at lest you get a reprieve from having to chose  if you going to use Windows 10 , Linux or Mac OS  tell 2023  as soon as  the deadline comes in 2020 it's all down hill from there  just like it was for Windows XP .  It will be up to the vendors  when they plain to make all  there software no longer  compatible  with you're system  if you're lucky it will be a slow death like it was for XP users,  but death is coming unless you plain to not do software updates in the future .

 

Windows 7 market gains is not bad news too no one but Microsoft , It don't effect Windows 10 users but it could effect Windows 7 if Microsoft decides to use more trickery like pushing out more bad updates rendering it unusable, are something like that . i used Windows 8.1 from 2013  tell present   off and on  I  mostly use  Linux  all of 2018 and tested and used Windows 10 a lot  and Windows 7 has  been ahead  long before Windows 8 ever came out  and Windows 8.1 users never cared and I've not used Windows 7 since 2013   other than preforming  maintenance on different PCs i have with it on my network , what goes up must come down .

 

Windows usage in general  has went from 84.34%  to 81.91 in one year so it's on the decline . Linux  usage has a small decline in one year witch it's only a small niche market anyways and MAC OS has seen about a 1% rise  so the big losers are Microsoft  because the Dinosaur desktop PC  losing users left and right to Android , People can  do most of there computing on there smart phone ,  stream and watch videos on a cheap TV box that let you install Android software and also there  is a big market for console games , as well as game companies make a killing on PC . But PC  games can be replaced just like everything else has been and as the years go by windows will become more niche  and Microsoft knows  this and why they investing most of there money in the cloud now and they could care less about consumers because there just beta testers to them now and the only real money to be made on Windows is with businesses now .

http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide

 

Someone will always will make  open source Linux  for desktop,  long after Microsoft throws in there proprietary towel  for it no longer being profitable from home users and  only is   rented as a service to businesses  and this will be the year of the Linux desktop.  Because any consumer  won't want to rent windows  now will they ? And people staying behind are just helping it  out in the long run because they can't make no profit off you .

I removed all tracking, telemetry, and other privacy issues involved updates off of computer. I haven't done Win7 updates for a long time since MS was always trying to get these data mining updates involved again. It doesn't bother me in the least they're going to stop the support of Win7, nothing changes for me anyways. I'm very well protected in layers and since I've been using computers since the early 80's I manage to do what's needed. BTW, Win7 is still #1 for active computers in use and alot of people are sticking with Win7 or downgrading, like I did. The only reason MS decided to upgrade Win7 was to make the OS more like a Tablet in GUI and thought it would be more popular, not for me...

[steven36]

1 hour ago, plb4333 said:

I removed all tracking, telemetry, and other privacy issues involved updates off of computer. I haven't done Win7 updates for a long time since MS was always trying to get these data mining updates involved again. It doesn't bother me in the least they're going to stop the support of Win7, nothing changes for me anyways. I'm very well protected in layers and since I've been using computers since the early 80's I manage to do what's needed. BTW, Win7 is still #1 for active computers in use and alot of people are sticking with Win7 or downgrading, like I did. The only reason MS decided to upgrade Win7 was to make the OS more like a Tablet in GUI and thought it would be more popular, not for me...

I just upgraded my DELL PC to Windows 8.1 from Windows 10 tonight,  RS3  is the end of the road for me with Windows 10,   I had RS 3 dual booting Ubuntu Budgie 17.10  since September  2017 and i may of used Windows 10  a few hours  in all  that time i just stayed in Linux mostly . Now that Ubuntu Budgie 18.04  LTS  is out  i installed Windows 8.1 back witch my PC  came with Windows 8.1 I just pulled the OEM Windows 8.1  key out the BOIS  with Linux. 

 

Once I get Ubuntu Budgie on the other partition I want have to  fool with upgrading for 3 years  when Ubuntu Budgie has another LTS release,  my other  PC has nothing but Linux on it but I'm waiting on Linux Mint 19 it will be  May/June 2018 to redo it and Linux Mint releases you don't have to upgrade for 5 years . GNU Linux is only the platform  that lets the  consumer use the same stable release  for 3 to 5 years just depends on witch you use with updates . They have a ltsb windows 10  that you don't have to upgrade every 6 mths and it's only meant for Enterprise that only some businesses  and pirates have but it's not legit if a consumer has a copy , so they have no support and M$ could nuke it any day .

 

I don't be  studying windows very much anymore and I'm not going without security updates and with Linux there is never a problem  I started using PCs everyday in 2001  back in the 80s i was still in school  and could of cared less about a PC the internet wasn't even a big thing then and it don't matter how long you used computers they are kids out there that know more  than  then 95% of adults do about computers, what matters is  what do you know about  computers they make today, no one uses PCs from the 80s and 90s no more.You stay behind you're  education will be stuck in the  past too.   .

 

[flash48]

I just installed Windows 10 on another hard drive.  My other drive has Windows 7.  I now have a choice of which drive to boot.  After applying all of the updates and activating my Windows 10 64 bit Enterprise edition, all I seem to do is stare at the screen while scratching my head,  looking confused at what to do next. 

 

My advice to others who are thinking of migrating to Win 10 is to try it out first on another drive.  It appears us old people are going to have a learning curve before completely moving over to Windows 10.