Killing Off Windows 7 Won’t Be Easy, New Data Shows

[The AchieVer]

Killing Off Windows 7 Won’t Be Easy, New Data Shows 

Windows 7 is projected to be retired in January 2020, but all the data seems to indicate that doing this won’t be easy for Microsoft.

Last month, for example, instead of going down, Windows 7 actually increased its market share, getting closer to leader Windows 10, which still struggles nearly four years after launch.

January 2019 numbers provided by NetMarketShare indicate that Windows 10 remained the number one desktop operating system last month with a share of 40.30%, while Windows 7 was the runner-up with 38.41%.

While at first glance this is good news for Windows 10, it actually isn’t, as it dropped from 40.90% in January, while Windows 7 improved from 37.19%.The Windows 10 struggleBy the looks of things, customers aren’t very keen on leaving Windows 7 behind, and the next 12 months will be critical for Microsoft.

The bigger problem for the software giant isn’t necessarily the fact that people refuse to upgrade from Windows 7, but that the latest Windows 10 updates do little to convince them to switch sides.

The October 2018 Update, also known as version 1809, became Microsoft’s buggiest release in a long time, with the company itself pulling the update shortly after the original release due to a bug potentially causing the removal of user files.

With such buggy releases, it’s pretty clear that some users, including here both consumers and enterprise, delay the migration from Windows 7 to Windows 10 as much as possible in order to avoid having to deal with any critical issues.

Microsoft, however, has already started the offensive, and the company claims that enterprises should have little to worry about when it comes to the transition to Windows 10. Most apps on Windows 7 should run without any issue on Windows 10 as well, and Microsoft is offering tech assistance to companies that might come across compatibility struggles when upgrading their devices.

 

 

Source

[vitorio]

5 hours ago, The AchieVer said:

Most apps on Windows 7 should run without any issue on Windows 10 as well, and Microsoft is offering tech assistance to companies that might come across compatibility struggles when upgrading their devices

This is the whole issue to not upgrade:

"Should"," Most" and "Might"

[luisam]

23 hours ago, The AchieVer said:

While at first glance this is good news for Windows 10, it actually isn’t, as it dropped from 40.90% in January, while Windows 7 improved from 37.19%

 

I'm not a Windows 10 defender but "at first glance" I believe this is a statistical error. While we already know that almost 80% of Windows 10 users still haven't updated to latest version, there is no reason for any Windows 10 user to downgrade to Windows 7. On the other hand, each day more computers are sold using Windows10. Again, no reason that people buying a NEW computer, should remove Windows 10, after almost 4 years it was introduced,  to install Windows 7.  I agree, about 4 - 5 years ago still new computer users sometimes downgraded from Windows 8 but not now! Finally, of course users are slowly but surely, upgrading from Windows 7 to 10. So I simply don't believe these numbers.

Now, even if these statistical numbers are no correct, be sure that killing off Windows 7 won’t be easy! After almost 5 years after Microsoft decreed the death of

Windows XP, statistics still acknowledge the 3.35% of user and again I want to express my distrust in statistics, I feel that this number is somewhat higher.

[Screen]

Steam charts shows the increase of win10 over time. and it is not going down and 7 is indeed falling behind and over the course of time it will be obsolete. Remember how people still tend to stick onto windows xp even after 7,8 and 8.1 came? It is just a normal cycle.

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam

[Karlston]

Windows by the numbers: Windows 7 is one obstinate OS

Even as its end-of-support deadline draws ever closer, Windows 7 apparently gained users in February, casting doubt on just how well how customer migrations to Windows 10 are doing. Even Windows XP gained users.

pan xiaozhen modified by IDG Comm. / Microsoft (CC0)

When the groundhog saw his shadow last month, it wasn't a signal of an early spring but a hint that Windows would have one of those upside-down stretches.

 

Violating the cardinal rule of newer Windows editions, Windows 10 dropped the most user share since March 2018, making for a confusing picture about how customers' migrations are proceeding. Meanwhile, the already-supplanted Windows 7 added share to its total last month, erasing more than half of the end-of-the-year dramatic decline that at the time seemed to show a quickening pace toward its retirement.

 

According to web analytics vendor Net Applications, Windows 10's share fell by six-tenths of a percentage point in February, ending the month at 40.3% of all personal computers and 46.1% of all PCs running Windows. (The second number is always larger than the first because Windows does not power all personal computers; in February, Windows ran 87% of the world's machines. All but a small fraction of the rest ran macOS, Linux or Chrome OS.)

 

Windows 7 added user share for the second straight month, gaining a whopping 1.2 percentage points to rebound to 38.4% of all PCs and 43.9% of those running Windows. At the same time, the should-be-dead Windows XP put on six-tenths of a points during February, climbing to 3.3% of all PCs and stretching to 3.8% of systems powered by Windows.

 

All in all, it was a mess. Windows 10 was supposed to be growing but it wasn't. Windows 7 and Windows XP were to be shedding share, but they weren't. Windows overall has been losing share, surely if slowly, but instead it gained.

 

The last time Net Applications' numbers were so odd was March 2018, a month where Windows 10 lost eight-tenths of a percentage point, Windows 7 gained 1.8 points and Windows XP grew by eight-tenths of a point. But within two months, the normal march upward (Windows 10) and downward (Windows 7, XP) resumed.

 

Expect the same after February's mysterious up-and-down, which like all single-month exams of OS analytics, are susceptible to oddball data or weird shifts in the browsing habits of those who happened to be monitored by Net Applications.

Keep an eye on the long-term forecast

Even though Windows 10 and Windows 7 traded usual behaviors last month, the former stayed well ahead of the latter in overall popularity: 46.1% versus 43.9%. There's no danger of Windows 10 losing its grip on the No. 1 OS position.

 

With the latest data, Computerworld's forecast - based on each operating system's 12-month average movement - now pegs October as when Windows 10 should reach a majority. That forecast puts Windows 10 at 50.4% of all Windows after Halloween.

 

But Windows 7's backwards maneuver in February could result in more machines still running the OS when Microsoft retires it Jan. 14, 2020; when Windows 7's support ends, it should be powering more than 40% of all Windows PCs. Windows 10 should be running 52% of the same group.

 

The first number - the projected user share for Windows 7 at its retirement - is higher than its January forecast because of the share increase last month. Windows 10's predicted share is lower than the previous projection, down four points due to the February decline.

 

Although Net Applications' numbers are not gospel, failing Microsoft's publication of detailed statistics from its incoming telemetry they're the best available. And increasingly the data paints a picture of Windows 7's stubbornness. If more than 40% of all PCs in January do run Windows 7, as the forecast foretells, the situation would be even more problematic than when Windows XP reached retirement powering about 29% of all Windows systems.

 

That Windows 7 benchmark - 40.5% of Windows PCs running it at retirement - could either be interpreted as a rabid endorsement by customers or a denunciation of its successor, Windows 10. Or both. But the simplest explanation might be that users are much more uncertain of changing operating systems when the new standard upends the update/upgrade model. It may turn out that millions of Windows users will refuse to abandon Windows 7's traditional refresh practices, security risks be damned.

 

Elsewhere in February's results, the overall user share of Windows rose to 87.4%. In the zero-sum OS share game, that meant the combined share of all macOS and OS X editions had to fall: It did, to 9.7%. For the second consecutive month, Linux's user share slipped by three-tenths of a point, while Google's Chrome OS stayed flat. Those OSes ended February at 2.1% and 0.4%, respectively.

 

Source: Windows by the numbers: Windows 7 is one obstinate OS (Computerworld - Gregg Keizer)