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Windows XP Drops Below 40% Market Share While Windows 8 Passes 1%
An anonymous reader writes "Just three months ago, we reported how Windows 7 had finally overtaken Windows XP in terms of market share. Now it's time to see how long it takes Windows 8 to succeed its predecessors. Between October to November, Windows XP fell to 39.82 percent while Windows 8 jumped to 1.09 percent."
I wonder if win8 will ever pass the xp market share
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
39% market share ain't bad at all for a nearly twelve year old OS. Glad to see that a superior product (albeit rather bloated by default) has already overtaken it though.
Finally!
I can Photoshop Angry Birds! You don't know how I've been missing the feature to be able to run Angry Birds AND full blown photoshop, and all for the bargain price of $999.99!
Plus I get to use Active Directory, letting me leverage my work network for printing out all those Word documents on the exciting ribbon interface.
Sometimes on a cold morning, I miss the warmth of a Pentium, I'd sacrifice some of my battery to make, say, some sort of leg warmer, maybe even with a fan to blow the warm air! If only somebody would make me one of those tablet thingies with a lap warmer, I'd be happy!
...in virtual machines, because honestly, everything Vista and above is so freakin' huge.
And to what benefit all that resource suckage adds up to, I'm still not sure.
--
BMO
I support a lot of XP machines and in general the owners still love the OS because they are familiar with it. It's going to be around for a long, long time. I predict marketshare will continue dropping as it has until it reaches about 10% where it'll stabilize for a couple years despite being completely unsupported, losing perhaps 1-2% per year after that until completely dropping off the radar.
MS is in a unique position with their OS because in general all new PCs ship with the newest version of Windows. So they can force Windows 8 into the market just by refusing to license it to OEMs for default installs and then waiting long enough for consumers to upgrade their hardware. That takes years, but as we saw with Windows 7 it's a predictable and regular process.
The only question is, will MS stick to their guns and force this paradigm shift, or will they relent like they did with Vista and make Windows 8 a short-lived intermediate OS for whatever comes next? Maybe the next version of Windows will see a return to a more classic desktop paradigm similar to Windows 7, with metro being entirely optional. Maybe the next version will split into two, metro being aimed at consumer and tablet hardware and a Windows 7 style OS to keep corporate users happy. Sadly, I think the most likely outcome will be the first one. MS isn't going to relent. This is what they want their OS to be and that's the last word. "Corporate world, you better get used to it. You know you can't ditch Windows, Office, and Exchange." They're betting on the pain of switching to Linux or OS X (which strangely could now provide a more familiar experience to Windows users than MS's newest offering) being worse than the pain of learning this new family of software. And I think they'll get away with it just by shear momentum. To hurry adoption along even more I expect them to be more aggressive with Windows 7's EOL schedule than they were with XP, which was generous to start and then extended.
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
There are few advantages, such as minor performance improvements and some of the Metro apps are actually quite nice for a notebook or tablet: IE10, Windows Mail, the 3rd party Wikipedia and Khan Academy apps. That being said, I felt that the constant flicking through Start screen, Desktop and Metro apps was ultimately rather painful. They really are like two worlds that don't integrate at all. Also, the graphics are crappy. You could say it is minimalism, but I see it just as having no style at all. Just look at the startup logo or the volume indicator popup as examples. As a little side issue, I experienced audio buffer underruns which does not happen under Win7 with the same laptop.
For a Joe Sixpack machine, I suppose Win8 is just fine. For a power user desktop, it's a turd.
8?
Truly, 2013 will be the year of the Linux desktop!
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
It works quite well in 512MB in a VM. Try it on a hypervisor that can do dynamic memory some time (Hyper-V and ESX can). Set it to 512MB minimum and a plenty high max. Fire it up, watch it drop to 512MB used.
Also if you are planning on using XP in VMs you'd better either plan on taking them off the net or plan on moving to something else since support for it ends in 2014 and running a networked OS that doesn't get patches is a bad idea.
Hi,
just my 222 cents,
Windows NT 5.1 (or WindowsXP like most of you like to call it) has except the Luna theme many good traits from windows NT 5 (2000) which from the point of Windows XP was and is also excessivly used.
For WindowsXP it was easy to kill Windows2000 later because the people found out the ways to make it look like windows2000 and btw. they found the windowsXP "gold key" that gave them till 2-3 years ago to use the update service without installing virus infrested 40 day crack resetting tools. Well Microsoft closed that golden oportunity for a reason, to make it easier to kill windowsXP. Also the release of ServicePack 1 and later ServicePack 2 fixed many serious issues.
With Windows2000 having reached Service Pack incarnation 4 and Windows XP having reached Service Pack incarnation 3 (we should just count 1 or 2 up, because when updating from SP3 it's around 300-500 mb that equals to 2 ServicePacks)
You can now tell how hard it was for Windows 7 to battle the persitence of WindowsXP.
Windows7 gained acceptance just shortly in the corporate world, that will make Windows8 perhaps the new Windows Vista
Microsoft should go back to it's roots (Windows2k/XP) .. sorry Stuck in the 16-bit World.
And Linux/GUI devellopers and LibreOffice Devellopers should not jump the ribbon,
Windows2000/XP(w/o Luna) and Office 2k/XP/2k3 had from MPOV the neatest look and best working experience, except for Excel we can't have more than 16-bit rows data
For a Joe Sixpack machine, I suppose Win8 is just fine. For a power user desktop, it's a turd.
I wouldn't say a turd, but it's certainly not aimed at power users. If Joe Sixpack and his woman spend all their time in Facebook and Hotmail it might just be the best thing since Spiced Ham.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Vista never got close, and it was because corporate users ignored it en-masse. Microsoft still counted sales because new PCs came with it, but they were immediately reimaged back to XP so never showed up in the usage stats. 7 is now passing XP because companies are now shifting to 7 (gradually). Few of them have any interest in switching to 8 due to the expense, retraining, and general lack of things making it worth doing for a large company.
On top of that, with Microsoft's new plan to go to more frequent, smaller OS updates, "8" will only be on sale for a comparatively short period of time before the next update. Are they going to call that update Windows 8? Probably not. 8's reputation isn't exactly stellar in many circles, and they can polish up the rough edges and use the update for a rebrand.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
Where do those stats came from and how old are they?
Latest stats from two well-known sources show quite different numbers:
NetApplications - North America + Europe:
Win7 43%
WinXP 21%
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=10&qpaf=-000%09100%090%0DO000%09100%091%0D
Statcounter - WORLDWIDE
Win7 53%
WinXP 26%
Source: http://gs.statcounter.com/#os-ww-monthly-201111-201211
After Microsoft stopped to sell it four years ago? With that-what-must-not-be-named, which was intended to widely replace it, having become available nearly five years ago from now? And with even Windows 7 now being around for more than three years?
I'd say, that's the important message behind the headline, and it's a good one, because it's continued proof that even Microsoft users, even when "the company is doing everything it can to get its users off Windows XP", as TFA says, don't eat every shit they're getting served. And, with Windows 8, there's good hope that Microsoft will be the ones who are going to choke on a new version of Windows, again.
Then why buy an overpriced turd machine with Win8? A $199 Chromebook will be better for them.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
so as a power user you actually navigate to what you want to run instead of just hitting the windows key types the first few letters of the app and hitting enter?
Yes, despite not being in the IT business for years, I am the one my friends call when their desktops and laptops take 10 minutes to boot, clog up with viral effluent of try to VM-swap in too little physical memory.
But I try to head it off. Whenever I spy someone who's just acquired -- or is just starting to grapple with -- some Windows 7 or Vista computer I suggest, "hey, bring it over and I'll take a snapshot of the disk, then clean it and load XP onto it. If it doesn't work out I'll restore the image and we will at least have tried..."
About 40% of them take me up on the offer. 60% don't, and I do not hear from those again until things have gotten really out of hand. And if I had made the offer and they turned it down I'm inclined to suggest maybe it's time to invest in a new computer.
So they buy a brand new one, Windows 7/Vista raises one more point in market share, they 'donate' their old machine to me (and I slap XP on it right-quick) and all is right with the world.
Though in the years since Vista was introduced in '05, I seem to have experienced an overall 60% reduction in friends. Time to buy some more on Facebook!
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
As opposed to running the latest OS with all the holes waiting to be discovered? All that new code, yet to be field tested, all those new holes to be tested out in the wild LIVE, with YOUR production system?
Patches are failure you know. They have unwanted side effects that break production systems. The best thing you can get is a system so thoroughly attacked that it no longer has new vulnerabilities against it that are viable. Then don't upgrade.
> Windows XP fell to 39.82 percent while Windows 8 jumped to 1.09 percent.
Not sure if submitter is M$ shill or sarcastic.
My 2-year old "jumps" higher than that. 8-/
No, as a power user I run more than one thing at a time. Let me give you a simple example. For several years I have used Windows 7 and done this simple thing: Watch a webcast from a site like twit.tv and play a game of freecell while watching it. This worked great on Windows 7. On Windows 8, Freecell is not built int - but you can get it free from MS in their Windows Store. It is a huge (196 MB) download, but it installs fine. Every time you launch it, it asks you to sign in to xbox live (I guess MS forgot that solitaire means "alone"). There is no setting to make it stop asking. Then, it is FULL SCREEN. On my 27 inch monitor. There is no way to make it anything but either 100% or 80% (with that Metro Snap thing where you can put a tiny strip of a second metro app up next to it). No webcast I have seen fits in the 20% space without being too tiny to watch. So that simple workflow: watch a webcast while playing freecell no longer works unless you hook up a second monitor. I've been using Windows 8 as my primary OS for 9 months now and I still hate it. Whoever thought that apps should always be full screen on large monitors is an idiot.
Now it's time to see how long it takes Windows 8 to succeed its predecessors.
You really need to get a life....
The managers in charge of it should be shot. People line up in stores for days when the new Apple OS launches. The peasants basically revolt when microsoft tries to release a new OS, (hell, if I had a pitchfork, and thought I could stop Vista, et al. from being released, I'd be willing to do that literally). People would PAY to "downgrade" to XP, (and still will, if vendors played ball).
How catastrophically bad do you have to be when the OS monopoly barely scratches 1% a month after being released. Can't you see the signs, Microsoft?
It was an example. What happens when you want to run a program and it is only available in metro? Drag and drop to Word? Nope.
Here's another example. I often have documentation opened up in a PDF reader while I program. I alt-tab back and forth. Windows comes with a PDF reader, but it runs in Metro-land. Metro land automatically closes applications when it decides you are done with them, including my documentation. Oh, well, back to a Desktop-land PDF app.
It's just a pain in the ass for no good reason.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Forfty percent of all people enjoyed reading this submission.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
The report is from September of the August results - last I looked it is now December.
Also, why wasn't Linux even given passing mention? Has it's market share been reduced to a mere rounding error?
Ken
No, not quite.
A turd implies some sort of cohesion. This is more like pure liquid diarrhea.
If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits
You had me at "Freecell is a 196 MB download."
In my experience I notice most people for most situations use the mouse way more than the keyboard. They rest their right hand on the mouse, and use their left for keyboard shortcuts. For me, I only put my right hand on the keyboard when I am typing (like now).
When I am working in Photoshop (or Scribus, or Inkscape, or any graphic program) I use a stylus on my Wacom tablet along with keyboard shortcuts. I still do not want a touch screen for the simple reason that I want to see the screen as I am working. I do not want to block the screen with my hand.
Even much of the time when surfing the net I use bookmarks and links way more than typing addresses...
...would still beat Georgia.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
so as a power user you actually navigate to what you want to run instead of just hitting the windows key types the first few letters of the app and hitting enter?
You can do exactly the same in Windows 7, and for that purpose the small Start menu is still nicer to use than the full screen one.
More data that shows now vs 2009 from statcounter.
However what is diferent is many of these users were running Windows 7 6 months or more before release as Microsoft made a deal where the RC users could purchase a permanent key and Windows Update will turn it into an OEM. BUt still no one bothered to do that with Windows 8.
There are more computers today in 2012 than 2009 as China and Eastern Europe are still buying 1st time computers compared to west where slashdotters have had them for awhile. THis also shows just how slow WIndows 8 is and how great Windows 7 was.
http://saveie6.com/
All the newer computers at my society have the win7 license sticker (because new computer have that by default), but they are all reinstalled with windows xp pro. I am pretty sure many societies have the same policy and are probably (I guess) not correctly counted in the statistic.
Thing is I have not been a "start menu" user for a long time. I have 3 big monitors and have always just pinned icons to my desktop of most things I use and it never clutters up my primary screen.
I also noticed something, Back when I beta tested NT4, when the beta was over I stayed running 4. When beta testing 2000 and it finished I stayed in 2000. When beta testing XP and it was over I went back to 2000. When beta testing Vista and it was over I went back to XP. When beta testing 7 and it was over I stayed in 7 and with this BS public beta testing in 8 I actually stayed in 8. So many of these self entitled cry babies killed MS beta testing. "WHERE'S MY FREE COPY BOO HOO". Anyways
8 is not a bad OS at all, and unlike Vista does not deserve the bad rap everyone is giving it. If you don't like Modern, then don't use it, it's that simple. Plenty of other good things TO like about it,
So are you suggesting testing not-metro with multiple users and keeping only the ones that like it?
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
This is Slashdot. If you can't replace OS in your sleep, fucking LEARN.
(This site was once good for such things.)
Seriously. I don't give a shit what OS is on any PC I buy, because I put what I want on it and that's trivial to do as well as free. If I paid for "Windows", I feel free to drop any version on that hardware and those who disagree are welcome to devour my hot, hot shit.
So what if 8 sucks? In a few minutes you can be running something else, and should damn well know how to do that for your own benefit!
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Tons of people use XP still. Where have you been?
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
Metro land automatically closes applications when it decides you are done with them, including my documentation.
It doesn't close them, it suspends them. When they resume, they're supposed to restore their state to exactly what it was when they were suspended. Same as iOS and Android app life cycle, more or less.
If some app doesn't do this for you, and silently loses state when you switch away from it and back, then that's a bug in the app. If that happens in the PDF reader app that ships in the box, then that's a Windows bug, since the app is a part of Windows.
Well, then when they are "suspending" they are disappearing from Alt-Tab.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I found the documentation here:
So I'm not crazy :)
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
They shouldn't. If an app does that, then it crashed upon suspending (which would also explain why the state is reset when you relaunch it). Definitely a bug.
No, you're not crazy. But, as described on that page, suspending is not something that "just happens" to an app. It gets the corresponding event, and it gets some time to put things in order and save the state; and when it's resumed, it again gets an event to know to restore the state.
Right, the problem is that sometimes I'm keeping an app open for reference, like a PDF or a web site with the command reference. Then, it auto quits and no longer shows up in Alt-Tab, so I have to go back to the start menu again to get it to fire back up.
It is a colossal PITA - enough so that I decided to stop trying to use Metro for things that need to stay open. I reverted to a Desktop-based PDF reader. The built-in email app does the same thing, only it doesn't suspend properly so if you were drafting an email it brings you back to your inbox when you resume. Gah.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I just bought a new pc with 8 on it and have been using it for 5 days. Before this I have been using 7 on my other 4 computers. It appears that Microsoft just wanted something for their people to do. After this period of time I have removed 8 and installed 7 on the new machine. 8 is just to confusing and difficult to use. I think the best comparison is Win 8 and Vista. Sorry Microsoft but Win 7 is great and easy to use.