Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 Pass 10% Market Share, Windows XP Falls Below 30%

An anonymous reader writes "With the release of Windows 8.1 to the world in October, Microsoft ended 2013 with two full months of availability for its latest operating system version. While Windows 8.1 is certainly growing quickly and eating into Windows 8s share, the duo has only now been able to pass 10 percent market share, while Windows 7 seems to be plowing forward unaffected. The latest market share data from Net Applications shows that Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 made steady progression in December 2013, gaining a combined 1.19 percentage points (from 9.30 percent to 10.49 percent). More specifically, Windows 8 gained 0.23 percentage points (from 6.66 percent to 6.89 percent), while Windows 8.1 jumped 0.96 percentage points (from 2.64 percent to 3.60 percent)."

Comments

It doesn't matter

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows 8 is still a piece of shit, and most people got it because their device came preinstalled with it... they didn't choose it.

Re:It doesn't matter

[Stormwatch]

Did they kill the retarded Start screen yet? No? Then it's not fixed.

Re:It doesn't matter

[Anonymous Coward]

See the previous two comments... Microsoft didn't 'fix' anything - Classic Shell fixes it.

Would you buy a user interface from this man?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAO2wk27Vmk

"Derp, derp, derp"...

Would you buy a shirt from this man?

Re:It doesn't matter

[Anonymous Coward]

I still see a lack of a proper Start Menu instead of a jarring state change to a completely different UI, invisible and non-discoverable magical mouse movements based on a magical handful of pixels dotted around the screen, horizontal scrolling instead of scalable content or vertical scrolling (you know, that thing every mouse has a wheel for, unlike the other type), three different versions of Internet Explorer, control panels where most of the options have been hidden or completely removed, and a lack of any coherent thought at all ("It's for servers! It's for tablets! It's a desert topping AND a floor wax!").

Of course the most horrifying part of it is that Microsoft intended Windows 8 & Windows 8.1 to look and act that way.

Re:It doesn't matter

[Cenan]

What are those "most of the issues" you speak of?

Is it the completely, un-mouse friendly interface to reach your settings, or anything at all actually?

The completely retarded replacement of the start button with a shortcut to the equally retarded start screen?

The utter lack of feedback from the UI? Is it working now!? maybe I missed the button - the scheduler knows, but why the fuck should it tell me, I'm just the user right?

Or could it be that you're referring to the fact that I have to run a shell command to setup which programs start with Windows?

Or that it feels like some smug 20-something year old asshole, fresh out of college, employed the entirety of his book learnedness to shit all over 30 years of UI design practices.

The Windows 8 UI is entirely un-userfriendly, couple that with the fact that a good portion of the install base came pre installed and therefore without a fucking manual to ease to transition. Have YOU tried this 8.1 piece of shit? Because I have and I am not impressed.

Re:It doesn't matter

[Luckyo]

Sadly classic shell doesn't fix all the problems.

And 8.1 is indeed a faux fix, just designed to give apologists some more talking points. Actual fixes are nonexistent.

Re:It doesn't matter

[MightyYar]

I agree that the Start menu sucked*, but the Start screen sucks even more... you can hardly blame people for not wanting to use something that sucks more. More than just the Start Screen, the whole schizophrenic Metro thing is a PITA. True, you can take steps to actively avoid Metro, but that's another thing that sucks more than Windows 7. Personally, I put up with it for a year until I had a hard drive flake out. At that point, I realized how much less useful Windows 8 Backup was than Windows 7 Backup (no image???), and since I was reinstalling anyway I just loaded 7 on.

* The Start Menu was a stupid holdover from the Program Manager in Windows 3, which itself sucked. The idea that every installed application needs to be installed again in another place is just plain dumb. IMHO, Macs had a better solution in the early 90s, so it seems odd that they went the way they did. Smart people work at MS, so I assume it had to do with compatibility or performance on the limited machines of the time.

Re:It doesn't matter

[Anonymous Coward]

Actual fixes are nonexistent.

Installing Windows 7 (or Linux) is a fix.

Re:It doesn't matter

[nctritech]

The disabling of the "legacy boot menu" ability by default is ridiculous and makes any serious problems with Windows 8 frustrating to fix, as now we can't tell customers to slap F8 repeatedly, we have to tell them to force the machine off in mid-boot TWICE to get the menu and access safe mode. A number of older software titles don't work properly, especially older games. But you want to know what the absolute biggest problem I ended up having with Win8 was, and why I ultimately threw it out?

THE FUCKING CHARM BAR.

I have a laptop with Win8 from the factory and every time I'd slide my finger onto the touchpad from the right edge (a habit I didn't know I had until this) the stupid bar would appear. It happened constantly and infuriated me every time. IT'S NOT A TOUCHSCREEN, IT'S JUST THE DAMNED TOUCHPAD. Who thought this was a good idea?! I have dual monitors set up with the laptop, and the bar would steal focus and I'd have to dick with the pointer to make it go away so I could get back to work!

Touchscreens on home computers have begun to destroy everything good about them. I still have yet to meet anyone who is willing to sit there with their arm outstretched constantly to do work on a flipping touchscreen. I'm also a "square" monitor throwback: my 1600x1200 monitor is more versatile than a widescreen of the same inch diagonal which tends to come in 1366x768 or 1400x900 resolutions and be very annoying when working with vertical data (spreadsheets, SQL queries, etc.)

Re:It doesn't matter

[Joce640k]

That's why they fixed most of the issues in Windows 8.1. You should try it.

I did. They haven't. It still takes me away from where I'm working (the desktop) into Metro at every opportunity.

Want to view an image? Let's go to Metro.
Want to play an mp3? Let's go to Metro.

Yes you can fix it but you have to do it for every single file extension, on every computer you own.

Or... I could just stick with Windows 7.

Hmmm. A difficult choice.

Not.

Dear Microsoft. If I wanted a tablet interface I'd buy an iPad. Got it?

Re:It doesn't matter

[seanvaandering]

Bought my wife a brand new laptop with Windows 8.0 preinstalled for Christmas. Today I caught her back on my desktop computer when I came home from work...

"Hey honey - something wrong with your laptop?"

"No, i'm just sick and tired of it always shutting down (Windows updates to 8.1, etc, been updating every day since she turned it on) and the mouse is too sensitive (shes used to a desktop optical mouse) and I can't find my desktop! (the new interface is confusing)"

This is supposed to be Microsofts target demographic - and she already hates it, not even a full week after using it.

I almost couldn't believe that I had to download VLC because Media Player won't play DVD's because Microsoft didn't include the codecs? Why the hell did manufacturers install a DVD payer in the machine.

This Operating System sucks balls. I for one will never be upgrading my main system - ever.

Re:It doesn't matter

[Anonymous Coward]

The swipe from the edges to get toolbars/options is now standard UI design on touch devices. The majority of people now have at least one touch device so this is not going to be a foreign thing for anyone soon. Does it make sense for people with a mouse and keyboard? No.

This is the entire problem though: Microsoft apparently forgot that the vast majority of their users would not be using Windows 8[.1] on a touch enabled device, but chose to screw them all over anyway in a poor effort to chase the tablet market. What a way to shoot your foot, leg and pelvis off at one fell swoop!

Re:It doesn't matter

[TheRaven64]

So how is a novice user expected to discover the keyboard shortcuts? I tried alt-F4 and it worked, but that's because I learned to hit alt-F4 to close things in Windows 3.1, and I learned it because if you went to the quit item in the menu, it was right there. From a Metro app there is no menu so how do you learn this?

Re:It doesn't matter

[david_thornley]

The first time you log into a Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 system there is a brief video tutorial that shows you the charms and how to access them. It also shows you where the hot corners are and what they do.

First, I can walk up to almost any other computer around and figure out how to use it without a tutorial. If a Windows 7 user needs a tutorial to use Windows 8, but not Linux Mint, I'm going to suggest that Microsoft may not have made the optimum choice.

Second, I start using a computer to do something. It may be to write a program, check a website, play a game, whatever. I don't want to have to sit through a tutorial before I can use it. If I can skip the tutorial, it's useless, particularly if it isn't obvious how to get to it later. If I can't, it's annoying.

Third, people don't read manuals. They don't pay attention to tutorials. They have found that they don't need manuals and tutorials for most things.

In short, this is a typical Microsoft thing: create a problem, provide a bad solution, and claim it's the user's fault for not using their solution.

Re:Windows XP still at 28.98%

[a_n_d_e_r_s]

As long as the old junk is better then the new junk. They continue to use it.

Glass have water

[Anne Thwacks]

put it another way: WinXP is still roughly three times as popular as Win8, and even Unity is probably more popular than WIn8 but no meaningful is data available.

Re:Glass have water

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not really a case of popularity, it's a case of necessity. Do you upgrade your car to the current years version every year?

System admins would probably install Windows 7 or 8 on new systems. Sometimes, however, the new version of a piece of software offers so little extra to a subset of users that it simply isn't worth upgrading, even if you'd choose the newer version when starting from scratch.

What these numbers basically mean is that Windows XP is still good enough for a large percentage of users even though Windows 7 is generally a more attractive project.

I certainly don't upgrade my VW Golf every year because of the slightly better mileage or air con and i wouldn't argue that old golfs are more popular than new ones, they are just good enough that there is no need to change.

Re:Windows XP still at 28.98%

[dbIII]

There's still applications that won't run on win7 and the new MS Office still runs on XP. Add in some GUI changes that people have to get used to (unless someone like me or you puts it in "classic mode" for them) and those things combined are enough of a barrier for some people not to bother.
So plenty of reasons until that killer app comes along that won't work on XP.

Re:Windows XP still at 28.98%

[Pentium100]

Windows 7 is better than XP, but not by a lot. That is, it is not worth the pain to reinstall Windows on the same PC (like it was upgrading from 98 and especially ME to XP).

Of course, when I built a new PC a couple of months ago I installed Windows 7 on it (8 just looks awful, even with ClassicShell).

Re:Windows XP still at 28.98%

[symbolset]

I knew I was going to see this here. Disastrous12 year old software. For the record system builders were stilled allowed to install XP on new netbooks up until October 22, 2010, and new machines were still being cleared from inventory Christmas 2011. So it is still pretty new to a few people. Up until three years ago it was still new software. That is not very old for a desktop installation.

But that doesn't play into your "not Microsoft's fault stupid people won't update their software every decade" theme you have to have going on here, does it? Now it's a matter of people getting jacked out of what they paid for sooner than a reasonable expectation, on hardware that won't even run the upgrade. Completely screws up your flow. Now it's not their fault. Sorry for ruining your party.

Re:Windows XP still at 28.98%

[symbolset]

And then comes the obvious suggestion: "punish them for trying to make you buy their new crap by buying their older crap instead. That will teach them." It is painful to watch you guys work. You know that, don't you?

Re:Windows XP still at 28.98%

[MightyYar]

XP was mostly very badly received on geek sites like Slashdot

XP's greatest sin at the time was bloating up Windows 2000 without adding any significant features to compensate. Cheap memory and several service packs fixed most of those complaints. Vista had similar birthing problems, but in the end we got Windows 7, which is pretty good.

The thing about Windows 8 is that performance is not a complaint you typically hear. In fact, it seems faster than 7. No amount of hardware improvements will fix Windows 8's deficiencies, so we are left with service packs for hope. For the next few years, it's a non-issue as companies will run Windows 7.

Re:Just had my first experiences with 8 ...

[Anonymous Coward]

The UI is a mess. It's completely alien to anyone coming from XP/W7,

And yet it's completely familiar to anyone who has used Win3.1. Windows is older than you want to admit, kid. Now get off my lawn.

Re:Windows XP still at 28.98%

[Pi1grim]

Office 2013 is an abomination and I'd rather it ran off a cliff. The font anti-aliasing and hinting have been broken and make my eyes bleed, the interface is worse than in 2010, less function more showing off.
The typing animation, that draws symbols on screen with a second or so delay is even worse (yeah, I understand it's for tablet users, so they don't feel like they're painfully slow when typing, but you could at least disable it on desktops, where it creates the impression of deadly slow computer).