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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)."
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.
With Windows XP still at 28.98% you can only weep and cry. This means that nearly one third of all PC users are running disastrously old systems.
when did this site become the new site for Microsoft uninteresting press releases about their so-called successes ?
Just saying it like it are.
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.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/01/windows-8-x-breaks-10-percent-internet-explorer-11-makes-a-splash/
If you look at the Dec 2013 data Vista has 3.61% share and WinDoze 8.1 has 3.60%. What's more amazing is that Vista's share went up between Nov 2013 and Dec 2013. Gotta love it!!!
Karma: Bad
I have a house full of laptops including a Lenovo Yoga with Win8. I sort of get what they were going for - a machine that's more 'live' in response to a very limited suite of core functions that people use tablets for. The problem is that all the underlying apps don't see the world that way - they work the old way. So you have to re learn a new way to access your old apps which still work more or less the same old way - except where they don't. Or where they for no reason left off basic apps like a DVD player. Or the security suite doesn't really start all the time and you have to jump through enormous hoops to get it running.
I guess from a human factors standpoint they were going for making the machine more transparent to the function. The problem is that they only got part-way. It's analogous to using a GPS but having to tell it the name of the street you're on after every turn. Or alternatively, it's like owning a driverless car which works sort of ok until it doesn't and then you discover that you have to replace the ignition key to open the door - once you're already inside if something goes wrong.
If they were going for a user experience that made the computer invisible then they really failed. In some ways they made it worse because just as many things need user attention as before but it's harder to do them.
And meanwhile, desktop Linux made record growth from 1.56% to 1.73%.
The UI is a mess. It's completely alien to anyone coming from XP/W7, and the features that supposedly make it touchscreen-friendly are completely counter-productive to anyone who doesn't intend to use a touchscreen (for example people with a 27-inch screen that sits two arm-lengths away). Hotspots in particular - just moving the mouse cursor somewhere causing an action is an absolute no-no and very counter-intuitive. How is anyone supposed to know that moving the mouse cursor to the top right corner does something special and right-clicking in the lower-right corner has a completely different meaning than right-clicking anywhere else on the screen? Actions should be initiated by mouse clicks on visible UI elements, not by mouse movements to magic areas on the screen.
And the app store is a mess. I only knew the app store for Symbian and thought it was a mess since Symbian is officially dead and buried (app store full of nonsense crapware, X varitions of the same app with each author hoping you'll miss the best one and install his instead, etc), but the windows app store suffers from the exact same problems.
Oh, and it doesn't come with solitaire. And the solitaire from the app store (for which you nee an "MS account") is an overloaded piece of bloatware. Luckily, XP solitaire still runs on W8. This saved the day.
Strangely enough, I found out that my scanner wasn't supported anymore after I got a new machine with W8 on it. It worked just perfectly under XP, but under W8 the only choice is to throw it away (again: throw away a fully functional piece of hardware) and buy a newer one.
I think I'll try booting into a USB linux installation whenever I want to scan something.
It's fine if you disagree, but be so kind as to point me to an OS supporting roughly the same amount of hardware.
Strangely enough, I found out that my scanner wasn't supported anymore after I got a new machine with W8 on it. It worked just perfectly under XP, but under W8 the only choice is to throw it away (again: throw away a fully functional piece of hardware) and buy a newer one.
I think I'll try booting into a USB linux installation whenever I want to scan something.
Or you could install XP in a VirtualBox instance and not have to reboot when you want to scan something...
Karma: Bad
I've used Linux for a very very long time. I've suffered through hardware compatibility issues, sudden changes in software stacks, everything we've all gone through. Then Ubuntu came out and things seemed to stabilize. I was a happy camper. Then they decided to replace the gui with something I didn't like and all. KDE is really ugly and I don't like it either. I hate that stupid wallet. Well, I got a new laptop and of course, step number 1 was to wipe the drive and put on some distro. But I didn't burn it yet and put it off. It's been a year now and I have to say, evilness aside, Windows 8.1 is fine. I just work. Netbeans, mysql workbench, putty they work fine, no problems. (I'm a LAMP developer).
I get the whole Windows sucks thing, I just think that if the Linux world is going back to the days of big uncertainty, I'll take a little stability.
-- A cat is no trade for integrity!
I have the opposite problem -- my HP4850 scanner works perfectly well under Windows 8 (and XP and even Win2000 IIRC) but it's unsupported under Linux and always has been.
Win 8 and Win 7 before it have compatibility modes that allow them to run badly-behaving XP code; it's possible you could use your scanner that way. I've had some problems installing drivers for older hardware on Windows 8 but using the compatibility mode options usually got them up and running. The TWAIN interface for my HP4850 works under Win 8.1 with a 16-year-old version of Corel PhotoPaint originally meant to run under W98 as well as with Infanview, GIMP etc.
Can VirtualBox do USB passthrough for devices that the host OS doesn't have a driver for? Then it might be another solution I could look into.
The best (?) thing about Windows 8 is that you get a task bar on every monitor. Great if you have a couple big screens. The magic corners with no visual hints has to be one of the worst ideas they've come up with. Killing metro apps is fun too. There probably is some more intuitive way but here's what I do :-(
go to the upper left corner
wait for the screen image of the desktop to appear
flip back to desktop mode by clicking on the image
go to the upper left corner
wait for the images of all the metro apps to appear
right mouse on the metro app you want to kill and select close.
Or you could buy a copy of VueScan and keep using the old scanner.
It's a third-party scanner driver package for basically every scanner ever. For Windows, Macs, and Linux.
The majority of sold laptops do not come with touchscreens, even today. Where did you get that impression? It's still a feature you have to specifically search for.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
I did not write any of the parent posts. But I happen to agree with the parent of yours.
Pretty easy to reach the control panel, which you would rarely visit once your machine is set how you like. Move your mouse to the upper right side of the screen, click "Settings". From there you can go to the old familiar Control Panel window or use the net Metro interface. Or, just start typing "Control Panel" from the Start Screen for an instant search. Not hard.
Once you realise that this is the corner to move the mouse to. What tells you that? Nothing.
The Start button was removed, which I admit seemed like a bad choice, but the new Start Screen is a vast improvement. Idiots never bothered to customize their Start Menu by deleting unnecessary icons and grouping all their shortcuts into custom folders. The new Start Screen makes customization easer, and I think works much better. I don't miss the old Start Menu one bit.
You're only the third person I've met so far who thinks so. Out of around 20 that I've asked. And how many idiots are going to customise their start screen by creating folders? About as many as did in previous windows versions.
The design changes, as with all changes over the years, were backed by studies Microsoft conducted to see how people were using computers and what improvements could be made. For example, the ability to pin applications to the Task Bar and move them around was conceived by actually observing users who not only kept programs open when they weren't using them, but often closed one program and then reopened it later for the sole purpose of having them ordered how they wanted on the Task Bar.
That ability to move things on the task bar was fixed for me in XP by installing a free app a couple of years ago. Linux has had this ability for many years. Interesting that it took so long for MS to catch up, considering that they have had a Linux lab for years so they could have innovated it from Linux long ago.
I've had no problem with Windows 8. I think it's great. I know others who also share my high opinion of the new OS.
You're the 4th person out of about 20 I've asked, who thinks so. There are people where I work who have required 2-3 months to learn how to use it, and they are intelligent people who learn quickly. Win 8 is counterintuitive.
However, since the dawn of home computing, there have always been assholes like you who simply can't cope with new ways of doing things. [yada yada insult insult]
I've been a developer since before MS Windows existed. I've used all versions from 3.1 to 7, including most server versions. I tried 8 briefly and (once you switch out of Metro) there's no noticeable improvement except startup time. I only start it once per week, and shut down at the end of the week, so that doesn't matter. I develop in VMs. So there's no reason to switch, and there are things you have to learn for no benefit. E.g. all of the Metro crap, which is fine for mobile and the worst thing possible to inflict on a desktop machine. So I won't be switching unless I'm told to.
Borg:"Lawsuits are irrelevant. GPL3 is irrelevant. DRM is good. We understand security... Alert! MS are assimilating us!
1) Wrong, most won't be touch
2) Usage stats prove it
3) So first you say a Windows 8 laptop with a touchscreen will be the most sold device, but make fun of people who would use a 12" ipad with a keyboard? irony alert.
WINE runs both IE6 and MS Office. Since you have licenses you're legit, although IE6 can be run under WINE without a Windows license.
Borg:"Lawsuits are irrelevant. GPL3 is irrelevant. DRM is good. We understand security... Alert! MS are assimilating us!
Plus, the total is likely to be biased towards certain age groups, uses (home / gaming use, rather than business), and specifications of PC (i.e. that needed to run Steam).
Like any statistic, it's an indicator that has to be interpreted.
Remember when Windows 3.x sucked because it encouraged you to use a mouse and it was stupid and you were faster with a keyboard?
Remember when Windows 9x sucked because it was stupid and got rid of Program Manager?
Remember when Windows XP sucked because it looked like a Fisher Price toy?
Seriously, on modern hardware there is nothing wrong with Windows 8 and especially 8.1.
If you are a Windows user and have a convertible or a Surface Pro you'll quickly find out after a little tinkering that it actually works really nicely as a hybrid.
Hope you love it because that is the only version available!
Women don't want to hear what you think. Women want to hear what they think, in a deeper voice.
Everyone who has paid attention to Windows the last couple of decades knows, Windows 8 is the one you skip. Just like Vista, just like Millennium Edition before that. Sure they threw a in a minor wrinkle in with 8.1, but that was just a distraction to make you think they are doing something, not a major version roll. 98(SE) decent, ME suck, XP decent, Vista suck, 7 good, 8 suck. Next time around they'll keep the back end improvements and fix all the crap they screwed up in the front end.
As of January 3rd they do not, but I predict that throughout 2014 they will.
1) no problem, I'll set up a reminder for December 2014 and check if my prediction is right.
2) and 3) I have the impression that everything that is pointed out as being bad about Windows 8 and RT is what people like about iOS and Android (it boils down to simplicity and low price tags on apps and subscriptions). Hence my prediction that if (or when) Apple makes an "iPad Pro" to go along the Air; it will run iOS; it will be built for touch first; it will have an app store as the only way to add software and it will be "DRM-compliant" in a variety of ways. Today, you can get the Surface RT with that kind of features but people dislike it because it's not sufficiently alike the PC they already have.
From the day W7 came out, many XP users had no upgrade path; at least those who were smart enough to have not upgraded to Vista. You can't (and never could) perform an upgrade from XP to W7. You had to go through Vista first, or do a complete reinstall. I believe that was a deterrent for many.
Amusing, since "I hate it so everybody else who doesn't is a shill" seems to be the prevailing wisdom around here.
MSFT must agree Win 8 is shit, which is why its support is ending in just 2 years in January 2016. The preinstall aspect must explain why its market share grew despite the pending doom.
This is being handled differently than Vista SP1, which was really a disguised upgrade of Vista to Server 2008's codebase but it didn't involve an actual heavyweight OS upgrade & software reinstall (which seems to be the case for going from Win 8 to 8.1).
The real story, not in this report because the "market" has been artificially restricted to "desktop" visits to websites, is that total Windows usage (ALL versions) has tumbled to a minority position overall because of the rise of mobile/tablet devices. iOS and Android have rebalanced the personal computing world into a heterogenous environment where open standards are more important than corporate fiat. Fanbois call this fragmentation; I call it healthy.
My wife is interested in getting a new laptop, as her old one is running XP and starting to be a bit slow for the indented purpose (video editing). They use Windows 7 at work with corporate desktop, and she'd like to have that at home too. Only problem: If I take a look at any laptop available it pretty much comes bundled with Windows 8.
Technically I have "downgrade" rights if the computer comes bundled with Win 8 pro, but I have heard that there are a ton of problems with getting proper drivers and so on (laptop manufacturer might not even provide drivers for Win 7).
Also, I'd still like to wait a bit, since I'm going to upgrade the house's wireless to 802.11ac and laptops are just now starting to arrive with the gigabit wireless bundled. So if it's troublesome getting Win 7 working with new machines right now, I wonder how next-to-impossible it will be by the end of the year.
What model is it? HP generally doesn't make full TWAIN drivers available for their older scanners, but a generic WIA driver is usually available on either HP's site or via Windows Update. The scanner interface is very basic compared to the full TWAIN driver, but usually gets the job done. If you need a full function driver, VueScan is a good alternative.
The windoes world is unlike the iWorld. People are neither forced or need to upgrade every time there is a new shiny out there. Windows 8 will not have significant widespread adoption until windows 7 pc's meet their physical demise. The upgrade from XP to 7 (if hardware capable) offered some advantages but not enough that hordes flew to 7. 8 vs 7 is the same phenom - its a bit faster, has a few new tricks but all in all for the average user that only desires the "desktop" its just not on that must have list. It is not that 8 is not good but that 7 is more than good enough.
The term "market" implies that the calculations pertain only to competing products for sale and counted by sales receipts. The pie graph on the article indicates over 90% for some sort of MS Windows. 7.5% Mac and 1.7% Linux. I suppose that they're counting my laptop, which came pre-installed with some version of Windows as a Windows machine. Well I did install Windows 7 in a VM, but that's seldom used. Mostly I'm just using the host OS which is FreeBSD. How do they count that since it isn't really in the "market"?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I don't care so much about 8 and I won't until 7 nears end of life. But I don't want XP machines on the Internet for "general use" (e.g. web browsing, etc.) or directly connected to the Internet at all (no hardware firewall) as they are much more likely to be compromised in a way that can hurt me or the general public than supported operating systems.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Windows is counted as machines are sold. Linux is often uncounted. I know more people personally using Ubuntu or Mint than are using Windows 8. If you count me personally, I have several dual boot machines, but rarely boot into Windows XP or 7.
The truth shall set you free!
After reading yesterday's articles, I still use the hardware, but use aftermarket firmware such as DD-SRT or Tomato. No reason to trust firmware without source code anymore.
The truth shall set you free!
About time I upgrade my Windows ME machine. Was holding off for a new OS from the 95 line.
Scanjet 2200C. It's too cheap for HP to bother with; they officially say that there's no driver for Vista or any more recent version of Windows.
If you hate it, it's because you don't know how to use it. I spent 3 crazy days trying to figure it out when I got my new laptop/tablet hybrid. Instead of lamenting what I thought was a useless system, I actually *figured out* where things were - took an admin-level tour through it. Guess what - it's pretty good. Adding the start menu back is mostly a comfort thing, but I use it because it does reduce a click now and then. Win-X is genius (simple, WTF didn't this happen before genius). For the record, if you'd read the "quick start" pamphlet, you'd know about the hot spots. They're also a key ingredient in both iOS and Android - it's not like making the UI like an easter egg hunt is anything new.
The app store is on par with the iTunes in terms of usability (so, yes, it sucks). And there are fairly few good apps in there so far, but it's also 4 years behind in developer mindshare. Not that it matters...there's no reason to ever go there if you have a laptop or desktop.
What they have utterly failed to realize is that the tablet or tablet hybrid experience has been decimated by their megalomania. The onscreen keyboard only auto-corrects in a very select few MS programs. It's a keyboard - they need to put that intelligence in the keyboard module, not in the applications. And full screen apps need the power of a full OS. No "I'm going to turn off browser plugins if you go full-screen" - because that makes it as crippled as iOS or Android. And no "if you set your default browser to anything but IE, we're going to diable the IE fullscreen interface". I got news: if IE would go fullscreen, I'd use it over Chrome for tablet mode...except that you CAN'T set Chrome as default on the desktop and still get the FS interface. Oh, and plugins are disabled. Why? Fuck you, that's why.
I almost never go into Metro on my laptop, but Plex is fabulous on a 15.5" tablet/tent mode device so there's one reason to go. The rest of it is like Win7, but with better admin tools (consolidated task manager/services/startup, Win-X access to everything).
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I think grandparent was referring to exercising downgrade rights from Windows 8 to Windows 7.
Oh how I regret not having any mod points today, that was a great zinger.
That said I've a desktop and a laptop at home both with 8 and my family seems to be adjusting to it alright. Still some horrible UI design decisions but nothing show stopping yet. I haven't tried out 8.1 because I've heard of it creating problems for some of the games that I play.
XP installations aren't suddenly going to become more insecure overnight this April any more than Windows 2000 installations did in July 2010.
Not overnight, but I see a zero-day exploit likely becoming widespread by the end of April.
you should not have that netbook online after April of this year.
Frankly, for the cost of upgrading, given the age of that thing, buying a new one probably makes more sense.
Who makes 10.1" netbooks anymore? I looked around, and it appears that manufacturers have stopped making machines smaller than 11.6" since about a year ago.
Actually you know more people using *nix* than ubuntu, mint, or windows due to Android and because people were always using more nix than windows, they just never realized because it was mostly in background appliances, etc.
Unless they do what home ISP technical support tells them to do during troubleshooting: "Let's see if your router is the problem. Try connecting the computer directly to the modem."
$80 (source) is almost as expensive as Windows itself.
Because I and a million others could have (and often did) tell you this would be the case back when I first tried a late Win8 preview build. MS could have had multiple times the current market share had they simply not *forced* Metro on people who didn't want it. You know, like do a quick check upon install to see if the PC is a touchscreen tablet and then default to the desktop with a classic Start Menu if you weren't on an appropriate device.
Instead, they chose to piss off tons of people by forcing their phone interface on people who use office applications. And now two years later, they get the market share they more or less deserve.
Still faster with a keyboard.
Start menu was an improvement on progman.
XP could (and was) be put into classic mode along with control panel.
And yet there aren't that many games (only a few of the very, very, very recent ones) or apps that demand that amount of RAM.
Seriously, go look through your task manager when you're running them. And even if they use >4Gb there, doesn't mean they would use >4Gb on a 4Gb machine (most of it is probably just caches of decoded data).
The whole 64-bit thing isn't much of an issue at the moment. Hell I manage school networks and a private school had a 10Gb database running EVERYTHING from attendance to reporting to all the finance (including salary runs and tax returns) etc. all running on a 32-bit machine with a 32-bit client.
Just because you can use more than 4Gb doesn't mean that you ever were for 99% of things that you do.
It's just a never-ending bitching about windows this and windows that. It if suits your tasks, use it, if it doesn't don't. I use KDE 90% of the time at my job for coding, testing, deploying, etc. At home I use windows to do some freelance work, code some shit for ARM devices and watch movies/play games. I'm a windows user since 95, and while with you on most of the 8.x metro problems, they are solved with a tiny tool called startisback or start8. And those are the guys who made a fucking fortune with all this situation. Every problem has a solution and while 8.x shouldn't bring all this inconveniences, it's a fucking stable OS that works A-ok. KDE crashes way more, Gnome is the same shit... Unity, well that is a fucking abomination. As for OSX, I just don't like it on a personal level so I won't comment on that. Get over it and stop bitching, don't like it, don't use it. If you have to, fix it. Anyone who asks for help, well you can earn an extra bucks with them.
Fucking a fat girl is like riding a scooter... it's fun 'til someone sees you.
The one improvement Microsoft could have made in windows 8.1 is to have an option to have a more windows 7 like interface. I accomplished with a lot of work and by adding classic shell. The old windows is still there, but Microsoft hides it because they want us to start using the metro apps.
The trouble is that a lot of us don't want to move to the metro apps. My computer has a keyboard and mouse and my old programs work just fine that way.
So I got my kid a new windows 8 pc last christmas (2012) and since upgraded to 8.1. Its impossible to tell at a glance in Metro which apps are running and invariably there's like 20 or 30 apps and/or browser windows in the background running plugins . You have to take some sort of positive action to see whats running. According to MS, these apps & windows in metro are supposed to auto-magically die after some period of non-use, but I know from experience that they don't die. They just sit there sucking up resources. Its especially bad if they use either flash or java because they will cause conflicts with other flash/java applications. So my kid is always complaining that youtube wont show a video and sure enough I open a new browser window, navigate to youtube, and flash won't play. I have to go to task manager and kill like 20 processes to get IE to properly use flash and play video. Same thing with minecraft; my kid can't get it to run reliabily because there usually something else (like hidden browser windows running java in metro) using up resources. It was so frustrating because he had the newest PC in the house with the best specs in processor and RAM and his damn PC couldn't run minecraft reliably! I mean, really? WTF MS?
Was 2013 the year Linux 'exploded' and took over the desktop market, as predicted? It failed to do so in 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, etc...
Ken
The whole point is that the games doesn't run well in Windows for many. Then again you're just a trolling AC so you won't see this anyway.
It's painfully clear that the vast majority of you have decent experience with your OS flavor of choice, then with your limited understanding of the other OSs out there you bash everything you can.
Stereotypical ignorance driven fear.
You all make me sick.
It is exciting to tract the various OS populatities; progress will happen very slowly. Consumer market share is not representative of an IT company's future success, nor is a single product the entire business model. Windows 8 is bad for corporations which in turn tell the consumer what they want to buy. I find myself wanting a Chromebook for no other reason than that propaganda. "Well see" is profound now more than ever regarding practical computing.
He is crazy if you think about it; I am not.
But... Linux!
As a Canadian why would you put this comment in a thread about Window 8? As for the ACA so far a win for me. I am disabled and just got on Medicare. My wife quite her job to care for her elderly parents. She got a silver plan for her and our 22 year old college student son that with the subsidy cost us $19.20 a month.
Our healthcare system is a mess. Your ideas and those of AC are good but politically difficult to implement. With all its warts the ACA was passed so something that actually fixes the problem instead of propping up the current system might be doable.
I'm guessing that companies rolling out pre-planned upgrades might account for some of that - but I have to wonder if the remainder is either downgrade options being exercised by those who've bought that option, or people wiping their systems and reinstalling Windows 7 after trying out Windows 8.
FWIW, I was one of those who tried Windows 8 at the end of last year - the desktop environment was OK, but Modern UI drove me nuts, and I ended up going back to Windows 7. I'm considering whether to give Windows 8.1 a chance...
-MT.
Strangely enough, I found out that my scanner wasn't supported anymore after I got a new machine with W8 on it. It worked just perfectly under XP, but under W8 the only choice is to throw it away (again: throw away a fully functional piece of hardware) and buy a newer one.
This problem dates back to Vista - Microsoft completely rejigged the hardware driver architecture, making XP drivers unusable. Sadly, note all hardware makers chose to issue updated drivers for older products, or only produced drivers for the 32-bit versions of Windows, ignoring the fact that the 64-bit version was the one being installed on most new PCs. My parents had to ditch their working Canon flatbed scanner as a result.
-MT.
As I said in my first sentence, this is off topic. I was merely responding to the response to my original post which had directly to do with Windows 8.
I think it is funny how many Slashdot stories get twisted into american political debate about something totally unrelated... :)