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Windows 8.1 Passes Windows Vista In Market Share

Posted by samzenpus on from the growing-everyday dept.

An anonymous reader writes "With the release of Windows 8.1 to the world in October, January was the third full month of availability for Microsoft's latest operating system version, which was just enough time for it to pass Windows Vista in market share. While Windows 8.1 is certainly growing steadily and eating into Windows 8s share, the duo only managed to end 2013 with 10 percent market share, barely impacting Windows 7."

8 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. LOL by rossdee · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wake me when it passes XP

    1. Re:LOL by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Chances are this will be from the folks who have no migration path from the software they're using, and they're unwilling to drop it because it "does what it needs to do." We're in a rather interesting era for software, for businesses XP does just fine. The software works, and does it well. So unless your machines have internet access, you're probably going to hold off as long as you can.

      On the consumer side, we don't have any big software pushing development. For gaming it's the same deal. And now with Microsoft not sure what it's doing with DirectX, other API's are looking more attractive to developers. OGL and Mantle chiefly, so could this be the beginning of the end of MS desktop dominance? Very possibly. If say Mantle catches on, it could be the deathknell for it. Since it works on AMD and Nvidia cards, it works on any OS since it's handled by the drivers.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
  2. Upgraded from 8 to 7 by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 2, Interesting

    At some point a Microsoft update bricked my wife's laptop (HP Pavillion). Don't know how updating files could mess up the partition table but it did. We'd had enough of 8 so I used a spare license for 7 to upgrade it to 7 Pro. It's still Windoze but at least it's stable and doesn't have the sucky "Metro" (or whatever Microsoft is calling it now) UI.

    Cheers,
    Dave

    --
    They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
    Ben
  3. Re:Well.... by JeffAtl · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Its a whole lot of noise about nothing. If you really dont like it then set boot-to-desktop and then the only time you need to see the only thing that has changed (the start screen) is if you need to open an application that isnt pinned to the taskbar

    You make it sound like that scenario is rare - it's not and it's very frustrating.

  4. Sort of by jbeaupre · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have no love for Win 8's UI. But Classic Shell to the rescue. My current system has the best of both worlds. Win 7 UI, Win 8 OS under the hood (which does have some nice improvements).

    --
    The world is made by those who show up for the job.
  5. Re:Vista's not that bad by JeffAtl · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think Microsoft is using Windows 8 to force the Windows Phone UI down everyone's throat. Eventually, they will give up.

    Their stubbornness is going to start affecting their enterprise business, so they need to wise up soon. Fortunately, the new CEO comes from the enterprise side so he will likely understand that they're playing with fire.

  6. Re:Vista's not that bad by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Windows Vista is not that bad. It just needed a couple years of bug fixes. Microsoft did the smart thing by release a new version of windows with cosmetic changes, and a new name, once the bug fixes were in place.

    I think Microsoft is using Windows 8 to force the Windows Phone UI down everyone's throat. Eventually, they will give up.

    That lie keeps being spread and is somehow truth.

    My 2007 era AMD turion from the Vista era disagrees. Vista is ssssllooooowww and takes several minutes to boot even on a fresh install. It swaps constantly and has 2 gigs of ram. Windows 7 on this ancient machine and it runs fine. Yes that is with the latest service packs too. The indexing service takes 20 minutes to build. Windows 7 a few seconds! network SUCKS. It is unusable in a moderate business environment.

    True an i7 with 4 gigs of ram and a ssd will probably run it ok but these are Windows 7/8 era machines.

    --
    http://saveie6.com/
  7. Re:Vista's not that bad by JeffAtl · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not sure you read or understood my post. I want Microsoft to succeed as I'm a .NET developer. I am worried, however, that this misguided stubbornness with Metro is going to start eroding the stranglehold that Microsoft has enjoyed in the enterprise.

    Whether you want to admit it or not, the Metro interface does not belong on a server.