Slashdot Mirror
Windows 8 and 8.1 Pass 15% Market Share, Windows XP Drops Below 20% Mark
An anonymous reader writes Everyone is well-aware by now that Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 have not seen the impressive adoption rate of their predecessor. Yet the duo had a particularly good run last month, finally passing 15 percent market share together. Together, they owned 16.80 percent of the market at the end of October, up from 12.26 percent at the end of September. Windows XP meanwhile dropped a whopping 6.69 points to 17.18 percent. The biggest catalyst for these changes was most likely back to school sales in September, which are better reflected in the data after students use their new machines for a full month.
Come on, it's 2014, and slashdot is still using that broken windows avatar for Windows stories.
Not only it that "joke" not funny anymore, it's not even true. Windows might not be great, but its hardly broken like in the days of 95 or 98.
It is long past time you grow up and use the correct logo.
FTA: "These gains did not come at the expense of Windows 7, which still managed to grow 0.34 points to 53.05 percent."
s/©//g
It's interesting that while 8.1 is around 10%-ish, 8 is still about 5%. Considering 8.1 is a free update for registered copies of 8, how many of the un-updated copies of 8 are pirated versions?
What percentage windows has captured of the overall device market, instead of just the desktop market.
I wonder how many of Windows 8.X's sales are "forced", IE, preinstalled on a PC that a consumer bought because they needed a PC, not because they wanted Windows 8? Stipulating that the consumer is not a geek, and not aware that they might be able to ask for Windows 7 preinstalled instead?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
and I swore a lot less at Win98 than I did at 8.0. Win8.1 is useable, but still bites at your fingers now and again.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Based on past experience, most of those Windows 8 and 8.1 purchases are home and student based. Businesses are either exercising their Windows 8 downgrade rights and sticking with Windows 7 Pro, or holding out for a true successor, possibly being Windows 10.
Life is not for the lazy.
I thought linux is like 20%. One percent is sort of like "other" in my book.
I wonder how many of Windows 8.X's sales are "forced", IE, preinstalled on a PC that a consumer bought because they needed a PC, not because the
Pretty much any purchase that isn't a Mac or a chromebook. Yeah there are few linux folks out there but they are pretty much a rounding error in the pre-install desktop market which accounts for the vast majority of machines sold.
You'd struggle to get me back to 7 now. And no, I don't use a start menu addon.
Well that puts you firmly in the minority then. I have a Windows 8 machine at work and I absolutely hate the interface. Clumsy, non-intuitive, and obviously designed for a tablet rather than a keyboard and mouse. Hides stuff off screen when it isn't necessary and provides no hints that it is there. I'm perfectly happy trying something different so long as it is an improvement. Windows 8 most definitely is not an improvement. Microsoft is trying to mash together tablet and PC interfaces which in principle is fine but they really, really struck out on this attempt. Maybe they'll get it right in a future version.
I thought linux is like 20%. One percent is sort of like "other" in my book.
Linux's market share in desktop PCs is pretty much a rounding error. Always has been and that isn't likely to change soon. You'll find plenty of linux in mobile and servers but not in desktop or laptop PCs.
I have to say... I have three Windows 8.0 Pro licences that I purchased at launch when they were cheap... I've tried it several times, never could stand it, just wasn't finished...
Recently I bought a new Dell laptop that came with Windows 8.1 and was pleasantly surprised at the improvements.
While my main machine will probably run Windows 7 until Windows 10 comes out, I've upgraded several other machines from 7 to 8.1 now using my existing licenses.
I have to say, had Windows 8 launched as 8.1 stands today, I think most of the hate would have been gone, it is "cleaned up" and an improvement in many ways over 8.0.
Looking forward to 10...
Apple OS represents a culture and not a technical solution.
The popularity of MacBooks at Linux and Unix conferences indicate you are wrong. Mac won the desktop Unix battle. Consumer friendly GUI on top, with a lot of off-the-shelf commercial support. BSD Unix underneath, most FOSS applications run just fine on Mac OS X. Very few apps are Linux specific.
Personally most *nix things that I need to do can be accomplished on a Mac quite nicely. I mainly use Linux for embedded devices and headless servers sitting in the closet. I have a dual-boot PC with Windows for gaming but I rarely boot into Linux.
and other sub $150 windows 8.1 tablets.
Linux still lags behind MS Vista, by a 2:1 margin (Vista enjoys about a 2.5% total market share, Linux about 1.4%), but still Linux advocates declare Linux is poinsed to take over the desktop market any day now!
I'm a fan of Linux, but have to agree. It's like we're going to have practical nuclear fusion in 40 years....
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
You understand you could click on the hyperlink and see where the stats came from...
Ken
Since this is usage stats. Lets looks at client usage stats on internet:
Windows 57.12%
Linux 20.12%
Apple 18.04%
Other 4.74%
Stats are from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems
So yes Linux has come a long way. Windows may still own the desktop. Market share in what is though of as the PC-market (desktop/laptop/nettbook) its only 1.64% today. But in market share of the computers that are used to surf on the net, supercomputers, servers real time system there Linux are thriving.
Linux is in second place and increasing in the IT that folks use today
Just saying it like it are.
YES, Windows 8/8.1 are f********ing great.
E.G. When you got a laptop with windows 7 and you were sad. You had to setup a dual boot because you wanted to have the joy of windows' games and features and ease of use from time to time, but when you were serious you were working on Linux ofc.
Now, you get a laptop with windows 8 and things are pretty clear. No more dual f'ing boots, no "God damn it I forgot to pick the right OS on GRUB2"... now you are just relaxing on boot times, because you have only one choice...just Linux.
Linux will likely always have a miniscule desktop share, but I will still always use it. I do recognize that there will not be a "year of the Linux desktop."
i would rather deal with unsupported XP with viruses than the steaming dog turd called windows 8. it was the most infuriating UI I have ever had the displeasure of using, and I lived through the rise and fall of macromedia flash websites
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
I would posit that new sales (where the consumer doesn't have a choice) is responsible for the Win8 numbers rising. From the feedback I get from my friends and acquaintances it doesn't seem to be from consumers making a "choice" that they want Win8. And I really have to question XP dropping below 20%, at least in a business environment. I generally see about 50/50 between Win7 and XP among our customers and the businesses we come in contact with. And everywhere I go XP still appears to be the dominant OS behind retailer's POS systems. We have upgraded a fair number of our customers to Win7 Pro (as many as we could convince) but there is still more than 20% of them on XP. Not sure who "venturebeat" is, but look around, the numbers just don't seem quite accurate.
Since this is usage stats. Lets looks at client usage stats on internet:
Windows 57.12%
Linux 20.12%
Apple 18.04%
Other 4.74%
Stats are from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems
So yes Linux has come a long way. Windows may still own the desktop. Market share in what is though of as the PC-market (desktop/laptop/nettbook) its only 1.64% today. But in market share of the computers that are used to surf on the net, supercomputers, servers real time system there Linux are thriving.
Linux is in second place and increasing in the IT that folks use today
Right, but doesn't that include the server market? Linux is doing very well there. But I think the OP was specifically speaking of desktop.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
nice fallacies. Did you try?
The last one depends on what software and how you defined 'faster' and 'better.' A lot of software that ran fine on 7 will not start at all on 8 because of the new dwm, and that is even with ACT shims.
Since iOS and Android are not mentioned, I'll assume that iOS counts as "Apple", and Android counts as "Linux". So everyone buying a Samsung phone is now a Linux user.
I think that is people start realizing the dangers of closed-source software and no legislation to protect privacy, it is conceivable that Linux could, given the right circumstances, capture the home desktop market. However for that to happen it needs more ease of use...Yes I know they have many strides in the past decade but it is not quite there yet..... Revealing your source code is great but it's not enough (for now) However, the corporate desktop market is quite simply a lost cause for the time being. As long as there are legacy apps that are used for business purposes that require Windows, it will not be going anywhere anytime soon. Apple can try all it wants but it has failed to penetrate in any significant way simply due to cost....When you have 30,000+ employees that Apple tax is quite prohibitive. Add to that you often times you still need to buy a Windows license to run in vmware or parallels to be able to do your work.... The day will come, where all applications (of significance) will adopt the Software as a Service model.....that is likely when we will finally be able to free ourselves from the stranglehold M$ has had on us for the past few decades...
But that was the first thing you turned off anyway to save some of that 32Mb of ram for actual work
...don't encourage them...
I'll keep my PS/2 peripherals and sound card thanks, and I like my RAM on DIMMs / So-DIMMs.
I will consider an AIO if it meets these requirements, else regular PC hardware does, even if you want the latest 10 watt CPU.
That's a good point. A good observation might also be that Linux is strong in the server market. But I believe OP was specifically talking about desktop.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Obnoxious!
I was looking for a single word that accurately described Windows 8, and you just came up with it. Thanks!
Well, that's great. Kanye West might be able to run faster than Taylor Swift, too, but he's still an asshole who publicly bitches/walks out/rushes the stage and grabs the mike/ruins their moment when somebody else wins a music award.
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......