Most Firefox Users Still Running Windows 7 (softpedia.com)

Microsoft is pushing hard for Windows 10 to become the operating system of choice for everyone across the world, but this isn't happening just yet, as Windows 7 keeps dominating the desktop market. From a report on Softpedia: The Firefox Hardware Report published recently by Mozilla shows that Windows 7 is the number one browser for users running the company's browser, with a share of 44.86 percent, followed by Windows 10 with 25.67 percent. Seeing Windows 7 dominating the desktop OS charts is not surprising, but on the other hand, it's living proof that Microsoft will really have a hard time moving users to Windows 10 before 2020 when it reaches end of support. Microsoft's Windows 10, however, already improved substantially since its launch in 2015, mostly thanks to the free upgrade offer targeting Windows 7 and 8.1 users, but this still isn't enough to become the number one choice for PC users.

Comments

Missing the point

[UnknowingFool]

Microsoft's Windows 10, however, already improved substantially since its launch in 2015, mostly thanks to the free upgrade offer targeting Windows 7 and 8.1 users, but this still isn't enough to become the number one choice for PC users.

Quality isn't really a problem for Windows 10 as to why people are not upgrading Windows 7. While some drivers will eventually be updated for Windows 10, some of the "features" like telemetry are the problem. That and how MS forced updates on people involving trickery.

Re:Missing the point

[Joce640k]

Yep, and the way you never know what sort of OS you'll be running tomorrow.

MS has given themselves total control over your computer. You have no say in the matter.

Obviously they're not going to delete all your files, but ... what happens if they push out a bad update and everybody's machine is out of action for a week?

What happens if they decide a new monthly subscription model is the way forward for Windows "professional" users? Insert credit card...?

Re:Missing the point

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

That and how MS forced updates on people involving trickery.

Bingo. The flat-out trickery and subterfuge that was used to force the upgrade on people was the most damning indictment of why people shouldn't upgrade.

If they have to trick you into doing it, chances are it's not in your best interest.

Re:Missing the point

[ArhcAngel]

what happens if they push out a bad update and everybody's machine is out of action for a week?

You mean like last week?
I was scratching my head for an hour trying to figure out why my wife's laptop showed it connected to the AP but not the internet. I felt really dumb once I figured it out. Then I read this story and got really mad. All the while happily connected to Steam playing games on my Win 7 desktop running Waterfox (64 bit FF fork). And of course since it took out DHCP there's no way for the average person to connect to get the patch!

win 10 is still a work in progress

[anthony_greer]

It is far and away better than it was a year and a half ago, but Win 10 still has a ways to go before it is ready for the "it just has to work all the time" workloads of many with demanding workloads. It is stable, but they need to really finish the transition from old to new completely, and add proper GPO management around new features like the Windows Settings app that is replacing control panel a little more with each feature update. Give it another 6 months or so and it will be there I think.

7 works

[turkeydance]

10 sometimes

Re:Kind of consistent, isn't it?

[UnknownSoldier]

Do you complain about people using the wheel that has been around for thousands of years too?

You're under the assumption that the latest SHINY is worth upgrading to.

I neither want nor need MS spyware.

Still proudly running XP and Firefox!

[Spy Handler]

One of my desktops is a Phenom triple-core I built in 2009. It's kinda underpowered for newer Windows versions so I still have XP (service pack 3) running on it.

It runs like a champ by the way, still quite snappy. I used to run Google Chrome on it, but some time last year it started spamming me with "Upgrade your windows, Chrome no longer blah blah" message so I uninstalled Chrome and put Firefox on it. Runs great, happy with the setup.

Re:Still proudly running XP and Firefox!

[Skuld-Chan]

I enjoy running your copy of XP too ;). I have to admit - your old machine is a weak link in my botnet though - especially as everyone else likes using it too.

Re:Still proudly running XP and Firefox!

[Anonymous Coward]

WinXP isnt a "vulnerable OS" is you do the wepos registry mod to it. Google is your Friend. essentially the wepos mod makes your xp install look like one of the embedded windows xp installs that are still out there in the wild. think of ATM and other POS uses.There are still regular batches of monthly updates coming out for XP after you make this mod to your system.

Re:Kind of consistent, isn't it?

[ckatko]

That's kind of stupid. Windows 8 and 10 offer "almost" no useful features over Windows 7 and have a much less power-user friendly GUI. Every GUI dialog takes twice as long to display, and twice as many clicks to accomplish.

The ONLY feature of Windows 8/10 that I've noticed I'm missing? Desktop Duplication API which allows fast, user-mode, desktop capture. Why isn't it in Windows 7? Because Microsoft arbitrarily decided to remove it from that version of DirectX/DXGI for Windows 7.

Great folks.

And some psychopath backported it to Windows 7.

https://github.com/rgcjonas/dd...

And I work in IT and software development, supporting hundreds of Microsoft desktops and servers from XP (and Win server 2003, ugh.) to Windows 10 and use them all regularly. So I'm talking from a position of experience, and not willful blindness.

Re:Kind of consistent, isn't it?

[Joce640k]

He also assumes that our printers, etc., will have drivers available and we won't need to spend $1000 for the privilage of junking them.

And ... that all our documents and data files will still be there after an "upgrade". Mine certainly weren't when I tried it. Luckily for me the rollback to Win7 worked or I'd have lost everything.

(yes, I had a backup, I'm not that stupid)

But of course!

[Type44Q]

...shows that Windows 7 is the number one browser

Sure thing, Manesh.

Poor 3rd party link

[marcle]

This link is to a badly written Softpedia article, which has the link to the actual Mozilla report.
Why couldn 't Slashdot link to the original report? It's very informative.
The Softpedia article adds no information, and sounds like the writer is a non-native English speaker.

Free Upgrade Offer

[PPH]

Windows 10: Do not want

Re:Kind of consistent, isn't it?

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

On my desktop box I use Win 7 and FF, and they work just fine for me; I see no compelling reason to upgrade or change.

I use Linux Mint and FF on my laptop and also see no reason to change anything there.

Not all of us want to spend our lives upgrading stuff or chasing the release or gadget or whatever. Some of us just want to find something that works and use it.

Re:Kind of consistent, isn't it?

[thechemic]

I couldn't have stated it better than you have here. Windows 10 offers little to no feature, function, or benefit that would motivate Windows 7 users to switch. The only thing I can think of is arguably a better interface for touch screen users. Windows 10 is crippling from an efficiency-of-use perspective. Want to update your system? Try hitting the start button in Windows 10 and type "Windows Update". The search results are ridiculous and there are literally 100s (perhaps 1000s?) of examples of clunky experiences just like this one. Getting Windows 10 to behave properly in an enterprise environment is also a nightmare. We spent weeks tinkering with Group Policies in an effort to make Windows 10 stop spying on the agency, and to stop terrorizing our end-users with frivolous prompts squirting out of every orifice in the user interface.

Lowest Common Denominator

[emil]

Microsoft removed the cheesy Aero interface for one reason only: mobile devices could not run it efficiently.

As Microsoft's mobile strategy has utterly failed, Windows 8 and 10 users are forced into a mobile-friendly UI for no purpose whatsoever.

The market objects.

Re:Lowest Common Denominator

[Joce640k]

Microsoft removed the cheesy Aero interface for one reason only: mobile devices could not run it efficiently.

It's almost as if you of abstraction layers. There's no reason it can use Aero on the desktop and something different on a mobile device.

They could even let the user choose what they want!

Only 77% have Flash?

[gQuigs]

My biggest surprise is that only 77% have Flash installed. That either means users don't need Flash any more on the desktop or Mozilla has a bigger mobile usage than I think... Either way I think it's good.

https://metrics.mozilla.com/fi...

Interesting, but not unexpected

[Thyamine]

People running Firefox are users who are more aware than standard users. They have gone out and downloaded a non-standard (for not tech people) browser and are using it. It makes sense that they are more likely aware of their OS, and what they would want or not want; as well as able to avoid the forced Windows 10 upgrade many techies were forced into.

No No No

[Anonymous Coward]

The reason that people are NOT upgrading to Windows 10 especially from Windows 7 are many. It is a multifaceted whole.

• - There's no need. Windows 7 suites their needs just fine and they have no need to replace their OS until they buy a new machine.
• - Windows 10 now costs a non-trivial amount to upgrade an existing machine.
• - Upon purchasing a new machine, people do not like the new look, which goes way beyond just the Start Menu. Literally everything has been moved/re-arranged and it is beyond cumbersome to find relocated settings and applications.
• - People do not like having to through out their applications and perfectly HARDWARE like printers and scanners, because they are not supported under Windows 10. I've literally had to trash two year old $1,000 Xerox/Fujitsu scanners after moving a user to Windows 10, because there is no Windows 10 support, nor will there be. Perfectly good OKI color laser printer, albeit a few years old.Push it into the trash as there's no driver.
• - Windows 10 Metro Apps are a massive ball ache.
• - Windows desktop advertising, from Candy Crush and constant attempts to get users to sign up for and buy Microsoft cloud services, especially OneDrive and O365.
• - Telemetry, forced updates that break things like DHCP clients(last week) or remove previously present features or options(Anniversary Update).

All this while still taking an Intel i7-6700 processor and making it perform at the same overall user experience level that Windows 2000 provided on a Pentium II processor.

Don't get me wrong. There are many nice features and advantages to Windows 10. I'm particularly impressed with its seemingly low RAM usage. But I shouldn't have to put an NVMe SSD into an i7-6700 to get the same performance I got years ago.

The Fuckery Never Ends

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a lot that I like in Windows 10 but there's SO MUCH MORE ASININE FUCKERY that you can't get rid of that just makes it teeth-gratingly irritating to use

Case in point: There's this insidious piece of trash called the Windows Game Bar, fine, cool... cool... how do I rid myself of this unwanted plague? Oh well, simply LOG IN to the Microsoft XBox app and disable it ...but what if you don't have an account? Then make one and log in and then disable it. Riiiiiight

OKAY well lookie here there are some powershell commands you can run to uninstall it, great works, until I plug in my XBox controller or let Windows update run and well ... fuck it's back

OKAY well here's some registry hacking you can do that gets rid of it, nope, keeps coming back.

Just like Cortana - just like a lot of other garbage I don't need nor want.

"So don't run Windows 10" you say... well... you're right. This is how you push a long time Windows fanboy off the cliff you fuckwits. I'm sick of this garbage. I'm sick of not having even the level of control I had with lame duck 8.x (and that's saying something)

Microsoft doesn't understand its consumer-level customers at a fundamental level and that is going to cost them in the long run

Re: Kind of consistent, isn't it?

[TWX]

Yep. I don't need a desktop operating system that serves ads to me. It's bad enough that I get ads served by the default applications that were preloaded on my smartphone, I don't need my computer now doing the same thing.

Malware is unacceptable

[WaffleMonster]

Win10 is not even on my radar. As long as it is loaded with malware and forced updates feature set is irrelevant.