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Surpassing Windows 7's Market Share For the First Time, Windows 10 Now the Most Popular Desktop OS From Microsoft (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the where-we-are dept.

Two and a half years after the company made it available to the general public, Windows 10 is now the most popular operating system from Microsoft, according to analytics firm StatCounter. From a report: Every month, StatCounter reports on the state of the desktop operating system market. Since October last year, the analyst company's figures have shown the gap between Windows 10 and Windows 7 narrowing. It looked as if the newer OS would overtake the older one in November, but that didn't happen, and it didn't happen in December either. However, in January, according to StatCounter, Windows 10 finally claimed the top spot. The latest figures show Windows 10 on 42.78 percent, up from 41.69 percent in December 2017. That's an increase of 1.09 percentage points.

42 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. ATMs by rexbinary · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did they count all the ATMs running WinXP???

    1. Re: ATMs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'd like to know how many people are using 10 because they can't find computers with 7.

    2. Re: ATMs by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Roughly 100% of them.

      (1% error margin)

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re: ATMs by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Being that windows 10 has been out for a Long time now, I am surprised how long Windows 7 held on for.
      Windows 10 being out for 2.5 years is a long time to take over an older version of Windows.
      However I expect there are some other factors involved.

      1. Lack of innovation on PC's. Having a PC that is now over 6 years old still runs plenty fast for most computing needs, even some modern popular PC Games will still work on older equipment. Back in the 1990's We would upgrade our PC every 4 years. in the 2000's it is every 6 years, now in the 2010s it seems to be at least 8 years. With the 4 year after a couple of years people will just get new systems with the new OS.

      2. Windows 8/10 Tablet interface. I am sorry, the new interface still hasn't got me sold. I am using a PC with a keyboard and a mouse, I do not need big touch friendly displays, taking up real estate. Or worse, blasting out to full screen for some other options. What is worse this interface is on the newest version of Windows Server. With the Search icon (A Circle with a line attached) is next to the power off icon (A Semi Circle with a Line). Granted we never had an accident with this yet. It is just really bad location for it. Windows 7 is still rather optimized for the desktop.

      3. The rise of mobile devices for computing. This means a lot of software has been designed for the slower specs of the mobile devices, Extending the lifespan of the computer.

      4. The Cloud, All the heavy processing is done off the computer and it has became a thin client.

       

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    4. Re: ATMs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I would also contend that "Popular" is not the same as "Widely used"

    5. Re: ATMs by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 2

      And how many people got switched to W10 when they didn't want it? Now they are stuck with it. I for one am not going to switch my 5 computers to 10 anytime in the foreseeable future since I don't see anything but downsides. Prefer the greater control over Windows 7. My updates are turned off, and I only install them after they have been well vetted, and as I see the need, not when MS says so. MS hasn't done anything to 10 that makes me want to switch, but they have done lots of things to it that make me want to stick with 7. If it was a clearly better OS I would switch. It isn't.

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    6. Re: ATMs by hambone142 · · Score: 2

      True.

      Which is why I'm not buying new computer hardware.

      I won't do Windows 10, thank you.

      When I'm forced off of Win7, it'll be Linux.

    7. Re: ATMs by Type44Q · · Score: 2

      I am surprised how long Windows 7 held on for

      You're the only one.

    8. Re: ATMs by ilsaloving · · Score: 2

      You forgot one critical aspect: Microsoft has done a fantastic job of making people not trust Windows 10.

      Right from the beginning, Windows 10 has been sketchy with it's dubious forced upgrades. Then there's their data mining of everything on your machine, the forced upgrades.... the list just goes on and on. The upgrade one is particularly bad, because Microsoft routinely screws up their updates, so you have a decent chance of discovering that your computer has been bricked due to no fault of your own.

      So nobody who is reasonably informed, wants Windows 10.

      Now, when you consider it's not possible, or at least it's incredibly difficult, to buy a machine that *doesn't* have Windows 10 on it, suddenly people now not only have no incentive to upgrade, the actually have a very strong incentive to NOT upgrade.

      In essense, Microsoft is directly responsible for the collapse of the PC market the last few years.

  2. Another Trump Victory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Obama failed to make Windows 10 popular, but it was no problem for Trump! America is well on the way to greatness now!

    #MAGA

  3. M$ = dishonest as usual by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I wonder how big the percentage if Windows 10 machines would be if Microsoft had actually NOT pushed the "upgrade" onto previous versions of Windows WHEN THE USER SPECIFICALLY DECLINED THE UPGRADE?!!?

    1. Re:M$ = dishonest as usual by iggymanz · · Score: 2

      indeed the "windows update" on my machine has upgrade to 10 pending but I instead use a vb script to keep pulling windows 7 updates.

  4. most currently used != most popular by musikit · · Score: 4, Insightful

    see the title.

    1. Re:most currently used != most popular by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Despite what a few people on Slashdot think nearly all users don't give a shit what OS they run.

  5. I don't think you know the meaning of that word by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Popular" means that people WANT something. Not that they're basically forced to do it. Independent of the frequency an activity is done. Else you could say that working is a lot more popular than fucking.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:I don't think you know the meaning of that word by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Funny

      So... when I want a hooker and get syphilis, it means syphilis is popular?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  6. Flogging is the most popular corporal punishment by sinij · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Win10 is the most popular OS in the same way as flogging is the most popular corporal punishment.

  7. "Popular" by ilsaloving · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You keep using that word, but I do not think it means what you think it means.

    By Microsoft's definition, Kim Yong-Un is popular too.

  8. Windows 8.1 ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You can have my Windows 8.1 with Classic Shell when you stop assuming I want a fucking interface like a tablet when I have a multi-monitor system, take out your bullshit telemetry, and let me decide when I'll apply patches and reboot.

    Until then, Windows 10 can kiss my ass.

    My next Windows box will be purely a VM on a Linux machine.

    1. Re:Windows 8.1 ... by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 2

      As someone whose small businesses really did drop Windows as a result of the Windows 10 mess (we hoarded Windows 7 boxes just before the deadline, and use other platforms since), it's not necessarily a tough shift to make these days.

      Sure, if you are a big organisation heavily reliant on Windows servers and Microsoft's back office software, or if you really do need to run professional applications that are only available on Windows, you're stuck with it. However, many of those people will be running Enterprise anyway, and that's a very different system because no corporate CIO is going to accept Microsoft pushing arbitrary updates out to their systems or pulling arbitrary telemetry data back.

      Sure, if you're a gamer, Windows is still the dominant PC platform. The main competition here is still consoles, not other desktop platforms.

      But for SMEs, where your IT facilities are probably more carefully selected and customised to individual needs, and where maybe you're increasingly using in-house and/or cloud-based web apps for your day-to-day business admin, whether your browser runs on Windows or macOS or Linux doesn't much matter any more. For some technical or creative fields, the software available on UNIXy platforms is already comparable or better too.

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  9. forced upgrades by Jaegs · · Score: 2

    Looks like all of those forced upgrades to Windows 10 finally paid off for Microsoft!

  10. Re:Opportunist = fake name massive human fail by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow, who pooped into your corn flakes this morning?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  11. windows 10 is shit. by rogoshen1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If MS doesn't reverse course as far as making locked down, consumer unfriendly, annoying, intrusive, and just plain awful OS's; Windows 10 might be the start of their decline.

    Vista might have been terrible, but they took the experience from that, and made windows 7. Windows 8 and the metro clusterfuck was also bad, but 8.1 solved a lot of those complaints.

    10 is bad in a totally different way -- removing user choice and incessant spying. I don't see MS learning their lesson from this. Instead I see them doubling down on these efforts.

    Right now there's only really two compelling reasons to stick with windows -- office and gaming.

    It's a pretty precarious situation to be in. Sure enterprise will continue to buy windows PC's, but with hardware having been 'good enough' for office drone productivity going on a decade now; how many seats will that really sell per year? (and how frequently does that hardware even need to be refreshed?)

    As for games, that's a pretty niche market already. But a few AAA titles being fully released and supported on linux and/or mac might tip the balance a bit. (Or maybe if valve was more aggressive at pushing steamOS on developers?)

    1. Re:windows 10 is shit. by thegarbz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If MS doesn't reverse course as far as making locked down, consumer unfriendly, annoying, intrusive, and just plain awful OS's; Windows 10 might be the start of their decline.

      Or more based in reality, people on the whole don't give a shit. But while we're talking about it:

      Locked down : It isn't any more locked down than Windows 7.
      Consumer unfriendly : In what way? -1 points for bitching about Windows updates.
      Annoying : I assume you're one of the people who can't change 2 settings in the Settings app that causes the entire OS to shut up?
      Intrusive : Yeah most users will complain about telemetry by asking Google to post their complaint to their Facebook account. What matters to Slashdot doesn't matter to users.
      Plain Awful : In what way? Under the hood it's one hell of a system. Faster than Windows 7, better security features, better hardware features, but I guess you mean the entire OS is a reflection of the colour of the start bar, in which case each to their own.

  12. MS' "best version of windows" poll by GeekWithAKnife · · Score: 2


    1. Windows 10 is the best!

    2. Windows 7 is actually the best - (This option will upgrade you to windows 10 immediately or later when you click "cancel upgrade to windows 10")

    3. I use Linux - (This option never appears because this is a windows poll & windows 10 is the best)

    4. I use android - (Another invalid option + there's a mobile windows thing so this does not count either)

    5. I HATE WINDOWS 10! - (OEMs include it in everything + we actively ruin the OS experience of previous generations so you actually love it & will upgrade.)

    At Microsoft we value our users and make real changes based on your feedback.

    --
    A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
  13. Wait to miss the point: Linux isn't being used! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Way to miss the point. It doesn't matter if people are using Windows 7 or Windows 10. It doesn't matter how they got the version they're using. What matters is that they're still using some version of Windows! This also means that the vast majority of them aren't using Linux.

    Despite the Windows Vista, Windows 8 and to some extent the Windows 10 debacles, Linux managed to make pretty much no inroads into the desktop/laptop market. In fact, many long-time Linux users have found Linux to actually have gotten worse over the past decade, with disasters like systemd, GNOME 3, PulseAudio, NetworkManager, Wayland and Firefox seriously harming the Linux desktop experience.

    Although Linux has seen some success in server environments, we're starting to see more and more Linux installations being moved to OSes like FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and even Windows Server. What's worse, many organizations and professionals are choosing these alternate OSes for new deployments.

    We're also seeing Linux falter in the embedded space. Organizations and professionals are now starting to go with OSes like NetBSD and QNX for embedded environments.

    What's most worrying for Linux is how well Google Fuchsia is coming along. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it become a top-tier platform within the next 5 to 10 years, replacing Android on mobile devices, replacing Linux for at least some server use cases, and severely challenging Windows and macOS on desktops and laptops. Before you say "that's impossible!", keep in mind that we've just seen Google already do this with Chrome. They managed to replace IE and Firefox within a few years, and now Chrome dominates both the desktop and mobile platforms.

    The future of Linux is looking extraordinarily bleak. The Linux community failed to capitalize on multiple releases of Windows that were widely disliked. Systemd has caused reliability problems that have caused many professionals to no longer consider Linux a suitable server or embedded OS. Now we're even seeing some of its most notable and powerful corporate supporters coming up with alternatives to Linux that would directly compete with Linux.

    The worst part is that it didn't need to be this way. Linux had everything going for it by 2005. It was just about to break through on numerous fronts. And then it all collapsed so spectacularly!

    1. Re:Wait to miss the point: Linux isn't being used! by DarkRookie · · Score: 2

      Sorry, Linux cannot do games. Only about 10% of my Steam library works with it.
      If that happens, I will change over from 7.

      --
      The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
    2. Re:Wait to miss the point: Linux isn't being used! by smooth+wombat · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Nor can Linux do photo manipulation with the software out there. Sure, Gimp can be used to a limited extent, but for real work you need Photoshop or Capture One Pro.

      Then there are the other photo software, such as stacking for macro, which runs on either Windows or Mac, but not any version of Linux.

      If you do any serious photo work you're stuck with either the overpriced, underperformance, non-upgradable Macs, or the reasonably priced but invasive Windows.

      --
      We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    3. Re:Wait to miss the point: Linux isn't being used! by ilsaloving · · Score: 2

      Systemd is a fantastic example of why Linux hasn't taken off, and it's exactly for not the reasons you mention.

      Look at the massive shitstorm that Systemd has caused. Now consider how much impact that actually has on the average user. How much? A big fat goose egg. That's how much.

      But the linux community et al care more about fighting over bullshit and being special snowflakes than actually putting out products that would be valuable for people.

      Hell, the fact that there are to this day, religious wars between emacs vs vi tells you all you need to know about why Linux has failed as a desktop.

      It's pure anarchy. The community claims to be meritocratous but when you look at actual behaviour, it's all emotion and ego.

      In the end you have an operating system that is so shockingly fragmented that you could have two different computers both running "Linux", but are completely and utterly different in almost every conceivable way. Nobody cares about the LSB, which makes it that much more difficult to develop against all the various possible distributions out there. Nobody can agree on anything, so instead of having a couple of solid options for doing a given thing, there are 5 dozen half-assed ones that only handle their niche use case. The end result is that nothing runs particularly well, or only works well as long as you stay within the borders of the cultivated garden someone had set up. It may not be a walled garden, but when you discover that stepping out of that carefully manicured garden takes you immediately to a minefield of obscure commands and config files, it may as well be. And that walled garden is too small and too exclusive to do anyone any good.

      Perfect example: In gnome, there is no easy way to add an application to the program menu if it didn't come out of the repository. Windows? Drag the exe to the start menu. Mac? Drag it onto the dock or into /Applications. Gnome? Google for the specifications of a .desktop file, construct it by hand with a text editor, then sudo to root and copy that file to somewhere in /usr/share.

      Really? I mean seriously... Really? To paraphrase Linus Torvalds: That's fucking retarded. And Linux is *full* of these kinds of unbelievable gotchas.

      Because the OS is such a fractious mess, the overall ecosystem became complete shit too. The average Linux app is mediocre at best. The best of the best that the linux world has to offer pales in comparison to the proprietary options available. For example, Thunderbird is considered THE email for linux, and yet it's horrible, with an ugly confusing interface and equally confusing behaviour.

      Linux is great as a server. It's great for embedded applications. It's great for any application where someone skilled in Linux has the ability to take control of it, reign it in, and limit the functionality to what they want it to be. For anything open ended, like a user desktop, it's a completely hopeless mess.

      I myself use a Mac because of the above reasons. Yes it's stupidly expensive. Yes, Apple pisses me off. But at the end of the day I have a job I need to do, and that job is stressful enough without having to worry that at any given moment, something strange will happen to the OS that requires me to spend several hours pouring through stackoverflow posts for some obscure command to solve.

    4. Re:Wait to miss the point: Linux isn't being used! by ilsaloving · · Score: 2

      So first you accuse the parent of being factually wrong, and then proceed to point to an *emulator*.

      And if that wasn't bad enough, lets look at the compatibility reports provided by Wine:
      https://appdb.winehq.org/objec...

      Out of all the various versions of Photoshop, only *two* are marked as Platinum. The last one being CS5 from 2010. Everything else is less, which means everything else is problematic to a varying degree.

      And this doesn't even consider the OTHER key aspects of Photoshop usage, such as using a wacom tablet. Want pressure sensitive strokes? HAHAHAHAHA FOOL!

  14. IE on the other hand ... by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 2
    IE, ably aided and abetted by Edge, is fighting hard to retain its third place beating Safari. 77% for chrome, 12% for Firefox, 3% for IE+Edge, 3% for Opera.

    Citation Provided

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:IE on the other hand ... by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Insightful
      When IE had this level of dominance, all the Microsoft shills were saying, "it is the most popular browser, that is why it has so many people attacking it. If any other browser is this popular, it too will be attacked this much.".

      True, Chrome has its share of vulnerabilities today. But is it as bad as IE was in its hay days, despite attackers being a lot more sophisticated now? Despite the core of Chrome has disclosed the source code through the Chromium project?

      Leaving anecdotal evidence aside, if you take a global big picture two things are clear. 1. Microsoft code has a lot more vulnerabilities than others. 2. Open source projects with lots of following are more secure than proprietary software.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    2. Re:IE on the other hand ... by sinij · · Score: 3, Informative

      Worse, when everyone ragged on MS for IE dominance, MS was just an OS and Doc Editor company. Today, when Chrome is dominant, Google is data gathering and aggregation company. It boggles my mind that everyone willingly leaks so much private information to Google by using their browser. Gmail + Chrome = they know everything about you.

  15. Re: Wait to miss the point: Linux isn't being used by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The big problem with FOSS is everyone wants to be a chief. Everyone wants to do their project exactly their way and only that way, and so we wind up with lots of poorly-supported projects and only a few great ones.

    Developers may be able to collaborate on reviewing and writing code; they're terrible at collaborating on project management. What the FOSS movement really needs is MANAGEMENT in order to compete with the big players.

  16. OS Share overall by sqorbit · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Interesting : http://gs.statcounter.com/os-m... That link shows total market share for all OS, Windows 10 fell behind Android at the same time Windows 10 surpassed 7. It might show a bit of users switch from Windows 7 devices to Chromebooks or other Android devices and not simply upgrading to 10.

    --
    Sent from my TARDIS
  17. Comsidering how electionions run in the US... by squash_me_quickly · · Score: 2

    These statistics are probably skewed by ridiculous rules like:
    - If a city has Windows 10 on over 50% of the computer, when they are all considered to be Windows 10 computers.
    - Super statisticals: people whose computer usage count as 10,000 users, they're specifically chosen by the company paying for the survey.

    Popular in this context is sort of like a "belief" system... just like religion.
    - most people believe in "their religion" because that's what their parents/culture brought them up to do
    - most people use Windows because that's what their computer came with, and change is scary

    Windows 10 is "popular" in the same way the plague was "popular".
    The correct word here is "common".

  18. Re:windows 10 is ok. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Windows update will re-enable any services or registry settings that disabled telemetry.

  19. Re:windows 10 is ok. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Having to pour through settings and read articles so your computer performs (you hope) in a reasonable manner is not 'easy'

    Easy would be having the machine setup to function and operate with no shenanigans right out of the box.

  20. more like matching win7 marketshare by johnrpenner · · Score: 2

    it has taken a free OS upgrade more than 2 years to match win7 marketshare. hmm..

  21. I wouldn't call it popular... by thedarb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If Windows 7 was still available for purchase, and didn't try to auto-upgrade itself to windows 10, I'm sure Windows 7 would still be winning.

    --
    This sig intentionally left blank.
  22. 1040 Tax forms by sycodon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    These announcements that Windows (fill in the blank) is now the most popular OS is pretty much the same as announcing that the Form 1040 is now the most popular government form. Especially when it's compared to other Windows OSs.

    When you can't buy a "Windows" computer with any other OS than 10, what do you expect?

    What they are really saying is that Windows 7 computers have failed or been replace enough times that more now use the only OS you can buy for a "Windows" computer.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  23. Re:Windows 7 as long as we can by ilsaloving · · Score: 2

    The problem is that you're hardware choices will become more and more limited. For example, Microsoft has gone so far as to cripple windows updates for any non-win10 computer running a kaby lake or newer processor.