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Windows 10 Makes Large Share Gains, While Windows 7 Declines Significantly (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the where-things-are-going dept.

An anonymous reader shared a report: It took quite some time for Windows 10 to overtake Windows 7, but it finally did it in December 2018, at least according to NetMarketShare's figures. In February however, Windows 10 actually lost share, while Windows 7 gained some, narrowing the gap between the two operating systems once more. In March though, roles were reversed, as Windows 10 made some big gains, and Windows 7 lost a sizable chunk of its share. In the month just gone, NetMarketShare shows Windows 10 going from 40.30 percent to 43.62 percent, a big gain of 3.32 percentage points. There is currently a gap of 7.11 percentage points between Windows 10 and Windows 7.

9 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. It is hard to avoid that downgrade by gweihir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But the numbers very clearly say what a large number of users think. If Windows was a democracy, the win10 party would _not_ win.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    1. Re:It is hard to avoid that downgrade by Dunbal · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nah, this was "the year" that people decided to toss out the old laptop and buy a new one. Trump tax cuts, etc. More new laptops = more Windows 10.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    2. Re:It is hard to avoid that downgrade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I invite you to visit any midsize or large company and see if desktop computing use is declining.

      "most people don't give a fuck about Windows" should be changed to "most people don't give a fuck about ANY underlying OS". One thing the Linux evangelists and supplicants have never understood is that people do not run OS's they run applications. Unfortunately the Linux ecosystem is littered with cheap knockoffs of applications you pay for. While some people can get along with "good enough" others are really not keen on migrating to and learning the peculiarities of another OS just to get shitter applications.
      And in case you have not noticed MS is in the process of merging open source applications, tool sets, and services with their proprietary offerings. MS has been the largest contributor to open source libraries and repositories for the past 2 years. MS has one of the largest number of open source developers on their payroll. The MS legal department finally figured out how to leverage open source licensing to their benefit.
      They are well on their way to offering their own Linux distribution (MS Linux) which will cause the MS haters heads to implode.

      If you call yourself a "professional" developer you should select your particular technology on functionality and not on who provided the technology. If you dream of migrating everyone off of the MS platform then you need to be honest when estimating the cost of doing so. You need to acknowledge that an OS migration is going to effect the entire IT staff as well as the end users. You need to acknowledge that there are custom applications that will need to be modified or totally replaced in order to run in the new OS. You need to acknowledge that there may be 3rd party components that will need to be modified or totally replaced in order to run in the new OS. This is just a small list of things you need to include in your cost-benefit calculations and project planning. Walking into a board room you will find people who are going to need a damn good reason to migrate off of the MS platform and "MS Sux!" is really not going to be a sufficient response.

    3. Re:It is hard to avoid that downgrade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      He's flat out right.

      Between Microsoft shutting down the Win 7 activation servers and OEMs no longer even selling computers with Skylake or older CPUs, the last generation of chip compatible with Win 7, it's simply not possible to buy a pre-made computer that comes with Windows and isn't Windows 10.

      Kaby Lake chips are intentionally not backwards compatible just enough to break existing chipset drivers. MS is refusing to provide those drivers for older OSes.

      So you go with Win 10 or something that isn't Windows

  2. So what? by frosch · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why this is even news? Who cares?

    1. Re:So what? by iggymanz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      people forced to use Windows 10 care. People still doing everything they can at work to hang onto their Win 7 that isn't (relatively speaking) the buggy bloated mess Windows 10 care

  3. So far, so good by marcle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm very happy with Windows 7. It runs fast and stable on modern hardware.
    I realize I'll eventually have to go with Win10, but only if I do a major hardware upgrade. Right now, my 6-year-old system does great with audio and video rendering, graphics, etc. I practice safe innertubing, and don't have malware problems.
    The hot mess that is Windows 10 is just unattractive, and I won't hold my nose and plunge in until I absolutely have to.

  4. Windows 10 is a buggy, bloated mess by Teckla · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Windows 10 is a buggy, bloated mess, but the simple truth is that Microsoft still has the desktop OS market by the balls.

  5. Because we don't have a choice. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I see absolutely no reason to move off windows 7 - and many many to stay. except the lack of security updates in future.

    seems it was the last windows UI designed by someone who used the operating system - instead of some numbskull who thought a touch interface was suitable for systems without touch screens...