Windows 8 Usage Growing, But Still Behind Windows Vista

[billgatez]

Windows 7 went up 0.18 % Well Windows 8 went up only 0.5 %

[citation][nom]jeffs0413[/nom]XP still retains 39% of the installed OS. Is Microsoft going to be able to leave that large a population unprotected starting next year? I hope that some government official concerned with cyber security is conteplating millions of unpatched computers come next April.[/citation]
My guess is they will move to Win7 as teaching people to deal with 8 is time consuming.

 

[Win8TooManyGimmicks]

test

 

[Win8TooManyGimmicks]

"The bad news is that Microsoft's ancient Windows XP platform still consumes 38.73 percent of the OS market, and support will officially be severed in a little more than a year from now. That means no more security updates no matter how much you plead to the Redmond company. It will definitely be interesting to see these statistics again in April 2014."

If this message scares you, even a little bit. Don't worry, there is a solution: Windows 7. NOT Windows 8. If you are the type of person who is still using Windows XP because it is tried-and-true, and you are not in the mood to start ripping your hair out, do NOT "upgrade" to Windows 8. Stay with XP, or, if you have to upgrade, Windows 7. If you put Windows 8 on your machine, you will probably regret it.

 

[bak0n]

[citation][nom]edogawa[/nom]Windows 8 isn't really an upgrade over 7, and with Metro, people do not want to change to that "confusing" GUI.I think the hate for Windows 8 is justified to a point, yes metro is terrible for the desktop PC, but the operating system itself is fantastic. I needed a new Windows license so I got Windows 8 when it released and the first thing I installed was Start8, it's like I never left Windows 7, and it's faster with some nice improvements without a single issue(for me at least).What really is shocking is that people still use Vista.[/citation]

My wife HATED the UI so bad she told me to reinstall Win 7. I got start8 and she's been fine since. The memory manager in 8 is slick.

 

[diddo]

[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]EDIT: I'll be waiting until Windows Blue. I wonder how much will MS fix some of its UI flaws.[/citation]
It will not. Previews leaked, it is the biggest lackluster update ever released, and all goes on the MetroBobSquarepants path.

 

[weatherdude]

I'm still using Windows XP ever since I installed it when I built my computer. I don't plan to upgrade my OS using the same rig. If I'm still in the unfortunate situation of using the same PC when Microsoft ceases support for XP then I'm gonna have to abandon ship and switch to Linux.

 

[The_Trutherizer]

Well I'm going over eventually. As soon as I have gotten enough value out of my Win7 installation which used to have an upgrade to Win8 deal attached to it, because I purchased close to the release of Win8, but which has expired mere months after my purchase. Sneaky.

I did try to upgrade in time for what it is worth, but the on-line manual update process failed to identify my thoroughly genuine copy of Windows (genuine to me and my wallet's knowledge let me add - I bought from a reputable shop)

Tsk... Tsk... Tsk... I simply cannot spend that money again. Win7 was already double as expensive as Win8 so I need to get my money's worth. A guy wants to feel good about spending big bucks on an OS. And I have not reached that point yet sorry.

Win8 looks great though. Well done for that. However Win7 was and still is a magnificent desktop OS. I think if MS really wants to push the envelope then they should be putting effort into pushing next gen media standards. Things such as 3D (file formats for which currently is being proprietarized left and right by a host or aspiring little start-ups). 3D image, 3D Video. 3D OS interface... Why not? And there are other things - Windows used to determine the popular file formats for media. MS seems to have fallen off the bandwagon there. Then there's digital assistants. MS should be able to bring good AI into Windows (not a parrot). There are so many things, but now it looks like MS has given up on the PC as a viable platform and its hurting the whole industry.

 

[SteelCity1981]

I honestly tried to like windows 8 from the preview to the final release, but when they forced people onto modern ui not giving people an option to disable it completely and when they took out the start menu by not givng people an option to enable it so that users were forced to learn the modern ui as there start menu and took out aero glass making the windows look like something you would see in windows 3.11, that was it for me. I went back to Windows 7 and it was like a breath of fresh air. it looked more modern then windows 8, it felt like an actual desktop pc.

 

[beoza]

Windows 8 is a train wreck! I do tech support for a major ISP and every call I get about connectivity issues with Win8 are a nightmare to try to resolve, with a majority of them being refer to vendor issues. Win8 has a nasty tendency to mysteriously "lose" the NIC drivers or the card/chip set itself. It's loads of fun trying to get a customer to "ping localhost" only to find it's not there, check in device manager and the only listing under network are their wired devices, and this is on laptops. I've seen it do it on those fancy all in 1 pc's from HP and other manufacturers as well. Don't even get me started on the elderly people who just bought a new PC with Win8 on it! Don't get me wrong this is a great Tablet OS, but this crap doesn't belong on a damn desktop. Even that evil fruit company knows you don't put a tablet OS on a desktop! I know there's products out there to bring back the classic desktop/start menu but unfortunately I can't recommend those products to my customers, it's out of my scope of support. I just tell them to take their Win8 machines to a computer shop and tell them they want it gone and to install Win7 in it's place. My personal system built on 3/01/13 is running Win7.

The times they may be a changin', but this change isn't for the better.

 

[ojas]

Steam numbers:
Win 7: 71.12%
Win XP: 9.05
Win Vista: 6.84
Win 8: 11.80

Steam folks like Win 8 it seems.

 

[hoofhearted]

Is Balmer that prideful and arrogant? Simple Fix, just release Windows 8 Start Button Service Pack and watch that single digit midget market share quadruple overnight.

The main reason Win8 is growing is because technically challenged people like my aunt go to Sam's and buy their bloat-loaded PC's and think things like 8 is better than 7 since it is a higher number. I guess I'll have to experiment with this Start8 thing on her PC. I already 'cleaned' it for her. Then maybe it will be time to break the shrinkwrap and dust off that copy of 8 I bought months back when I got it for 40 bucks.

 

[lradunovic77]

Windows 8 wouldn't even have 3.17% If people were giving choice when they buy a new computer.

 

[geraldfryjr]

I used Windows 8 once and will never use it again!!!
Don't much care for windows 7 either!!!
I'm sticking with WinXP & XP64 for as long as I can!!!

FWIW

jer

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]EDIT: I'll be waiting until Windows Blue. I wonder how much will MS fix some of its UI flaws.[/citation]
Why wait for Windows Blue, try one of the 20 or so free Start Menu programs and fix the UI problem now

 

[oj88]

I bought the promotional online Win8 version to replace my Vista. Heck, it was 32-bit Win8. What I wanted was a 64-bit OS to take advantage of the 8GB DDR3. Then I realized that I needed to install a 64-bit Windows first in order to upgrade to 64-bit OS, what a moronic policy. Anyway, I gave Win8 a try and didn't like it at all. Only by looking at those blue tiles on a 24" monitor made me feel sick. Now I am back to the good-old Vista.

 

[ojas]

StatCounter's reporting 3.9% for Windows 8, 52.61% for Win 7.
http://gs.statcounter.com/#os-ww-monthly-201210-201303

 

[AndreT]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Why wait for Windows Blue, try one of the 20 or so free Start Menu programs and fix the UI problem now[/citation]

If you do this, and you don't like the Modern UI, you are voting with your wallet for Microsoft to continue to move things towards the modern UI and away from the desktop.

 

[softplacetoland]

You mean people grow to like it or is it just Microsoft and partners forcing on new computers full frontal?

Does this statistic include [or exclude] downgrades to Win 7?

Will Win 8 grow enough before Microsoft lays out new OS which could have been easely a service pack rather than new money costing stuff?

And mentioning reluctant customers? Why would they accept the change if change doesn't fit their universe? Because Microsoft says?
Who likes Win 8 he has it. Who doesn't, he has not. Neither one side should say another one is worse. To each its own. For those who can't live without mocking or insulting the oppose should organize a competition. Win 8 supporter against Win 7 supporter. Task, two or three or whole tasks battery and measure time it takes them to finish. I still bet on Win 7 user but that is my opinion.

 

[chiefbox]

I mean, what is the point of this report. Win 8 will continue to grow, regardless of adoption rate; since one can't buy a new pc with Win 7 anymore. To measure the true adoption rate, I would like to see the upgrade to Win 8 data instead. I'm pretty sure it paints an even worse picture for Win 8. I personally signed up for the win 8 upgrade but didn't bite, and didn't want to trade down from Win 7.

 

[jakes69]

alot of companies still using XP...they can't afford the upgrade unless they purchase a new computer.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

[citation][nom]edogawa[/nom]What really is shocking is that people still use Vista.[/citation]

Figure those Vista-ites are non-techies who got stuck with it on a new machine, didnt realize they could downgrade, didnt upgrade to 7, and wont do anything until the machine dies/doesnt meed their needs. Which, given how young it is, wont happen for a long time.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

[citation][nom]jeffs0413[/nom]XP still retains 39% of the installed OS. Is Microsoft going to be able to leave that large a population unprotected starting next year? I hope that some government official concerned with cyber security is conteplating millions of unpatched computers come next April.[/citation]

Not. If you insist on being too cheap to update from XP, its all on you. Those people are 3 OS versions behind.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

[citation][nom]chiefbox[/nom]I mean, what is the point of this report. Win 8 will continue to grow, regardless of adoption rate; since one can't buy a new pc with Win 7 anymore. To measure the true adoption rate, I would like to see the upgrade to Win 8 data instead. I'm pretty sure it paints an even worse picture for Win 8. I personally signed up for the win 8 upgrade but didn't bite, and didn't want to trade down from Win 7.[/citation]

Stop being stupid, there are plenty of W7 machines still out there, and will continue to be. Look at the business side of the Dell/HP/etc websites.

 

[kckckc]

'anyways, it boots 3 times faster, it's snappier, more secure, and the metro UI, while not intuitive at start, lets me move icons I don't want on my desktop to somewhere other than folders.' ........

Of the 300+ reviews and comments i have read on win8 not one ever claimed faster boot times then win7 let alone 3x .... eiher ur mistaken or ur win7 install was defective. I was forced to replace a PC years ago and Vista HAD to be the OS ... a pig OS by any standard. I have seen 2-3x boot time improvement on that machine after upgrading to win8 pro(for $15) .... not to mention a sleep/hibrnate routine that finally works correctly.That being said after 4 weeks i still have hardware NOT running in win8 (an old scanner) and after installing the Start8 "button" i am happy with win8. But ... my two win7 machines will never see win8 every though i still have one $15 win8 upgrade left ... too much hassle for NO real benefit (over win7).

 

[rolli59]

Well if people wanted early adoption of 64bit they were forced into Vista, then came & and everybody said it was what Vista should have been. 8 is taking of slower since if you already have 7 there is no reason to change.