Win10 usage share surges

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Win7’s taking it on the chin. Source: Netmarketshare
[See the full post at: Win10 usage share surges]

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cmptrgy, Ascaris

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The graph and the table seem to be inconsistent.  If one goes to the site and re-creates this graph, then hovers over a July data point in the graph, the following percentages show up:

Win 10 … 48.86%

Win 7 … 31.83%

Win 8.1 … 5.29%

Mac OS X 10.14 … 5.38%

So which is correct?  Is it the graph (and the numbers I’ve just shown) or the table?  Confusing at best.  But, realistically, Win 10 is growing and Win 7 is shrinking.

 

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Lugh

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I’m thinking the table underneath the graph is a 12-month average. A 17.03% 1-month gap compared to a 4.27% increase spread out over a year seems to be a big discrepancy. Notice that in Aug. 2018 Win7 had a 2.47% lead over Win10, which expanded slightly in Sept. to 3.44%. The gap narrowed over the next 2 months, with Win7’s lead shrinking to 0.97%, then to 0.75%. The OS’es crossed in Dec. & by the end of 2018, Win10 lead Win7 by 2.32%. It expanded to 3.71% in January 2019, but contracted in Feb. to 1.89%. After that, Win10’s lead jumped to 7.10% & hasn’t looked back. Capt. Obvious sees that continuing in the next 5-6 months. I’m even seriously considering upgrading to Win10 1909 AKA “1903 Service Pack” from Win8.1… when 1909 AKA 19H2 becomes stable enough to trust. Trust in Win10 is big for me… after all, I had the past 4 years to upgrade… & haven’t done it yet!

Bought a refurbished Windows 10 64-bit, currently updated to 22H2. Have broke the AC adapter cord going to the 8.1 machine, but before that, coaxed it into charging. Need to buy new adapter if wish to continue using it.
Wild Bill Rides Again...

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This data seems to have ignored Linux.

Byte me!

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pHROZEN gHOST wrote:

This data seems to have ignored Linux.

1.66%, according to the quoted site.

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rc primak, woody

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Only if you consider Ubuntu to not be Linux (0.42%), and Fedora at 0.02%, for a total of 2.10%.  And then there’s ChromeOS, at 0.40%, which is Linux too (and Google has said that all ChromeOS devices will soon be able to run Linux programs, which would give it status as a bona fide Linux option, as opposed to merely being a vehicle for the Chrome browser to get online.

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rc primak

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[rc primak]

If as expected, the Google Linux (Crostini) will consist of entirely proprietary code, this is not Free Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS). So no, it should not be counted as Linux, any more than Microsoft’s Windows 10 “Linux” should be counted as Linux. These are not independent operating systems.

Ubuntu and Fedora are of course Linux. I don’t know why they weren’t included in the same category. Or maybe I do know…

-- rc primak

• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by rc primak.

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Windows 7 is taking it by attrition and just look at the last few years of new CPU hardware released and only windows 10 supporting any of that new CPU hardware’s full feature sets.

And it’s taken Windows 7’s soon to be EOL to get that noticeable falloff in usage and any Windows 10 increase is solely via MS’s attrition process at this late point in time. Let’s look at how things looked for Windows 7 at its 4 year after release to market date compared to Windows XP and compare and contrast that against Windows 10.

Windows 10 is that final Windows tax and consumers will be pleasantly surprised after Jan 2020 and many wishing that they had at least purchased an 8.1 license or are Enterprise/Volume licensing customers with the option of purchasing extended windows 7 security updates until 2023, with the help of their IT departments in getting any Telemetry removed from any of those “Security Only”  Updates.  But The Enterprise versions of Windows 7 have all the needed group policy bells and whistles enabled anyways on the next level above any Windows 7 Pro users, and ditto for the Enterprise version of Windows 10.

More Windows 10 consumer market version gains equates to more BETA OS pains for an ever growing number of end users(Victims) with Windows 7 still above the 30% mark.

Folks may want to look at those Windows 8.1 share figures for anyone that purchased one of the millions of business grade laptops after Windows 8 was new to the OS market as any of the business grade laptops shipped with the Pro Version of Windows 8 and the OEMs, at the factory, exercising that Pro Version downgrade rights from Windows 8/8.1 Pro  to Windows 7 Pro. So there are plenty of business grade laptops with Windows 8/8.1 licenses that have been running Windows 7 Pro for all these years and Windows 8.1 my just see a slight increase in usage once Windows 7 goes EOL.

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Kranium, FakeNinja, WildBill

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So there are plenty of business grade laptops with Windows 8/8.1 licenses that have been running Windows 7 Pro for all these years and Windows 8.1 my just see a slight increase in usage once Windows 7 goes EOL.

Anon has a good point. If Win7 users are still averse to Win10, but don’t want to chance being unprotected, Win8.1 has 3 years of life left. Don’t let the Jekyll/Hyde nature of this OS scare you; Woody documented in Windows 8.1 All-in-One how you can stay on the Desktop side & let Dr. Jekyll stay in control. True, no menu exists like in Win7 & Win10, but 3rd-party add-ons still exist. (Now hoping 8.1 All-in-One is still in print on Amazon…)

Bought a refurbished Windows 10 64-bit, currently updated to 22H2. Have broke the AC adapter cord going to the 8.1 machine, but before that, coaxed it into charging. Need to buy new adapter if wish to continue using it.
Wild Bill Rides Again...

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woody

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Windows 8 user market share is so small I do not expect Microsoft to support it to its scheduled EOS. I look for them to end support early for lack of users.

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Not likely for MS to attempt that and risk legal troubles once a stated support cycle has been published and promised support will continue for 8/8.1 until 2023. Windows 7 and 8.1 getting no support for any of the past few years of new CPU/processor features is the most that MS can attempt and not whitelisting 7 or 8.1 being installed on that newer CPU/Processor hardware. There are of course workarounds to getting windows 7/8.1 running on the latest Intel and AMD(Zen) processors but there are features in the newer processors that will never be supported in 7 or 8.1. And most users can live without that CPU/processor feature support anyways.

The very reason that MS can offer extended support to its Enterprise/Volume licensing customers for Windows 7 until 2023(For A Price) is that Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 pretty much share the same OS Kernel except for some minor differences. So MS already has to support the 8/8.1 Kernel until 2023 anyways. XP got extended support as well and Windows 7 will inherit XP’s extended afterlife support status come Jan 2020.

That third party software that can help any 8/8.1 Pro licensees on business grade laptops wash that TIFKAM right out of their hair will come in handy for millions of Business laptop owners that will have the option of avoiding the 10 until 2023 at least. So despised was Windows 8’s bimodal UI madness back at that time that the business class laptop OEMs made it a selling point to exercise that Windows OS Professional “Downgrade” Rights at the factory so that their business grade laptops came imaged with a Windows 7 Pro install with the laptop sporting a Windows 8 Pro license sticker on the bottom. And that’s the very reason that I sprinted on down to the local Retailer to get my HP Probook as that represented a way of avoiding Windows 8/8.1 all these years. But Windows 10’s madness in on a whole different level and Windows 8.1 and third party TIFKAM taming software now appears to be the more logical choice after Windows 7’s EOL.

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WildBill, Ascaris

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The ecosystem of Windows users are not so quick to adopt a new OS as say Apple users or even Linux fans. Chrome OS updates are forced upon users so they really have little choice. Windows is going that direction where they want everyone on the same version. Its the future.

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M$ hasn’t done that with any other iteration of Windows, & I’m sure they won’t do it to 8.1, even with over 3 years left of extended support. They might not like it, but they’ll keep supporting it. With some new features in Windows 10 & the possibility of the Fall Updates becoming basically “Service Packs”, I’m finally being tempted enough to upgrade instead of converting to Linux. If enough Win8.1 users upgrade, M$ might kill support early… but I still doubt it.

Bought a refurbished Windows 10 64-bit, currently updated to 22H2. Have broke the AC adapter cord going to the 8.1 machine, but before that, coaxed it into charging. Need to buy new adapter if wish to continue using it.
Wild Bill Rides Again...

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So, the time is swiftly approaching where I’ll have no choice in the matter, because my Win7 desktop is running on what I fear are its last legs.  This particular computer is approaching nine years old, and I have no intention of ever changing the OS, but I do not know how much longer the hardware will hold out.

The big question in my mind (well, next in line right after “How do I keep a stable OS to actually do work on?”):  What am I supposed to do with an OS with an 18 month service life?

This computer is almost a decade old.  Have we gotten far enough along in Win10 to know what the expected service life of any particular processor or hardware configuration is going to be?  How long do we have until Microsoft’s updates stop being compatible with our hardware, and they just shrug and start spamming you with links to the Microsoft Surface store?

Or, on the flip-side, is that actually a desirable situation?  Would reaching that point mean they’ll stop sending your PC through the wringer every 6 months, but it will still be able to live out its natural hardware service life on that last received build?  I frankly don’t give two shakes about OS features as long as the computer runs my programs, but what other limitations might that computer run into in terms of driver and software support?

Even if you make the (rather wild) assumption that Microsoft could potentially put out ten years worth of stable OS updates… I want to know how long it will be until they look at my hardware, and decide, “Nah, that’s too old to support now, you need to go buy a new computer.”

 

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rc primak, Kranium, lurks about, WildBill, woody

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These graphs are only speculations. Only Microsoft can publish the true real numbers up to the single Windows PC. Wonder why they hide the numbers.
Any way, Windows 7 still has ~1 Billion users.

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Alex5723 wrote:

These graphs are only speculations.

The data is compiled from approximately 100 million valid sessions per month, widely distributed over thousands of websites.
https://www.netmarketshare.com/methodology

Alex5723 wrote:

Any way, Windows 7 still has ~1 Billion users.

That would mean Windows 10 has ~1.5 Billion users.

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rc primak, Lugh

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It only took ’em four years…

Four years of giving it away to users of consumer editions of 7 and 8.1, with the first year trying to force it so hard that people had to develop countermeasures to prevent it from upgrading, along with unprecedented sabotage of otherwise valid installations of 7 and 8.1 on newer hardware (what if MS had forced Vista on us and blocked Windows XP on anything newer than a Core 2 Duo?  Would the beloved 7 have ever existed?), and endless exhortations about how 10 is the last version of Windows ever (IOW, “Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here.”)

If Windows 10 had merely been offered alongside 7 and 8.1, without GWX and blocking on new hardware, it would be a whole different picture.  It took four years of MS weaponizing its monopoly against its users to get where it is now.

It’s kind of like Microsoft was playing the long-long-long con, developing Windows in one more or less consumer friendly way for more than 25 years to get people dependent, then pulling the switcheroo in 2015, when the entire computing world had been dependent on it for many years.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
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Elly, Kranium, David F, wdburt1, Bluetrix

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Forgive me if I don’t get too excited at the news that after 4 years Windows 10 has finally conquered roughly half the market.

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rc primak, Kranium, Lars220, Geo, wdburt1, FakeNinja

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“One Sparrow…” (This quoted while baking in a heat wave, mind you)

I would not be surprised if the trend levels out next month, and less surprised if EOL finds 7 at more of a percentage than when XP hit EOL.

When WIN98 bit the dust, a private company stepped in and started offering security patches. If no one does likewise this time, they’ll be losing a large profit share of the market.

Seven Semper Fi!

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330 ("The Tank"), Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Newbie
--
"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

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Geo

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Consider this, if staying with Win 7:  What really matters is,

• when browser makers stop supporting Win 7,
• and web sites refuse to accept the last browser version that supported Win 7.  That’s the true drop-dead date to migrate to another operating system.

Since Win 7 will continue to be supported for at least 3 more years for Enterprise/volume licensees willing to pay for extended patching, it’s reasonable to assume browser makers will also continue to support Win 7 for three more years.  Unless they make a special version that only runs on Win 7 with those special paid extended patches, and refuses to run on Win 7 without them (i.e. everyone else).

Chrome supported XP for two years (April 2016) after XP’s official end of life.  Firefox ESR edition supported XP until Sept. 2018, over four years after XP EOL.

 

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Yeah well, considering how many people are not willing to pay for the extra W7 support till 2023, or the many more not even knowing about this possibility, I can see why the surge. On the good side at least, after all these years, W10 went from full cancer to a bit less cancerous, allowing to schedule when to update your system with a delay up to 18 months, and recently switching from two major builds per year to just one. There are other things that would need to be addressed to make it as good as W7, like implementing the option for Aero or something like Open Shell directly in the OS for those who really hate Metro/Modern UI and tiles like me, built-in option to disable snooping, Cortana, Microsoft Store, etc. even for people not using W10 LTSC. Even though, I really do hope that by 2023 Microsoft will retrace its steps and release a revamped W11.

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and recently switching from two major builds per year to just one.

Sorta looks like that will be happening this year with 19H2, but unfortunately haven’t seen anything official indicating a more permanent change in Microsoft’s current Windows release strategy of too-frequent twice-yearly “Feature Updates”. Hope you’re right, but…

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Microsoft has announced the Windows Defender has more than 50% market share in an active mode as the primary antivirus.

“Windows Defender already has more than a 50% share in the Windows ecosystem. So that’s more than half a billion machines that are running Windows Defender in an active mode as the primary antivirus. And it has grown pretty significantly and is among the best now.”

https://www.zdnet.com/article/top-windows-defender-expert-these-are-the-threats-security-hasnt-yet-solved/

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https://merabheja.com/12-text-only-browsers-for-browsing-in-slow-internet-connections/

So in other words NEVER.

when browser makers stop supporting Win 7,
and web sites refuse to accept the last browser version that supported Win 7. That’s the true drop-dead date to migrate to another operating system.

And some of these go back to the DOS days. If browser makers (text) still support DOS even now, then Windows 7 is safe forever

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anonymous wrote:

If browser makers (text) still support DOS even now, then Windows 7 is safe forever

That’s not the issue. The issue is how long will websites, apps & extensions continue their support. If raw text-only serves your needs, you’re good.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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