Posted on 10/21/2018 8:03:02 PM PDT by dayglored
But there's still a long way before Windows 7 can be laid to rest
MICROSOFT could see Windows 10 finally catch up to evergreen Windows 7 by the new year if this months market share figures are anything to go by.
The monthly numbers from Netmarketshare show 40.88 per cent of desktop users on Windows 7, with Windows 10 at 37.44 per cent, just 3.44 behind as we head into the busy period of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Santa's subsequent annual giveaway.
Third place goes to the latest version of macOS, with version 10.13 on 6.08 per cent. Windows 8.1 is fourth on 4.86, with Windows XP now fifth on 3.19.
Sixth is Linux (excluding Ubuntu) on 1.51, with macOS 10.12 and 10.11 on 1.36 and 0.98 per cent respectively.
Windows 8 is on 0.95 and the top ten is completed by Ubuntu with 0.66 per cent.
This puts the overall figures at 87.56 per cent for Windows, macOS at 9.52, Linux at 2.21, Chrome OS at 0.33.
Across all device types, Android remains the leader with 40.39 per cent, albeit across what remains a very fragmented range of versions. Windows is on 37.55, iOS 15.99, Mac OS 4.08 and Linux on 0.97 per cent.
At the bottom of the table, there are still more people using Series 40 devices from ‘old Nokia' than Windows Phone OS, but both outstrip BRIM OS, which is still supported by Blackberry despite most new phones from the company running an augmented Android.
Stripped down by version and Windows 7 is the most popular single OS at 17.53, but Windows 10 is right behind on 16.06 per cent.
This is important because Windows 7 will reach EoL in just 14 months, and we all saw how hard it was to tear people away from Windows XP.
Third is iOS 11.4 on 10.32. Places four through nine are made up from various versions of Android. Version 8.0 is the most popular at 7.8 per cent, followed by 7.0 (7.72), 6.0 (7.17), 8.1 (4.66), 7.1 (4.24) and Android 5.1 (3.9 per cent).
Android 9.0 Pie is a long way behind, demonstrating yet again that despite improvements in recent years, the ecosystem is still hugely fragmented with Lollipop 5.1, which is three and a half years old, still figuring in a top ten breakdown, unlikely in no small part to its use in early Android One phones.
Although Windows 10 is available for a much larger range of devices than its predecessors, by isolating the Desktop/Laptop market we can see that its traditional core market is finally catching up, as any opposition from Windows 8 has now all but evaporated completely. μ
Win 7 Pro 64 user here.
It would be interesting to know how many Win 10 users would still be running Win 7 if MSFT had not forced them into Win 10.
Even with Microsoft trying to force people into 10, 7 is still more popular.
Here too. Best OS MS ever released, period, IMO.
> It would be interesting to know how many Win 10 users would still be running Win 7 if MSFT had not forced them into Win 10.
A lot, and more every month. That’s why the uptake of Win10 on desktop computers is so slow. Win10 is pushed out on all new devices, but the existing base of actual, real computers in businesses and homes is still Win7, and AFAICT, a large fraction of the Win10 users would have preferred to stay with Win7.
I never saw reason to switch from XP.
I’d be happy to buy a new machine with a legal set of XP on it.
Of course, the likelihood that XP will recognize the hardware on a new machine is very low — and the drivers for new devices simply don’t exist for XP. So it’s an uphill climb.
Imagine a Windows Update message where there were two choices:
1. Continue with Windows 10 Update
2. Re-install Windows 7
(Of course the 2nd choice would produce a blue screen when you click on it).
I, too, run Win 7 Pro 64 on my desktop. Last year I bought w Surface Pro 4 with Win 10 and I really don't like the tile interface and the idea that everything I type or do is reported to Redmond. I still use it for many things but my main computer is my desktop with the Win 7 Pro.
Win7 is my main OS — laptop and desktop.
I do have a Linux-Mint laptop I use occasionally, but Linux just isn’t comparable.
A few months ago I bought a Win10 tablet. Mainly I use it to listen to radio. Whenever I try to do other things, either Win10 or the tablet configuration are frustrating.
I will stay with Win7 until both the laptop and desktop die. The problem is, however, that software is forcing the upgrade to Win10. Browsers, etc., are starting to balk in Win7, just as they did when the shift was on from XP to Win7. Most of my software is XP/Win7 because those are usable, but some won’t even load on Win10.
I’m still running Win7 on my office computers, and won’t switch to another OS until I’m absolutely forced to.
Same here.
I remember seeing lots of posts from people who were forced into upgrading their systems to Win10. Fortunately, I wasn't one of them.
My two main workhorse computers are still running Win7.
Neither did I, but having gone through the transition, I think Win7 was a true improvement over XP.
For my money, the transition to Win10 from Win7 only benefited Microsoft.
I love 7. I hate 10. Downloaded it on a trial and it sucked so bad I believed them when they said I could easily return to seven. It ate a bunch of my drivers switching back, but was still worth it.
No, M$ has stood down its XP authentication servers. But you still can reinstall it on the same hardware without the need of authentication.
M$ ended mainstream support for Win7 in January of 2015. Which was more than three years ago.
My but how those M$ operating systems have been flying off the store shelves since they finally ditched XP.
Speaking of which, I was running three different systems on XP until earlier this summer when Mozilla stopped updating Firefox for XP. And that was the handwriting on the wall. Loaded Linux on all three. But the XP systems still were being patched because I had applied the "Windows Embedded POSReady 2009" hack. When M$'s update servers asked them what they were, they replied that they were an ATM running embedded XP. Which M$ will continue to patch through 2019.
I ran win10 for two years but gave up on it because I couldn't come to grips with how clumsy and amateurish its implementation of User Account Control was. UAC sucks in Win7, too, but at least in Win7 you can completely disable it.
“...significantly more susceptible to malware attacks.”
Get Norton 365 and it’ll keep your machine safe..
I’m staying w/ Win-7 Pro x64. Screw MS.
Norton can't protect your machine against everything. There are vulnerabilities at the very core of the operating system that make your system unsafe. It takes one very simple attack against your home network, and your machine is compromised.
I truly hope that people will come to understand that the bad guys are banking on their ignorance of IT security. Older operating systems are the number one method for compromise in the IT security world.
I’ve been using Norton since it was Norton Tools, back in the day, and then when Symmantec bought it. I’ve had attacks and the various versions of Norton caught, quarantined and destroyed them all. Lucky so far...
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