Windows 8 apps pass 100K, Windows 8 passes Vista

Microsoft has received two pieces of good news concerning its not-exactly-barn-burning Windows 8: there are now over 100,000 apps in the Windows 8 app store, and the installed base of Windows 8 has passed that of the late and unlamented Windows Vista. What's more, that 100,000-app milestore was reached in just eight months – …

[Anonymous Coward]

I can see Ballmer now...

"I told you getting rid of TechNet was a good idea.. Only one day after we decided to whack it and Windows 8 sales are already surpassing Vista!".

The sad part? Although this is meant as a joke I'm somewhat serious here. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if some beancounters actually draw these kind of conclusions.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I can see Ballmer now...

I don't think it is the employees of Microsoft generating the absurd statements but Ballmer telling that what to say. I wouldn't surprise me to see Ballmer make that leap though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I can see Ballmer now...

A hundred thousand beer and fart apps. Super!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I can see Ballmer now...

100,000 apps

23 downloads.

[Mark .]

Re: I can see Ballmer now...

Whilst surpassing Vista might seem a joke statement given that Vista was viewed as being doomed, the point is the timeframe - Vista was around for over 2.5 years, compared to barely 8 months for Windows 8. Whilst Windows 7 may be a lot higher, that was around for 3 years. (And reports have suggested that Windows 8's uptake rate is on par with Windows 7 - and that was with 7 following on from Vista, which you'd think people were keen to upgrade from or skip over from XP; 8 has no such "advantage".)

OS X may be doing better, but that's every version of OS X compared to 8 months of Windows 8. The most recent version, 10.8, has only 3.14% share, despite released almost a year ago.

In some sense, this really shouldn't be surprising. Given we already know that Windows is the 90% dominant OS, you'd expect there to be lots of software for it, even for just the Windows 8 only stuff. And you'd expect it to do well.

But that's not what people claimed. People, the media, insisted Windows 8 would be a flop. It would be a failure - not just in relative terms, but absolute terms. PCs were dead, they said. Ipads and Chromebooks were the future. Even after the initial sales reports appeared, they still insisted it was a flop. "Those are just licences sold, doesn't mean people are using it" they claimed.

Now we have stats based on usage rather than licences sold, and I bet people will still stick their head in the sand and claim it was a flop. And when Apple next release a product that takes 76 days to sell a million, it'll be hailed as a runaway success...

[Charlie Clark]

Re: I can see Ballmer now...

@Mark .

Now we have stats based on usage rather than licences sold, and I bet people will still stick their head in the sand and claim it was a flop.

It is a failure - the resellers and manufacturers have been saying this since launch.

Comparisons with the much unloved Vista are appropriate. Check the stats for the uptake of Windows 7 in the same time frame.

[Mark .]

Re: I can see Ballmer now...

"It is a failure - the resellers and manufacturers have been saying this since launch."

That demonstrates my point perfectly - we have claims of it being a failure, based on hand-picked quotes (e.g., from one who was advertising their new Chromebooks), but the actual hard evidence time and time again suggests this is not the case.

"Comparisons with the much unloved Vista are appropriate. Check the stats for the uptake of Windows 7 in the same time frame."

Do you have a source? And are you arguing "It's not as successful as 7" or "It's a failure"? I can hear the back-pedalling already.

[BillG]

Re: I can see Ballmer now...

You mean like Google bragging Google Wallet signups increased 800% by automatically associating your mobile account with Google Wallet when you buy anything from Google Play?

[Antony Evans]

Can I bee the first to say.....

I hate windows 8.

None of the 100,000 appp in the store are what anybody wants.

Windows 8 will not be coming near my machine until they bring back the start menu, not just the start button.

Windows 8 is confusing and I just want it to boot to the desktop.

All of the tablets that are windows 8 tablets have shitty resolutions.

Hey Windows 8 the year 2000 called ad it wants it kernel back

Buy a linux PC cos they are sooooo much better and they just work.

I've been in the IT business for 2,000,000 yea...................

Oh, who gives a schitt.

[Stacy]

Re: Can I bee the first to say.....

Given the pointless rant you just wrote... You?

[Kristian Walsh]

Re: Can I bee the first to say.....

I suspect that this post was not an honest expression of its author's own views on the subject. It is a neat summary of the comment thread of every Windows8 article, though...

[Antony Evans]

Re: Can I bee the first to say.....

Spot on.

[Matt Bryant]

Re: Stacy Re: Can I bee the first to say.....

Evidently some readers still require sarc tags to avoid embarrassing themselves.....

[Mark Allread]

Re: Can I bee the first to say.....

So much ignorance in your post.

[Tim Bates]

Re: Can I bee the first to say.....

Holy crap... Eadon now posts with a real name.

[Tom 35]

Fart RT

Out of curiosity I fired up the Surface.

Fart returns 38 apps, most with zero ratings, a few cost money like Metro Fart for $1.99

Some of the apps don't seem to fit the fart theme like Stanley Level, Math Plotter, and a Photo Shop book. Drops the total down to 26.

They must use Bing search tech, maybe there is a fantastic fart app that would make the Surface totally worth owning, but search can't find it.

Angry Birds Space $4.99 has 86 reviews, they don't tell you the number of downloads. Android $3.00 is 15.613 reviews and 500,000+ downloads.

[Ragarath]

Re: Fart RT

Android $3.00 is 15.613 reviews and 500,000+ downloads.

Come on, own up! Who was the person that gave .613 of a review? Typing is hard but come on a fraction of a review is just lazy!

[Captain DaFt]

Wow... Just... wow

So Win 8 beats Vista now. Any word on how many of those sales are actually Win 7 machines with shiny Win 8 discs included in the box?

Of course, it still looks rosey for MS. Forcing the box shifters to pay for both OSs to sell a machine just means that MS gets two checks per machine, way to double-dip, guys!

[Tom 35]

Re: Wow... Just... wow

No it's from webserver logs so actual in use computers. And it's not the number of Vista computers sold, it's the number still in use (Vista computers that have not been upgraded (to 7 or XP), or replaced (or Coked in my sisters case)).

[Belardi]

Re: Wow... Just... wow

No, just as Tom35 has states. Now, what Microsoft said about 2 months ago is that they SHIPED/SOLD Win8 licences as fast as Windows7... which of course means nothing as that is sales to OEM. Who have paid for Win8 but not sold or shipped Win8 computers.... so Microsoft is playing with the numbers.

Lets say you buy a notebook like the ThinkPad with Windows7 Pro. It still counts as a Win8 sales that has been "downgraded" to windows 7.

[Mark Allread]

Re: Wow... Just... wow

Yeah, but you're comparing it to Windows7 figures that were calculated in exactly the same way. So those Win7 sale figures also included unsold PCs etc..

[foxyshadis]

Hate Win8? Get Classic Shell.

Given that Classic Shell takes 30 seconds to install, I don't understand why everyone is so intent on moaning about the new start screen. Big whoop, alternatives are available, avail yourselves of them while you avail yourselves of Win8's otherwise complete superiority over Win7. Some people just want to attention whore and look cool, I guess.

[Belardi]

Re: Hate Win8? Get Classic Shell.

Er.... no. its a lot more than just the Start Menu. The whole UI is shit.

Why pay for Win8 when it does nothing over Win7 other than have the Microsoft Store and a butt-ugly UI design?

[dogged]

Re: Hate Win8? Get Classic Shell.

Except that it does.

Trust me, built-in Hyper-V beats "XP Mode" every time.

[Dr Insanity]

Re: Hate Win8? Get Classic Shell.

Surely if the selling point for Win8 is that it replicates XP better with Hyper-V than Win7 with XP mode, then surely the answer is to use Windows XP - I've heard it emulates XP better than both, most of the time at least...

[dogged]

Re: Hate Win8? Get Classic Shell.

Well, one downside of running an XP box is that you can only run an XP box. Hyper-V will jut as happily run any OS you care to load it up with.

It's brilliant with a Technet subscription because you can test anything and everything is available.

For now. Some fuckbag in accounts at MS has killed that plan, sadly. But at least they're offering the freebie trials.

[Tom 35]

built-in Hyper-V beats "XP Mode" every time.

Except that it requires an "i" processor. My Core 2 Quad is not supported.

So I would say XP Mode that works beats Hyper-V that will not even run.

So you can change that to built-in Hyper-V beats "XP Mode" if you have a new computer.

[Mark Allread]

Re: Hate Win8? Get Classic Shell.

Chap, there are loads of aspects of Windows 8 that are better than Windows 7. Seriously, the state of the ignorant haters in here...

[Mark .]

Re: Hate Win8? Get Classic Shell.

Honest question - what is shit about the "whole UI"? Given that programs work just the same way as before? Yes there's the new UI for "Windows store apps", but if you don't like them, don't use them.

"Why pay for Win8 when it does nothing over Win7 other than have the Microsoft Store and a butt-ugly UI design?"

It has plenty more. Sure, it might not be worth upgrading, but that's true with every new OS that comes out. I didn't see the point in upgrading from 2000 to XP. Many people were happy with XP and didn't upgrade to Vista or 7. But I don't see those people foaming at the mouth to tell people how their more up to date version is awful.

[Steven Roper]

So Windows 8 has passed Vista? That's about as noteworthy as the moment when XP passed Windows Me.

Wake me when it passes Windows 7. Although I'd say by then I'll be running Mint on the desktop and Firefox OS on my mobile devices, so it won't matter to me anyway.

[dogged]

ChromeOS

We hear how everyone is buying Chromebooks and ditching Windows all the time on the Reg, mainly from commentards.

How much of a percentage of "other" is ChromeOS? 0.1%? 0.2% maybe?

[dogged]

Re: ChromeOS

Oh dear.

Looks like ChromeOS is not getting widespread support and has therefore failed and is useless and should be junked.

No? But those are the arguments which are used for Windows Phone, aren't they?

I wonder if the downvotes all came from ChromeOS users. If so, either Larry or Sergey has more than one Reg account, it seems.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: ChromeOS

Ov course we have multiple accounts here! Fool who do you think kept upvoting Eadon?

[Mark Allread]

LOL! You have fun with your Firefox mobile won't you..

[graeme leggett]

Its at times like this

I almost miss Eadon for his insightful rants.

Though when I say almost, I mean "not at all"

on a more serious note, does anyone know what Vista peaked at in terms of percentage or number of installed systems?

Disturbingly, the trend for "other" is down on their latest data 5.6% from 6.9% a year ago.

Though MacOS is rising by about the same so it implies transfer between windows versions within the shrinking (so I belive) overall desktop market rather than a displacement of Windows by the alternatives.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Its at times like this@Graeme Leggett

"I almost miss Eadon for his insightful rants."

Well, the user currently known as Belardi seems to have a single issue fixation of Windows Hate, to have similarly troubled grammar, and a need to use capitals in rather too many of his posts.

Just sayin....

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Its at times like this

I don't miss him. I enjoyed the passion he held for his subject, but I hated the vastly over inflated sense of his own knowledge and the utter lack of being able to debate, rather just shouting his opinion over and over again. I also hated the way he personally abused people when he didn't get his way and the way that any article which he didn't agree with resulted in accusing the author of corruption, shilling or taking back handers. I believe the latter is what did for him in the end.

In short, I don't think he was a very nice person and I don't ever want to meet him in real life.

[Teleporter]

Re: Its at times like this

No need to worry about meeting him in real life, the likelihood of him leaving his mum's basement for anything other than milk and cookies is extremely low.

[Busby]

Re: Its at times like this

Upvote as I would like to think the same. However I think they probably already have multiple accounts/personalities here. Would be amazed if they are not receiving payment from someone to do this and doing the same to many places other than el reg.

[RISC OS]

Do we really want people who make sites like these...

...filling up the windows app store with apps?

http://www.lingscars.com/

http://i1.wp.com/www.globalwebfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/4th-worst-website-of-2013.png

http://i2.wp.com/www.globalwebfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/6th-worst-website-of-2013.jpg

http://i1.wp.com/www.globalwebfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/8th-worst-website-of-2013.jpg

[Danny 14]

Re: Do we really want people who make sites like these...

Ive learnt the hard way that (short of dementia) once you see something you cannot un-see it. Im not clicking on those links.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Do we really want people who make sites like these...

(a) Nothing wrong with Ling; her website is legendary. It's like that for a reason.

(b) One thing I'm happy about is that Microsoft decided to force its corporate font across all its sites and those of its 'experts'. All I have to do now is go to a website, see the typeface, and go away again. Much like when those Prussian blue borders appear on my TV, I know it's an IBM ad and can immediately change channels, fast forward or go make a cup of tea.

[StanBumps]

Re: Do we really want people who make sites like these...

@RISC OS - thanks for that. The 'lings cars' website has made my day. Great chuckle.

[Mystic Megabyte]

Why bother?

As is usual for Windows you have to buy stuff to make it usable. i.e. Classic Shell

I have not seen Win 8 but judging by Win7 the file manager is rubbish. Even with XP, I could not bear to use it without Total Commander.

Try opening a DVD .iso file in Win 7 "Media Player" and get an "unknown file type". WTF!

Since switching to Linux I don't have to buy any software that makes the OS actually usable.

I cannot understand why you would want to pay for an OS that is missing things that I take for granted.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Why bother?

"I cannot understand why you would want to pay for an OS that is missing things that I take for granted."

Because we have to use software other than the OS to earn our daily crust. Some of that software, in my case Adobe Photoshop for one, does not have an open source equivalent. Please don't start the "but there's The Gimp" argument. I have the Gimp for Windows installed as well and the true fact is that it is not a straight replacement.

Plus there are probably as many, if not more, free "things" available for Windows as there are for Linux. All the "flagship" open source programs for a start. Plus Classic Shell is in fact free.

[Mark Allread]

Re: Why bother?

* The "file manager" in Windows 8 is much improved over Windows 7

* If you double click an .ISO in Windows 8, it gets mounted as a new virtual drive.

Y'see, ignorance about Windows 8 is rife.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Why bother?

* If you double click an .ISO in Windows 8, it gets mounted as a new virtual drive.

...and then fails to do anything useful - like PLAY the damn thing - because they removed the DVD player.

[Tim Bates]

@Mark Allread Re: Why bother?

"* The "file manager" in Windows 8 is much improved over Windows 7"

In what way? I was trying out 8.1 last night* and the ribbonisation of Explorer alone was enough to remind me never to put 8 on my main PC. I was ready to just switch the laptop off and abandon it without having even figured out how to boot straight to the desktop (which I also found was in a really stupid location).

* Trying 8.1 required me to dig out an old HDD to shove into my spare laptop... I tried simply installing to the same KVM instance I already had 8.0 running on, but the ISO black screened (0x0a). Fiddled with the settings there, still kept failing. Moved to my desktop PC and VMWare Player. Same result.

It's almost as if MS don't want anyone to try their stuff anymore.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Why bother?

@Mystic Megabyte: By "As usual for Windows you have to buy stuff to make it usable", I presume you mean "download stuff, for free, to slightly alter how it works". I've never bought anything for Windows to change how it works, apart from an IP stack for Win 3.11, I've always downloaded legitimately free software. As releases go on, I find that I need to do that less and less. Sure, stopping native support of DVDs is probably a retrograde step, but it does contribute to the OS costing less and VLC does the job just fine. Also it appears that some people aren't too keen on the start screen replacing the start menu (!) but I believe there are free alternatives.

My use of Linux is similar - many of the distros that I use don't support MP3 and similar patent encumbered systems by default, so I have to download it, it's not a big deal. I have to download (or yum/apt-get) many packages which aren't installed by default, but I wouldn't consider this "having to download stuff to make it usable" just normal OS tweaking.

[mmeier]

Re: Why bother?

@Mystic Megabyte

Aside from the fact that the few things I need (Media Player) are available for free, the "free" OS simply does not do what I want! No Dragon Natural (or equivalent), no OneNote/Journal/Artrage, most games do not run...

[darklordsid]

Woww, howw phantastic. How great is Ballmeros 8.x! That's must be the reason why Apple is now at 56% in the USA ultrabook market.

[Mark .]

That's the ""thin and light" notebook market", not Ultrabooks (which are a different thing - an Intel trademark for a subset of laptops that doesn't include anything from Apple).

Given that Apple's 56% only translates into 6% total, this market can't be that big. They've probably been helped now that it's getting hard to buy netbooks, which were what everyone used to buy for a thin and light laptop. We hear a lot of how tablets are eating into PCs, but I suspect Apple have a lot more to worry about - it seems to me that smartphones and tablets do a lot more to reduce the need for an expensive ultra-portable, than they do a larger laptop/PC. (It also seems odd to have Apple fans telling us we should all buy ipads, when it's Apple users who seem most keen to have a laptop they can take everywhere...)

[Anonymous Coward]

Has anyone actually recorded who makes all the 100k+ apps? Could it perhaps be that the majority are all MSFT ones? This smells a bit like having Jonny Nomates create 100k Facebook 'friends' to make himself look popular.

Glad to see that Steve B can finally live up to his promise "I'm going to f****** kill Google."

[Mark Allread]

"Has anyone actually recorded who makes all the 100k+ apps? Could it perhaps be that the majority are all MSFT ones?"

Ah... conspiracy theories... Maybe Apple did the same huh? Maybe Google did the same huh?

Or perhaps the development environment, languages and tools are streets ahead on Windows.

[Gordon Pryra]

Misquote there AC

he never said "I'm going to f****** kill Google."

He actually said "I'm going to f****** kill Graham."

Which he has done, he is in walled up behind an old conference room in Redmond

[Mr Spock]

@AC 06:41

Nail on the head. I'd like to see a figure for the number of apps which were developed independently for pleasure and/or profit, as opposed to those which were paid for by Microsoft or Nokia to pad the store. A lot less than 100,000 now, isn't it.

At least we know one of them is Angry Birds, as Microsoft is using it in its extremely unhip and tedious saturation UK TV ad campaigns. 'May the Birds be with you'. Whoop-de-doo, they've got a game which was released in 2009! I'm so excited I need to go to the dry cleaner's.

[Squander Two]

Maybe I'm missing something...

... but what exactly is wrong with Microsoft developing apps for a Microsoft platform? Even if they had developed every single one of the 100,000 (they haven't), wouldn't that be a positive thing? I'm trying to think of the last time I saw someone make this complaint about Excel. "Well, yeah, sure it runs on Windows, but then Microsoft made it, didn't they? Just so they could have a spreadsheet app that runs on their own operating system. The cheating bastards."

[Carlitos911]

Re: Maybe I'm missing something...

>> "Well, yeah, sure it runs on Windows, but then Microsoft made it, didn't they? Just so they could have a spreadsheet app that runs on their own operating system. The cheating bastards."

The funny thing is, Microsoft actually developed Excel for Mac OS *before* porting it to Windows 3.0 (which wasn't yet ready at the time).

[Anonymous Coward]

well I think one should get the OS that fits their job. I like the clear design language of Metro. it was unfortunate how they introduced the winrt and windows8 marriage though. I don't need the start button - nobody needs it, if they have something similar to the magic trackpad of Apple instead of a mouse. that one is my favourite input device.

ever since I realised I needed VMs to do my job, I try to keep my host OS as far from my "real" work as possible - thus MacOS, while all my VMs are different versions of windows plus different software versions depending on purpose.

i realised also, that those companies still using XP are good candidates for transitioning to MacOS from a user interface perspective. except for the dedicated software written for winXP - which wouldn't be a problem if run from a VM (in coherence mode of Parallels it's not even noticeable that it's another OS running the application).

[Darryl]

So they can go out and buy a bunch of expensive new Macs, and then buy licenses for Win 7 and install XP and 7 in VMs on their Macs. Makes no financial sense whatsoever

[Talic]

I'm not surprised that there are 100k+ apps in the store..

I was browsing in it (for the first time) and I saw at least three different versions of Media Player Classic with the same image, and they were all $5. There must be pretty poor (or none) QA process..

[Squander Two]

Good point.

One of the things I love about the Android and Apple app stores is that they each have one and only one app for each purpose.

[Elmer Phud]

So, the W7 lovers are the ones who bemoaned the passing of XP and waited until the last moment before changing and are now complaining as they've only really just settled in to a new pair of slippers.

I remember when the comments were all about ditching XP and keeping 2000 'cos XP was shit.

As someone who's gone from XP to 8 I've head loads of 'it's shit' but no-one has actually said why but just moaned like hell about Metro (if that's what that little-used tiled thing is called).

Is it about what used to be called progs and are now called apps?

Why is it I have had no problems loading and running software meant for XP (or even 98se)?

Ah, I long to return to the days when a Windows update was a box a floppies.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've heard this from quite a few (say ten or so) non-technical friends and relatives - "What should I use instead of Windows 8 when I have to replace my ageing XP machine", so I explain the realistic options of Linux or MacOS and the respective hardware that they use, plus support options etc. Then I tend to end with "why don't you want to use Windows 8", and the answer is usually "because it's rubbish". How do they know this? "Because that's what people on the Internet are saying"...

[Mark .]

It's particularly odd that, even if one doesn't like Windows 8, the differences between changing to an entirely new OS are going to be far greater than learning the differences with Windows 8 (or simply spending 5 minutes to install one of the free utilities to change things back to 7 or XP).

And then there's the point that OS X and Unity also load apps by clicking on big icons, anyway.

[Squander Two]

Yup. But, when you talk to non-technical users who actually have Windows 8, not only are they fine with it, half of them don't even see that there's anything worth discussing. Comments I've had include "It's fine" and "OK, I suppose" and "Yeah, no problem": normal people just aren't interested in a big in-depth discussion of user interface principles. The only people I come across who hate it are advanced users like Register readers. Which is fine, but they all insist that the reason they hate it is that it's so terrible for lay users. There's an interesting disconnect there.

[aqk]

Yup. Everyone here moans and curses Win8, but.

But why are all these Win8 bashers here seemingly "experts" on it? Have they ever actually used it? Or are they just shhep that curse?

I have both a desktop and a laptop upgraded to Win8. Did it for $39 ea. last January.

And 8 has worked PERFECTLY ever since.

I hardly ever use the Metro thing, as I do not have a strokescreen (yet). The Win 8 boots into the "Start" screen almost immediately- faster than XP, Win7 and of course Vista.

All I did was spend 30 seconds installing the FREE StartMenu from IOBit.

Looks just like Win7 now. Or XP. Or Win2K for you really backward moaners.

I bet all the complainers here bitched the same crap 10 years ago when they had to upgrade from W2K to XP.

Elmer Phud- still got those old floppies? Quick! Start duplicating them and pass your Win3.1 out to these weenies.

Oh, Wait! Of course! Linux will be everyone's production system in two years, huh? LOL.

See you in two years, weenieboys.

[Jess]

they may have sold them but are they being used?

A couple of days ago, I visited a friend I'd not seen in a while. She'd been given a touch screen windows 8 laptop by work.

Even with the touch screen, it is a vile experience. For example if you start an MP3, the player goes full screen immediately. You then have to swipe the screen to get back to the ugly tile thing, then click on desktop, to get back to where you started. This would be poor on a phone with a tiny screen, but on a laptop it is a joke. This sort of crap went out in the 80s, things like GEM are better than this.

It turned out that the laptop was given to her (not for to use work) and they don't want it back.

She found it unusable and asked if there was anything I could do to it. I think her work had bought it to try, found it useless and gave it to her.

I said I'd heard of classic shell, and if that was no good, I could try Linux Mint.

I now have the thing for a couple of weeks (the hardware is fine, just the OS is a joke) I have installed classic shell and this makes the thing work like Windows 7, (but it looks like an early 90s workstation) mp3s still grab the whole screen, but this obviously will be solved by replacing the metro (cr)apps with normal apps.

So with a little work windows 8 can be made into a usable system. However you have to spend time to replace what has been removed (DVD play is also omitted), so it seem to me, for a home user windows 8 is only a sensible choice, if it saves £50 on the cost of a similar laptop/desktop with Windows 7.

For a business user, it would be madness, if you have to rely on freeware added to it to make it usable, you might as well go the whole hog and roll out linux mint. (The biggest concern would be a system update breaking classic shell deliberately)

I still have no opinion on the tablet/laptop convertibles, but I think it unlikely they will be much good for many people. And for tablets, I think android or iOS would be far better for the vast majority of users.

I think there will be a tiny niche market where windows 8 does what users want. There will also be another set of users who put up with it, because they don't realize they have a choice.

[Elmer Phud]

Re: they may have sold them but are they being used?

"Even with the touch screen, it is a vile experience. For example if you start an MP3, the player goes full screen immediately. You then have to swipe the screen to get back to the ugly tile thing, then click on desktop, to get back to where you started."

Just like any other O.S. you try to keep to your favourite progs -- why anyone should use Windows Media Player I don't know.

I moved in to W8 and kept using VLC, is there a problem?

I don't use much of the standard MS media handling stuff -- oh, I use Notepad, all the rest are those I am familiar with (and free).

It's as if people are not actually considering their usual environment but moaning about the one straight out of the box and not the one they spent weeks moving in to prior to W8.

This is not, it seems, an IT issue at all.

[Squander Two]

Well, quite. All the media players that worked on Windows 7 and XP and 2000 work perfectly well on Windows 8, because it has very good backwards-compatibility. Most people, surely, would continue to use the thing they already like using, and Windows 8 lets them do that. So what's the problem?

[Paul Shirley]

"very good backwards-compatibility"

...just a pity you have to explicitly turn it on for so many desktop applications.

[Squander Two]

Re: "very good backwards-compatibility"

All my old Windows desktop apps just work. The only backwards-compatibility I've had to turn on is compatibility mode for a Tascam audio interface. Since Tascam haven't made any post-XP drivers for it, the fact that Win8 can still run it is pretty good, as far as I'm concerned.

Certainly a hell of a lot easier and more convenient than the hoops I had to jump through to run a Mac OS9 emulator in OSX. Hell, Apple even go as far as suing anyone they catch distributing an OS9 ROM (which an OS9 emulator needs). So yeah, Microsoft win on that front.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: they may have sold them but are they being used?

@Elmer Phud

oh, I use Notepad

Nuff said

[Mark .]

Re: they may have sold them but are they being used?

"Even with the touch screen, it is a vile experience. For example if you start an MP3, the player goes full screen immediately."

Like every version of Windows, it depends what player is used to play. Actually even though I'm still using Windows Media Player as the default, it doesn't run full screen, so I'm not sure what's up with that. Other players like MPC or whatever will run in a window just the same as before too. I'm not saying it's perfect - it sounds like the choice of default apps could do with better thought. But that's a far cry from the "it's unusable, everyone will switch to Linux" claims.

As for the title question, these stats *are* based on usage, and not on sales.

"However you have to spend time to replace what has been removed (DVD play is also omitted),"

Blame software patents for that. MS did the right thing here - rather than having to charge everyone extra money, which then has to go to the patent owners, people can instead just download a free player like VLC to do it (which, since it's free, and hosted outside the US, can avoid patent fees).

"For a business user, it would be madness, if you have to rely on freeware added to it to make it usable"

Mine's usable just fine, thanks. But I'm just someone who actually uses it, rather than someone who just saw it.

Individual employees are free to customise it if they wish. By your logic, because you need freeware added to make Windows 7 start menu look like XP, businesses might as well switch to Linux.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hah hah hah, the funny thing for me is that Win8 is already waaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of the most popular Linux bistro. Guess all the Trevor Potts of this world who claim they are 'steering their clients towards linux' are actually all talking bull. The Windows juggernaut rolls on and I salute it!!!!!!!

[mmeier]

Even funnier:

The numbers are "computers that called this site" not "units shipped" so it is a good representation of client boxes. And those 2.x percent "other" include everything not Windows or Mac-OS but a client OS. So not only Linux but also all the BSD boxes, Atarie ST, Amiga, Archies etc.

[hplasm]

Do Apple-toting baristas work in these 'Linux bistros'?

[aqk]

Hey, are there any Windows Bistros nearby?

Last thing I wanna do is sit down and order a pint in a Linux Bistro, unless the place was empty.

[--]

Wow 100.000 crappy apps!

Great that they have passed 100,000 apps. But most of them simply are stupid RSS readers of stupid artists which one can do much easier in a browser. That is pretty much all there is, stupid Media Players mostly copied from each other, stupid RSS readers and webpages in an app.

If we take out all this crap and filter out the actually good apps you come to 100 apps or something, if you're lucky

[Elmer Phud]

Re: Wow 100.000 crappy apps!

"If we take out all this crap and filter out the actually good apps you come to 100 apps or something, if you're lucky"

So, no different from everywhere else then?

Case closed me Lud.

[Robert Grant]

Here's what's crazy

Reading comments and tech articles, you'd think that Win 8 was a failure in the marketplace. Turns out - according to these stats at least - that the total Mac marketshare is smaller than Win8 and Vista. Be good if someone were to write an article that bore that sort of thing in mind; just a bit less echo chamber-y.

[Paul Shirley]

I bet 99k of them are simple ports

It's considerably easier porting an existing iOS or Android app to another platform, especially if you built it in a cross platform tool. So you'd expect apps to appear massively quicker on later platforms, during the initial gold rush, while quick dirty ports can succeed.

Trickling in a little bit faster just shouts fail. I want to know how many of that 100k are this years apps, not recompiled stuff from the dawn of iPhone. I doubt it's a lot and now Microsoft are done subsidising (*) them I expect growth to slow a lot.

(* Microsoft have stopped pumping adverts into the ad platform, since they were responsible for 90%+ of them ad funded WP apps are effectively dead. AFAIK they also stopped paying bonuses for apps)

[Darryl]

Re: I bet 99k of them are simple ports

So they don't count unless they're completely new, never before seen apps now? Does this mean that Win 8 users shouldn't want a Netflix app (for example) because there's already one for iOS and Android?

[Nameless Faceless Computer User]

All nonsense numbers, since Windows 8 is mandatory, not optional with a new PC. And, since Windows 7 is so expensive, few will re-format their machines and downgrade them, like I did. None of these sales figures and app development mean anything when we all have a gun to our heads.

[mmeier]

Companies with a Win7 volume licence - can still install Win7 on their new units. And since "one client" is a common way in business IT they do

OEMs can (and do) still deliver boxes with Win7 installed if you ask them, DELL even does so in the business webshops

And finally: Those figures are NOT sales figures - they are "Units that visited our site and where not iOS/Android/WP/..." So they give a very good idea what client pc are using

[Mark .]

8 months ago, what we heard was "Windows 8 will be a failure." When I pointed out that it runs on 90% of PCs, so is bound to do well no matter what, I was told "That doesn't matter, PC sales are dying and no one's forced to buy Windows, everyone will buy ipads or chromebooks, and other people will stick with XP or 7, or switch to Macs or Linux".

I find it funny that now, people argue the complete opposite in order to criticise 8 but still claim the same conclusion of it being a failure.

Pass me the magnifying glass, I'm trying to see the Chromebook entry in the pie chart...

[aqk]

Oh my. Downgraded to Win-7?

Why didn't you be really revolutionary and downgrade to XP?

I bet when you went out and purchased a PC ten years ago, you downgraded your XP to W2K.

Or was it Win98?

[Neil B]

"LOLZ! Windows 8 has no apps! Apple has a bajillion apps! M$ shit!"

"100,000 apps? Yeah, but most of them are fart apps or paid for by Microsoft amiright amiright? LOLZ!"

^^

Tech debate on the internet.

[Mark .]

"apps"?

"You could, of course, argue that Apple and Google created the consumer hunger for apps, and Microsoft merely fed it – and you'd be right."

You would? It's bad enough that the mainstream media think "apps" are something different to software, and that it was invented or popularised by Apple, but I expect more from the Register! (Though I suppose at least they acknowledge the existence of Google.)

Windows has far more apps than 100,000; this figure is for the Windows 8 only apps (or alternatively, for the apps that are in the MS Store). Just like the number of apps in the Apple Mac store presumably isn't the grand total of apps available for OS X. (Or similarly, there's plenty of Linux software that isn't distributed by the central repositories.)

A more realistic statement might be that Apple and Google created and made accepted the idea of having everyone release their software through them, so they can cream 30% revenue ... whether that's a good thing or not is another matter. Alternatively, a more common trend that's now started to come over to Windows 8 is the idea of having an "app" to replace a website. But I don't think it was Apple or Google who came up with that idea - it probably started because viewing websites on small mobile devices is harder. But then it spilled over into producing these "apps" for tablets (I guess it was easy to port for Android and IOS), and now Windows 8 - even though we've never had this trend for earlier Windows versions (or indeed OS X or whatever). I don't know why this is - probably because the non-software company who demand "let's have an app for our website" think an "app" is something invented by Apple that only runs on IOS, Android or Windows 8 (I do wonder if this will come back to bite Apple, since I don't see anyone writing these "apps" for OS X).

[Dubya]

Just can't get the slashes right

Everything you need to know about Microsoft in one very short tweet. It is //Build/ or //build or //b not \\Build

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Just can't get the slashes right

You joined up, just to say that?

[RaidOne]

I have Windows 8 on a tablet

The full version, not the RT. A week ago I came upon a deal on a Lenovo Lynx K3011 tablet that I could not pass. It has 12", yes the resolution is 1366 x 768, but that is not a problem, I cannot see the pixels at the reading distance, and the screen is really nice (IPS).

The hardware is top notch, I would say. What makes it slower is not the CPU (Atom Z2760 dual core) but the storage drive (MMC).

I already have a couple of years old Asus Transformer and that always is my reference point.

The Metro UI is not that bad, once you get used to it. It is responsive, for sure. It is absolutely suitable for a tablet.

That being said, I have quite a bit of problems with Windows 8. First, the Metro client cannot connect to my Exchange server at work - I suppose because Exchange is 2003. Funny is that my Android phone and the Transformer, both with Ice Cream Sandwich, have no problem connecting. Hello, Microsoft, even Google supports Exchange 2003, why no love for it in W8?

OK, I said, no work emails, no problem, I will use it for browsing at home - SWMBO has already claimed the Transformer. I have started IE 10 and fired my favorite sites. I browse some forums, so I like to open plenty of new tabs, then go back to the main forum page without reloading it, because it's already there in a tab.

First problem here: I cannot configure IE so each click opens in a new tab. Firefox can do that with an add-on, but Metro IE does not allow add-ons, even if it passed my mind that I should write one as an exercise if there's none. Then, I cannot change the order of the tabs, so that when I close the last tab, it goes to the one before last, not the originating tab. Bad. Plus I can only use 10 tabs, but I never hit that limit.

So I said, OK, let's find a browser replacement. Here comes the shock: neither Firefox nor Chrome have a native Metro interface. Using them in the classic desktop is out of the question, because the virtual keyboard is poorly implemented in Windows 8: I have to manually open and close it every time I want to type something. It does not sense that the cursor is in a text field, wtf?

I searched the app store for a browser, but got nothing. Google shows that there is a browser, but made by a company in China. So I am thinking (maybe I am wrong), NSA has all my emails, should I give a chance to the Chinese spooks to read them as well? I decided against it, but it was not easy.

So now, a week later, I am looking into booting Android on the Lynx. It seems that I am out of luck here as well, the couple of Android implementations on x86 need a 64 bit CPU, and the one in this tablet is 32 bit only. I will keep the tablet for another couple of weeks, see if I can live with these problems. If not, watch for a lightly used one on eBay.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I have Windows 8 on a tablet

(leaving aside that mainstream support for Exchange 2003 ended in 2009. And OWA in Exchange 2003 doesn't get support after IE9)

How about getting your work to switch on IMAP for your account, and connect through that rather than ExchangeSync?

[mmeier]

Re: I have Windows 8 on a tablet

For the Mail "client" this may help:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/11/26/supporting-windows-8-mail-in-your-organization.aspx

[aqk]

Re: I have Windows 8 on a tablet

On a tablet? Gosh!

I have Prince Albert in a can.

[JimTopbloke]

I have Win8 and I can tell you for free that I would not pias on 99.8% off the apps in ANY app store, most of them suck ball so badly, not because they are badly programmed, but because they are pointless wastes of time or are clones of other apps that do the same same same thing!

just check out the 'top 99 apps' they should have 4 or 5 stars but some only get 2 friggin stars!

I would much rather have 100 great apps than 100000 clogging up the store!