Windows 10 overtakes Windows 8.1's market share Windows 10 overtakes Windows 8.1's market share It looks like Santa stuffed chimneys with new PCs last year Windows 10 has overtaken Windows 8.1's market share, according to all three of data sources we use to monitor such matters. For a couple of years now we've considered monthly desktop operating system market share from …
Funny, how the aftermarket start menus made Win8.1 a force to be reckoned with. I won't take Win7 now.
Whilst I can understand such sentiments when running in pure end user mode; I prefer Win7 when it comes to basic administration. For example recently I had cause to do some WiFi network troubleshooting and wanted to look up the security keys a user had allocated to particular networks.
On Win7 this is very straight-forward: Right click on WiFi icon in notifications area -> Open Network and Sharing Center -> Manage Wireless Networks, select a network and right click to view properties,
which include the security key. With Win8 not so simple, you have to use the command-line interface, which typically also means a web lookup to remind yourself of the command syntax. Yes I know I've (and I'm sure others also have as well) become lazy, but that was part of the point of the Windows GUI.
Perhaps someone here could enlighten us as to whether MS have improved this on Win10.
>99% of remaining XP installs will be warez
And corporates that havne't yet updated (NHS, banks, large multinationals). And very large chunks of the world where if something still works, spending hundreds of pounds to replace it isn't an option. And niche operations where upgrade isn't an option. And other large chunks of the world (cough China cough), where nobody wants to pay for new software when the previous pirated version still works just fine.
A vast majority of NHS computers are now on Windows 7 and most of them are trying to figure out whether to move to Windows 10 or wait to see what cloudy offerings MS throw their way. Office 365 is likely to take off in the NHS soon, which personally I think is insane when we're talking about medical information going on the cloud. Accessibility is one thing, but personally I think it's a step too far.
The only windows users who hate windows 10 (excluding those who don't like being pushed into it, the same reason I hate Windows mobile) are the small minority who actually like Windows 8.x (without shell replacements). 95% of those are going to be table users anyway.
Windows 10 is pretty crap on a tablet, but on a desktop or laptop is fine.
But for a Windows 7 user, there isn't much to be gained, and certainly for many users would be offset by learning where they have moved everything to and the worries about software compatibility.
I have heard 3 complaints about windows 10 from previous 8.x users. Trackpad drivers (re-installing them fixes it). Loss of DVD player (VLC solves that). And an inferior photo app.
The big issue is having it forced down your throat. (Unless you actually want it, it seems to know somehow, and you have to use media creator. Plus most XP/Vista users would probably like the option)
My own anecdotal trend is that about 1 person in every 5, likes 10, the others hate it for various reasons ranging from GUI, to driver issues, to M$'s attitude, ie. they waz tricked, guv.
NHS, I believe (at least those I've seen in hospitals in the South) are using some form of virtualisation; dumb workstations. I think even my GP has gone to smart card access on a, "relatively," dumb terminal. - Terminals these days are presenting responsive GUI environments.
99% of remaining XP installs will be warez.
Not so sure about that. There are still people and places that refuse to, or are unable to change. Some of these are even covered by arrangement with Microsoft, not to mention those that have used that handy little fix that allows XP to patch using embedded/WEPOS updates. OK, they come to an end soon but it's all there. Then there are those that use XP offline or those that use XP in ways that are unlikely to allow them to be infected or damaged. Yes, and then we get the morons who still fight through the bugs...
In the 16/17 FY, expect to see waves of corporates refreshing h/w using Windows 10, many rolling out Surface Pro.
Oh look! I can see a flying pig up there!
Just because Microsoft, a corporate, is in the business of making money, don't think for one moment that any other corporate will stump up the money to refresh their kit one second sooner than they absolutely have to (unless as a gimmick). Sometimes not even then.
From comments I've received and messes I've sorted out, many will have clicked simply because it was a "free upgrade"...
I suspect the numbers were pretty much irrelevant - it would a worthy research experiment to offer a "free upgrade to Win 95" (from Win7/8 !) and see how many clicked...
We still run around 30 XP systems. All air gapped naturally. The software on them is just not available on other versions without paying a couple of arms and the odd leg for the upgrades.
They will remain in operatino for another coupld of years. By then the NC kit they operate will be obsolete anyway.
As for the turd that is Windows 10? No chance of that being used this side of 2020. By then I'll either be retired or pushing up the daisies so it won't matter to me at all.
All air gapped naturally.
I note this week Google have been warning users of Chrome on XP that they will soon cease updating Chrome on XP. So it is beginning to look like the air gap, in terms of ability to directly browse the web from XP systems is going to be forced on many users. At which point I suspect many will simply go out and buy a new computer without thinking...
I'm laughing because a client did this and I took a batch of 'XP' systems off their hands, only they hadn't looked at the COAs and OEM service tags - they were all just over a year old and so had Win8/7 COA's and recovery media...
I'm laughing because a client did this and I took a batch of 'XP' systems off their hands, only they hadn't looked at the COAs and OEM service tags - they were all just over a year old and so had Win8/7 COA's and recovery media...
While your client demonstrated tremendous ignorance, your lack of ethics toward your client is far more telling. I hope for your sake that they don't see this post and figure out who you are.
For shame, indeed.
While your client demonstrated tremendous ignorance, your lack of ethics toward your client is far more telling. I hope for your sake that they don't see this post and figure out who you are.
Up voted for responding to the obviously ethically ambiguous way I have presented my actions.
FYI, the client's new IT support manager was going to scrap (ie. skip) these 'old' systems having already installed new Win7 boxes, I stepped in and said that a local education charitable trust (another of my clients) was in need of classroom computers - where said computers now reside running Win7...
Everyone (who matters) is happy, including the new Finance Dir. who was informed of my actions, as they now have the measure of their IT support manager and the supplier on who's advice the systems were scrapped...
Uh, if you're air gapped what sites are you going to browse, exactly? I suppose there could be internal ones on the 'inside' of the air gap, but an out of date Chrome is hardly an issue (most probably use IE for this since the sites on the inside of the air gap won't be getting updated to require new HTML5 features)
Even for a non air gapped XP machine, who cares if Chrome is no longer updated? That's not the same thing as "it will stop working" and while that may leave security holes in the browser unfixed, you've already got so many security holes in XP that hasn't been patched for a couple years that a few recent security holes in Chrome is nothing to be concerned about.
Uh, if you're air gapped what sites are you going to browse, exactly?
I suspect you don't maintain an XP system.
Since MS have ceased providing security updates, they have also ceased providing certificate updates - unless you are prepared to manually download and roll your own. So in part thanks to the discovery of various flaws in SSL etc. there are an increasing number of websites that XP is unable to connect to, especially if you use IE, but all browsers are impacted by the lack of up-todate certificates. Chrome because it has been maintained will still connect to many IE won't, but with support ending, it is only a matter of time before trying to browse the web (in general) from an XP system will be more trouble than it's worth and hence the main attack vector will have been closed - so effectively air-gapping the system, but then at this point many will have simply gone out and purchased a new box with a pre-installed OS...
This withdrawal of support by third-parties was to be expected, however it is nearly two years since XP went end of support, so if you are using XP as your everyday desktop it is time to really start moving on to something else and if you have to maintain an XP system, ensure you have all the materials necessary to permit a full system replacement/rebuild.
QUOTE:-
"I'm laughing because a client did this and I took a batch of 'XP' systems off their hands, only they hadn't looked at the COAs and OEM service tags - they were all just over a year old and so had Win8/7 COA's and recovery media..."
A sharp-eyed accountant would pick up on this as being very strange, particularly if the "batch" is quite sizeable. The bigger that "batch", the bigger the likelihood of expecting a knock on the door...
> Freely given away windows 8.2 overtakes chargable and discontinued windows 8 and 8.1
But even then only because it forces its way onto victims PCs. The "would you like to upgrade" box doesn't have a "No F*&k OFF" option, only "NOW" or "Later"
I upgraded my W8.1 experience, I upgraded it to W7 thanks
At least, that's not what the stats you just published imply.
If there were a wad of new computers running Windows 10, then the share of all other versions would have declined proportionately. But the stats clearly show that nearly all of W10's gain has been at the expense of W8.1. W7's share is holding remarkably steady, and Vista actually went up slightly, which is the weirdest thing ever.
Clearly, this is the outcome of increasingly aggressively forced upgrades. New PCs are a marginal effect at best.
A typical scenario that might explain such anomalies is as follows:-
1. Small company buys pc's with Windows 7 installed on them, but with Vista stickers and recovery media.
2. Company successfully uses pc's for a while.
3. Microsoft Windows 10 gets inadvertently installed on the pc's via Microsoft's aggressive update policy.
4. Company has problems with Windows 10, uses recovery media to revert - is forced to go to Vista due to having no Windows 7 recovery media.
Lots of other possible scenarios of course with lots of different outcomes. Here I'm assuming that the company in question does not have IT expertise in-house and that the ad hoc IT advice they might receive does not spell out their other options.
What it looks like to me, is that Microsoft again forced Santa to only give out pc's with windows 10. Microsoft would not ship any computers with window 7 or 8 like the people wanted but instead made deals with the pc makers to only load windows 10 on the pc's they make. I f I had the money I would sue microsoft for taking away my right to choose what o/s I want on my computer. Suported by microsoft or not!
Mmm strahge though it may seem, our Vista computer has no BSD's, keeps going, is reliable and does not want to keep updating. It is very reliable. Now how about our windows 10 machine! Not so good, it is getting better, only one BSD per week now, not that anybody but me can sort it, or the jam, you know, the mouse stops, nothing moves, and oh seems like something is wrong, please wait a week or two and we will d/l some info and restart your computer. Frankly, 10 is not yet ready for roll out...oh it has been! oh dear so many people with a chance to find a techy. Someday someone will put MS in front of Judge Judy or the Rinder bloke.
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