back to article One in five consumers upgraded to Win10 for free instead of buying a PC

Microsoft’s free upgrade of Windows 10 hit PC makers where it hurt though the extent of this was apparently a surprise to the software giant, data druids at Gartner have claimed. According to a survey by the holders of the Magic Quadrant, one in five consumers that upgraded to the free version of the OS decided they didn’t …

  1. Dan 55 Silver badge
    FAIL

    Why would they have bought a new PC?

    Would it have broken if MS hadn't decided to offer a free upgrade? No, they'd have carried on using Win 7 or 8 anyway apart from a handful of fanboi masochists who might even have bought the retail version of Windows 10 instead of buying a new computer.

    Fecking analysts.

    1. Mr_Happy

      Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

      Only a masochist would have stuck with Windows 8.

      1. hplasm
        Devil

        Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

        Only a masochist would have installed Windows 8.

        FTFY

      2. Lee D Silver badge

        Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

        Why?

        Windows 8 (or even 8.1) with Classic Shell is basically Windows 7 with a longer support period.

        Windows 8 Mainstream

        09/01/2018

        Windows 8 Extended

        10/01/2023

        Windows 7 Mainstream

        13/01/2015

        Windows 7 Extended

        14/01/2020

        And without all that Windows 10 junk that NOT ONE of my suppliers officially supports yet!

        When Windows 8 came out, I just went straight to it as it does nothing that really gets in the way of being a Windows 7 desktop replacement except the Metro interface, and Classic Shell stops that, is MSI deployable, GP configurable, and free. And bought me an extra 3 years of support from MS, and this is - what? - the third year of users having it and NOT ONE complaint related to it being Windows 8.

        Yet, Office, we're still stuck on 2013 because users complain like hell about the newer versions we've tested

        Same for servers. 2012R2 or nothing. You don't lose anything, and gain a lot more support time - from Microsoft and from vendors. And, again, Classic Shell gets rid of any of the junk that might hinder you (to be honest, on a server, the GUI is pretty minimally used - just leave it locked with the tools for the roles that you use on the screen).

        1. asdf

          Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

          >And, again, Classic Shell gets rid of any of the junk

          Except hasn't Microsoft back ported even more of their spyware to Win 8 than Win 7? Honestly Win 10 functionally is not bad and if you could straight up buy the OS like the old days free from all trojan horse phone home garbage and the push to OS as a subscription I would probably boot into it more than once every few months.

      3. bombastic bob Silver badge

        Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

        "Only a masochist would have stuck with Windows 8."

        or down"up"graded a 7 machine to Win-10-nic.

        It's *REALLY* about perception, as the original poster of this topic (sort of) pointed out when he said "Would it have broken if MS hadn't decided to offer a free upgrade?"

        that's the point. the EXISTING computer is PERCEIVED to be as good as a new one. So why buy a new one? THAT is where the market reality is, at the moment.

        a) no more Moore's Law causing next year's machine to be 50% faster than this year's

        b) Windows "Ape" (8.x) and Win-10-nic are generally NOT perceived as "improvements" over 7 and earlier (except by the MASOCHISTS)

        c) getting a better hard drive or more RAM is CHEAPER, especially important during a slumpy economy

        And all of this adds up to "no clear reason to get a NEW computer". A decent re-conditioned one can be pretty nice, too. I recently got a reconditioned 7 Pro box for $120 on e-bay, and it works really really really well as a 'windows workstation' for doing accounting and things like that. Many other similarly priced computers were available. I specifically wanted 7 Pro, of course, so it was a major selling feature that YOU! MAY! NOT! GET! WITH! A! NEW! COMPUTER!

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

        Bullshit. My last, remaining Windows client is running 8.1U1 and I like it that way. I use a combination of the touchscreen, laser mouse (Corsair), and track pad all interchangeably. To me, the Start screen is a 2D dock. Hell, my mother the 85 yo electronic/electrical engineer likes it too.

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

        Am I really the only one that doesn't have a problem with 8.1 once Classic Shell is installed?

    2. 's water music

      Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

      Would it have broken if MS hadn't decided to offer a free upgrade?

      No, but if the upgrade had been paid then you could offset that mentally against the cost of a new PC with Win 10 included (I am aware that that cost would already include a Win 10 license component although the OEM license would presumably be cheaper than the retail upgrade)

    3. MR J

      Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

      The problem is that hardware you typically buy from large chain stores will generally only support the latest OS. I have a Lexmark printer that is "Ready" for Vista, but Lexmark says it should be used with Windows XP as it would be too costly to repackage the drivers for anything newer than Vista, and that the Vista bugs are easy to fix by turning off UAC.

      I also know my ISP "Virgin Media" in the past only supported specific OS's being on their network. If you were to phone in and say you had Linux then they would say to try upgrading to Windows and see if that fixes the problem, and that no support ticket could be raised until you take said steps.

      So yea, Consumers probably did upgrade to windows 10 and decide not to buy a new computer - It seems logical when you consider how the large stores, manufactures and providers out there work.

      In reality, The tech now gets twice better twice as slowly as it used to.. There was a time when a 6 month upgrade cycle was great, then a 12 month cycle, now we are on about a 7-8 year cycle before you see gains that really make you eager to upgrade. 2017 will probably be a big year and I have no doubt we will then see sales stick low for 15 before hardware again makes giant leaps and people upgrade.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

        @MR J - TL;DR for most part but did catch that Lexmark is an even shittier brand than I thought (didn't think too much of them to begin with tbh though).

    4. a_yank_lurker

      Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

      I doubt OS upgrading had much effect on PC unit sales for the simple reason most PCs bought in the last 5 to 8 years are probably still quite functional. Thus no need to buy new kit. Also, applications are mature products so a 5+ year old office suite is still quite functional for many so again no need to buy new kit to run the latest version of many applications.

      A somewhat tangential story is the laptop the originally had XP, upgraded to 7 now has Linux Mint on it. The hardware is perfectly functional but the owner (a friend) wanted to set it up lor small kids. One bit of recycled kit meant no hardware sale.

    5. Innocent-Bystander*

      Re: Why would they have bought a new PC?

      handful of fanboi masochists who might even have bought the retail version of Windows 10 instead of buying a new computer.

      Those of us who still build from components a retail license is important so we can transfer between motherboards without having to put money down for the OS each time.

      Just saying.

  2. JimmyPage Silver badge
    WTF?

    Once again. We have passed peak PC.

    Am I alone in despairing at these "recovery is around the corner" type studies ?

    The PC as a piece of hardware in peoples homes is - for the large part - obsolete and irrelevant. People can get what they need from a combination of (smart)phone, tablet, (smart)TV and connected devices (e.g PS4). That's it.

    They don't want to code. Run servers. Run specialist apps (music making, phot and film making).

    Granny finally decides it's time to see what the Facebook Fuss is about ? There's a Kindle Fire.

    I really hope nobody is paying for these studies. They may want a refund.

    1. streaky

      Re: Once again. We have passed peak PC.

      I don't agree but one thing is for sure: people are only going to upgrade hardware when they have a compelling reason to do so which I think is what you're really trying to say.

      1. Zakhar

        Re: Once again. We have passed peak PC.

        "people are only going to upgrade hardware when they have a compelling reason to do so"

        You are absolutely right: I changed my 9.5 years old PC running Ubuntu 14.04 because it was so slow when I started 2 Android VMs, on top of the usual suspects: Firefox, Thunderbird, Nemo, Terminal, etc...

        Now with 32G of RAM, a SSD, a modern Core i7 last generation, Ubuntu 16.04, I won't even feel it if on top of those VMs I also run the older ubuntu as a third VM. Installing VM in RAM or merging films in RAM prior to copy them on the disk when they suit you is also a breeze.

        All that thing you can't do with a phone/tablet... and that are obviously unrelated with crappy Slurpware, but made me buy a new PC.

    2. goldcd

      I disagree that "The PC is obsolete"

      but agree with pretty much everything else.

      I think there's a variety of factors at work though.

      1) I lot of people that bought PCs didn't really need them.

      Of course granny wants to be able to receive emails, have a gallery of photos & listen to something on iPlayer - but an iPad does all of this and is a lot simpler to use.

      2) Requirements on hardware have stagnated.

      I'm still running a 2600k i7 that's *checks email* over 5 years old. CPU bottleneck is rarely a problem and the only real drawback I can think of is power consumption. Not really any driver for me to upgrade (especially as I'd also have to factor in new memory and mobo).

      3) Hardware annoyances are vanishing.

      Used to be something new with a definite advantage would come along every year or so. "If I bought x then annoyance y would go".

      This drove higher res screens, SSDs, USB3 etc - but once you've got these.. well... I mean I'd like a 4k panel, M2 storage, USB-C etc... but bluntly what I've had for years is still 'perfectly fine".

      Last PC I bought was a zenbook for my wife, to replace her very aged laptop - wafer thin, high-res screen - all solid state and generally solid. New model of it's just come out and "meh"..

      1. Gordon861

        Re: I disagree that "The PC is obsolete"

        Exactly the same situation here, i5-2500k since they were first released, have upgraded to SSD and faster graphics over the years but the CPU and memory. I looked at the new i5 and i7 chips but thought what's the point.

        Give people a reason to spend money and they might even do it.

      2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

        Re: I disagree that "The PC is obsolete"

        The PC is indeed obsolete - in its current form.

        People like tablets and smartphones and, for what most people do, the PC is an over-complicated, prone-to-getting-hacked, clunky piece of kit - even if it's a laptop.

        Joe User does not need a PC anymore.

        People who do still need PCs are content creators, anyone wanting to dabble in photo/film modification or creation, programmers and, of course, gamers. Outside of that, why burden yourself with a PC ? A tablet for surfing, social nonsense, light gaming and film viewing on the go and you're good.

      3. VinceH
        Coat

        Re: I disagree that "The PC is obsolete"

        "I'm still running a 2600k i7 that's *checks email* over 5 years old."

        Why is it checking email that old? Slow mail server?

        Um... COAT!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      They don't want to ... run specialist apps

      Who doesn't want? You? Your friends? Your granny? Thanks to some god there are still enough people who don't like just to lay on a sofa all day and be the perfect "consumer" with phones, smart<G>TVs and consoles. There are still lots of people who have hobbies and interests, and like to run "specialist" apps that can help them - even if they cab barely use a PC.

      Tablet sales stalled like PCs ones - while hybrid devices are getting more and more interests, you get a PC in a tablet size.

      Keep on believing that Less is Better, Consuming is better than Thinking, and so on...

      1. Teiwaz

        Re: They don't want to ... run specialist apps

        "Thanks to some god there are still enough people who don't like just to lay on a sofa all day and be the perfect "consumer" with phones, smart<G>TVs and consoles."

        You are right. There are plenty of people who have hobbies and interests best served by a PC or laptop. Just don't kid yourself that their numbers are high enough to be more than a blip on statistics compared to the huge (nay massive) numbers who do 'just lay on the sofa' browsing on a phone or some other mostly content viewing device.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: They don't want to ... run specialist apps

          Don't know, maybe a I live in an alternative universe, or maybe the people in my circles are just different, but I see a lot of people who do more than laying on a sofa watching something or looking to someone messages of profile updates.Maybe they are less than the sofa-laying ones, but not a very small number either to be just a blip on statistics. Sure, there are some companies that would like people to think the "PC is died" and everybody should just consume contents they fully control on devices they fully control, but it's not happening yet...

        2. goldcd

          And some of us are both types.

          I've got my big-box gaming PC, filled with drives and server-apps and I've got my work laptop.

          I *used* to have a secondary laptop for 'around the house' (at one point some stupidly expensive Alienware 13") - but that role has been completely replaced with my little nVidia shield tablet which is much more convenient and I think cost £150ish.

          That wasn't even a budget purchase, seemingly that's all I had to spend to fulfill my "slumped on sofa needs"

    4. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Once again. We have passed peak PC.

      "The PC as a piece of hardware in peoples homes is - for the large part - obsolete and irrelevant."

      Uh, no. NOT obsolete. People generally don't use PCs for the same things they use "devices" for. I think most people would struggle with playing a high resolution PC game or doing anything but "simplified" tax forms on anything OTHER than a PC or notebook.

      But machines from 10 years ago often do "those things" as well as NEW ones. THAT is the point. SALES are being measured, then interpreted as "market penetration". This is a complete FALLACY. The number of existing (in use) PCs is HUGE.

      According to THIS:

      https://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php

      The total number of Android and iOS based systems is around 41% (I added them up). The rest are either PC or Mac. So maybe ~60% of "devices" that run web browsers are PCs or Macs? It's something to consider. (a small number are probably game consoles, but it was small enough not to be broken out).

      regardless of SALES, there's still a HUGE user base of the PC. It's not "going away".

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Once again. We have passed peak PC.

        "an iPad does it better".

        yeah, right.

        I've just had to roll back the firmware on my parents router to a less secure version AND ditch a new repeater, because the latest IOS update on their Air refuses to work with them.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Once again. We have passed peak PC.

      No, you are not alone. I've been laying into these stupid analysts for a half decade now, with their constant excuses for why PC sales have declined that were a one off thing. I used to be able to list all the excuses they've made but I've lost track now as they're closing in on a dozen. Should have figured they'd try to claim that free upgrades to Windows 10 are keeping people from buying new PCs.

      When the free upgrades stop they'll claim that as a reason for the inevitable YoY decline in H2 2016. Then they'll claim Microsoft no longer introducing new versions of Windows but doing continuous upgrades of Windows 10 as a reason, they'll claim Intel's extra "tock" delaying going to 10nm for a year as a reason.

      Oh, and I'm sure Brexit will be claimed as a reason eventually, either when the UK goes through with it, or when they step back from the precipice and don't go through with it. In the analyst's mind whose looking any excuse to point the finger at, either outcome can be claimed to cause a decline in PC sales.

      They always predict recovery next year, though they've gone from predicting 5-10% growth to predicting 1-2% growth. Then in Q1 they adjust it down to 0.3%, then in Q2 they're forced to admit it will be negative but only 1-2% and then the excuses really fly when they do the full year and have to explain another nearly 10% YoY drop.

  3. gv

    Having just bought a new laptop...

    For the middle child, it came with Windows 10, so gave it a whirl, and found the usual sluggish Windows boot performance, some useless "tile" things showing news, weather, etc.

    After using it for about 10 minutes, child requested a Linux installation.

    1. DainB Bronze badge

      Re: Having just bought a new laptop...

      Cool story bro.

    2. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: Having just bought a new laptop...

      I'd of downloaded the source code and told the little git to get on with compiling it from scratch

      "daddy.. somethings wrong , takes 15 mins to boot with 30 errors.

      but its still better than win10"

    3. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Re: child requested a Linux installation

      And that is the true beginning of the end for Microsoft.

      It can't come fast enough.

      1. VinceH

        Re: child requested a Linux installation

        "And that is the true beginning of the end for Microsoft.

        It can't come fast enough."

        Indeed. It's time for OEMs and retailers to sit up and take notice, and start selling PCs with a Linux installation instead of Windows. (I believe some do, but not enough.)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: child requested a Linux installation

          Which Linux? Distro fragmentation doesn't help OEMs. Install Ubuntu and people will whine they want Mint, install Mint and you'll find whiners who want a pure Debian, CentOS or RedHat...

          1. bombastic bob Silver badge

            Re: child requested a Linux installation

            "Which Linux? Distro fragmentation doesn't help OEMs"

            if you can install ONE kind of Linux, you can install ANY. not hard to download an ISO and re-do the install, assuming that the drivers aren't proprietary in any way. I purchased 2 'netbooks' for a customer project and installed debian on both of them (one being a backup of the other). It came with some crippled console-only Linux, but at least I knew that they would work WITH Linux. I booted up the debian installer, and everything worked as expected, from wifi to bluetooth. [and for the customer project, it needed BOTH of these].

            (had they not come WITH Linux, they may not have been 'linux capable' without a lot of extra effort)

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: child requested a Linux installation

              The OP meant PCs with Linux *pre-installed*. Which boils down to the question 'which distro should an OEM pre-install'? Instead of simply downvoting, or telling me that any Linux can be installed - what a surprise-, you can reply to this simple question. Do you have a clear, simple answer? Which distro should come pre-installed?

              Remember pre-installing a software also means supporting it, including drivers. People who buy a PC may not want to download an ISO, burn it on a CD and install it. They want a PC they turn on and it works.

              And good luck with non-proprietary drivers, especially when you need high-end support from your hardware. The Ubuntu I use is a brick without nVidia proprietary drivers. GNU political stance simply kills Linux diffusion.

          2. Zakhar

            Re: child requested a Linux installation

            Ubuntu is fine for those that didn't get bad UI habits from W$

            Otherwise Mint is closer to the experience you get with Seven, so that is why people coming from that world prefer it to not disturb too much their habits.

            The other ones are for purists, or specific case like Raspbian, the distro you have on your NAS (generally a Busybox or FreeBSD for home made NAS), etc...

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: child requested a Linux installation

              FreeBSD is not a Linux distro!

              *grrrr*

        2. bombastic bob Silver badge

          Re: child requested a Linux installation

          "Indeed. It's time for OEMs and retailers to sit up and take notice, and start selling PCs with a Linux installation instead of Windows."

          this needs 'Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers' to get on board, too. But the way Micro-shaft has been _TREATING_ Developers these days, erecting tollbooths (i.e. certification requirements), changing the rules (".Not", Silverlight, WinRT, 'Universal'), and basically RUINING the platform, SMART developers will read the writing on the wall and start creating TRULY 'universal' appLICATIONS, which can run on Linux as well. Gtk, Qt, wxWidgets - these all help you do this sort of thing. But developers need to be CONVINCED, or else they'll just look at "bottom line, now" and continue to code for 'windows only' using Micro-shaft's "windows only" stuff, INCLUDING the use of 'shared stuff' (like ".Not") that is SPECIFICALLY 'not licensed for other than a microsoft operating system'. [so first to go, any ".Not" dependencies, or depending on ANY microsoft technology, for THAT matter]

          It'll take some marketing effort to make this work. But it *CAN* work.

        3. Zakhar

          Re: child requested a Linux installation

          In France we have LDLC selling their own PC in two flavours: "naked" or with "Slurpware". They play ball, and you can really see that the "Slurpware" version is 100/120€ more, which is huge on entry PCs below 500€

          You also have MSI selling "naked" PCs, don't know if it is "around the world".

          The only massively "Linux pre-installed" are probably in China with Ubuntu... or rather Kyrin which is the Official Ubuntu Remix vetted by the Communist Party of China (they probably don't have to learn anything from NSA). ;-)

        4. Shadow Systems

          @VinceH, RE: OEM's & Linux.

          I agree the OEM's should offer Linux as an option to their computers, but they ALSO need to be bitch slapped for trying to charge MORE for such an option.

          Case in point: Dell offers their XPS13 laptop with Ubuntu called "Project Sputnik". It costs MORE than the exact same machine with Windows on it. I recently requested a quote on a desktop machine with Linux & they wanted MORE for the Linux option "because of the finicky nature of Linux drivers".

          I know it's just anecdotal & YMMV, but it made me want to reach through the phone, grab the Dell sales dweeb by the nose, & smash his face into the monitor for being a lying prick.

          I'd love to call up Dell or HP or Fujitsu or Lenovo or any other manufacturer & be able to get a Linux option on a fresh machine, but NOT if they're going to try & punish me (charge more) because of it. I had to go to System 76 to get a machine with the specs I wanted at a price I could afford with a Linux install, because all the "Big Boys" were too eager to give me the shaft for not wanting Windows.

          TL;DR: The option to buy Linux on a new machine would be great, but not if the manufacturer's are going to try to rape my wallet for the "privelege".

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @VinceH, RE: OEM's & Linux.

            Why not? If Linux users are ready to pay more to have Linux preinstalled, why shouldn't you ask it? For Dell having to support Linux on their systems is a cost. If there are far less customers than Windows, the per-customer cost is higher.

      2. DainB Bronze badge

        Re: child requested a Linux installation

        "And that is the true beginning of the end for Microsoft."

        Ahaha.

        You should do standup comedy. All you need is only one joke for next 25 years. It's "This year will finally be the year of Linux Desktop".

    4. TopBanana
      Linux

      Re: Having just bought a new laptop...

      I tried to upgrade my laptop OS from Windows 7 to Windows 10. It wouldn't do an in-place upgrade. So I backed up anything useful and did a fresh install, that worked. Performance was "Meh!" even on an SSD, and the mid grey form backgrounds uninspiring. After it tried to restart in the middle of a training video I was watching I had had enough and did a proper upgrade to Linux. Fast, Smooth and everything works "out of the box". I can even run some non-free apps to give me access to Spotify and Skype, so I have lost nothing and gained quite a lot.

    5. cambsukguy

      Re: Having just bought a new laptop...

      I call BS. Win10 boots fast.

      Perhaps that initial boot whereby programs are installed etc. is slower but anyone that takes the first boot time and judges the system is not really being reasonable.

      Firstly, who the hell boots a machine these days? Linux or Windows; you press the button thingy and it waits patiently for you to press it again or swipe a touchpad, sipping almost zero power and coming ready in less that a second or so.

      Reboots occur for the increasing rare occasions when an update requires it; the last one did for Win10, phone included.

      And, as for reboots for other reasons, they are non existent on my system. I have had occasion to toggle the wireless button and, rarely, the fingerprint reader fails and requires a sleep/wake to make it go again.

      I have seen a video failure, auto-fixed.

      Edge can fail occasionally such that it needs restarting but reboot, not bloody likely.

      And as for those funny icons things with stuff inside, I only see them accidentally when I press the Windows key. The search mechanism finds apps (or files, or file content) faster then any other, apart from those already pinned to the task bar of course.

    6. Updraft102

      Re: Having just bought a new laptop...

      You did something right raising that one.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    Obviously...

    Outside of the gamer community, most mobis are now powerful enough to run apps so the vendors will follow MSFT with Continuum to re-present the screen to any monitor with a bluetooth keyboard.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Obviously...

      The issue with many "mobile" OS is that their sandboxing while increasing security may make them a pain in the a** to use for some more complex tasks.

      Trying to store local files in a sensible and hierarchical way could be impossible, especially when they are designed to be "cloud first" and "all your files are belong to us". Some applications may not access files produced by another. Sure, all issues that can be removed - and they'll just become PCs.

      Nor you may want all of your documents with you everytime and in an easier to lose device (I may prefer many bank ones staying at home, for example...)

      Hardware may also be powerful enough, but not all applications are - many are still dumbed down versions of the PC ones. Continuum looks interesting, but still you need to find a monitor and a keyboard somewhere - and trust them. You may still need a device with a decent sized screen and keyboard traveling with you..

    2. Zakhar

      Re: Obviously...

      Gaming is changing too. Did you see the price they sold SuperCell recently... amazing!

  5. Updraft102

    Browsing the web on a tablet or a phone pales in comparison to doing it on a PC. I have a small Android tablet, and it's gathering dust most of the time; my PC is vastly superior for browsing, and I got to the point that I could hardly tolerate trying it on the tiny 7" screen anymore (still bigger than a phone).

    Sure, there are larger tablets, but they still end up getting the same dumbed-down, overly simplistic "mobile" web pages as their smaller versions; if you set the browser to request the full desktop version, it bogs down terribly and is painfully slow, and using a big fat finger on a user interface designed for the precise and quick mouse is a recipe for frustration.

    The PC, by comparison to that mess, is not a burden. It's a breath of fresh air! Trying to get anything done on a hopelessly gimped, underpowered phone is what's klunky. If that's all you need, by all means, go have at it; if you're happy only scuffing the surface of the great depth that's available on the web, then a tool that can't do any more (though it probably costs the same and has only a fraction of the service life as compared to the real deal) may be all you need. You may also have transportation needs that can adequately be met by a motor scooter, but that doesn't mean that larger, more capable vehicles are obsolete in their current form.

    1. You aint sin me, roit
      Happy

      My PC even has a mouse and a keyboard! And TWO big screens! And I can have multiple applications (almost said Windows there) running at the same time!

      I can play Fallout4, watch porn, download pirated software and comment on el Reg... ALL at the same time!

    2. Hollerithevo

      Yep

      My PC is powerful, holds EVERYthing, grinds through video editing, 'Photoshopping and other Adobe stuff is secure and I don't have T&Cs that suck every action and keystroke out of me as the price of using it. It's also good for my posture, as I have a great chair and an ergonomic mouse in my office.

  6. MrTuK
    FAIL

    PC sales decline

    My situation is probably unique in the sense I was a PC hobbyist with multiple desktop rigs, but 5 years ago I left UK taking with me a high end laptop (Alienware i7) and this fulfilled my gaming etc needs. When I returned to UK 2 years ago I found this laptop was still fulfilling my needs with Win 7 being more than capable for everything. Then 1 year ago I cloned my SSD to another drive so I could try Win 10 as I didn't like the look of Win 8 but to my dismay Win 10 was just Win 8 modified to appease Win 7 users plus it has added bloatware and spyware aswell !!!

    So after 3 months of hacking Win 10 to get rid of this and that and not being able to stop certain Winupdates etc I gave finally gave up and went back to Win 7, but then Win 7 started getting back ported stuff from Win 10 and this was the final straw - So in Feb 2016 I took the plunge after cloning my Win 7 drive yet again and installed Linux Ubuntu. Not because Win 7 didn't fulfill my requirements, not because was slow or unstable, but because of MS's attempt at every turn to change a very good OS which I paid for into something I disliked and also because at every opportunity it was trying to force me to downgrade again to Win 10 !!!

    Now I use an OS which is just an OS, not a spying OS, not a data slurping OS, not a security OS with untold viruses which requires a third party piece of software to secure your OS from, but a free OS and by free I mean free from stuff I don't need or require - like built in spyware, like dataslurping every click and typing on websites like banking or purchasing sites etc.

    So MS, far from encouraging a Windows user of many many years (Since WIn 3.1) to downgrade to Win 10, you have actually forced me to jump OS's not to another OS like Windows but to a secure fast stable reliable OS and its free.

    Yes I cannot play certain games yet ! But with my Steam account any games which I have purchased that get converted to Linux I don't have to re-purchase :) COH2 for example.

    I would like WOT to run under Linux but War Thunder is almost the same and with the uptake of Vulkan hopefully many more games will appear on Linux with similar performance to DX12.

    I do miss Win 7 and some of my Windows games but for the sake of Security and being data slurped at every turn I will give them up and have peace of mind, stability, better performance.

    Final note, because I used web based email, Mozilla Firefox and VLC using Ubuntu with Cinnamon desktop is just like using Win 7 so I feel at home anyway :)

    1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

      Re: PC sales decline

      Welcome to Penguinland. Try a SuperTuxKart.

    2. Grifter

      Re: PC sales decline

      Good for you dude. The moment of anger is key, that's what separates the win power users who go back, from the ones who stay. Your next place to visit should be www.gamingonlinux.com (:

    3. BobChip
      Happy

      Re: PC sales decline

      Linux host OS, VirtualBox, and an old copy of Win7 and you have pretty much got it all covered. Just make sure not to let the virtual Win 7 talk to it's makers - ever. You don't need "security updates" if you keep it away from the net.

  7. sandman

    Nice Microsoft

    No, for once, really! Two PCs and a laptop. The old laptop upgraded from Vista through to Win 10 (OK, it's dog slow, but I did it just because). One desktop from Win 7 through to Win 10 and one from Win 8 to 10. No new hardware required apart from a scanner as the manufacturers decided that new drivers would be superfluous - bastards.

    Until anything goes terminally wrong with the PCs I don't see the need to upgrade for, well, ever really.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Only Gartner could be surprised....

    ... showing they know little of the market they should study.

    1) PC now are mostly replaced when they are really too old to cope with current software/hardware, or when they stop working altogether. Only few power hungry users need shorter replace cycles.

    2) Appeal of a new OS is far less than years ago. The time required to replace XP should have taught something.

    3) The upgrade to Windows 10 was automatic, so it worked even for the less IT skilled people (actually, you have to be skilled to *avoid* it).

    4) Windows 10 had no major issues on working on less specced PCs.

    5) A "cheap" SSD replacement prolonged the life of many systems.

    6) No big hardware leaps. USB 3.0, NVMe and other technologies may be faster and nicer, but hardly a big selling point for mainstream PCs. VR may change this a little, but it may still be a niche market. It looks even 4K monitors didn't fuel much new sales.

    7) A new fancy PC is no longer a status symbol, expensive phones still are.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One in five consumers upgraded to Win10 for free

    Correction: One in five consumers were forcibly upgraded to Win10 for free without giving their permission first.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One in five consumers upgraded to Win10

    and the other 4 neither upgraded to W10, nor bought a new PC, lol.

  11. Androgynous Cowherd

    Upgraded lots, all data intact, no real issues. Great way of resurrecting old hardware.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Simple explanation...

    Software no longer dictates the hardware. The new Windows versions were always near the edge of what current technology allowed so if you wanted to upgrade to a later version you'd soon notice that your hardware could also use a tune-up. Even though this sometimes was a false ruse, clearly shown by some better known open source developments. Better programming could have gotten better results.

    But right now we've reached a point where there's little more extra margin (or improvement) to be found within hardware. Sure: the latest video card may have super duper caching facilities and can display things even faster but its not comparable to the massive developments which we've already seen happening (GPU vs CPU for example).

    So there really isn't much to gain anymore from getting the latest and greatest. And as others mentioned above: people who'd only surf online and check their e-mail are most likely much better off getting themselves a tablet.

    Quite frankly I don't think you can blame this on Microsoft.

  13. Tim Ryan

    Reality Check Folks....

    The fact that maybe a fifth of Windows users ran the upgrade (or worked with Insider Builds) and discovered that Win 10 gave capable hardware a new lease on life.... BONUS! Unless you are a PC manufacturer.

    My 2009 vintage desktop got a new 1TB SSD, and a new 21:9 monitor, and I'm thinking its good for a few more years. It helps if you buy top of the line to start with, I7 Quad, 16GB of DDR3, and a top flight vid card.

    My 2012 vintage ZenBook UX51VZA went Windows 10 without a whimper but for a touchpad driver that needed replacing.

    That's two machines that will give me at least three more years without issue, and thank you very much to Satya Nadella and kudos to Microsoft.

    For the poor schmuck who bought barely capable junk that was just good enough to boot a new OS at launch time, (think early win 8 release hardware) the upgrade sent them running for a new machine!

    Such is life. I think Win 10 is a winner big time. The whiners are the PC builders whose products are barely capable of booting the OS in the first place. They deserve to whine and be ignored. Their consumer market garbage is what brings Windows into disrepute.

    Color me all in on Win 10!

  14. WatAWorld

    It is interesting that Gartner didn't realize this from day one

    It is interesting that Gartner didn't realize this from day one.

    I'd have thought it obvious that in an eco-system where there were no new high-demand applications and where 'must have' hardware innovations were completely absent, that hardware sales would be dead.

    What would a person have to be smoking to think that a new version of Windows (or Linux or MacOS) would drive hardware sales?

    Hardware makers and hardware vendors are going to have to work for their sales themselves. They're going to have to make useful improvements to their products, or create applications (like 3D) that require more horsepower.

  15. David Roberts
    Windows

    Applications

    You buy new hardware to run new applications which won't run on your existing kit.

    These days that is probably games or high resolution video editing.

    If your main work involves email, web browsing and word processing then why would you need new hardware?

    Memory requirements keep climbing but memory is cheap compared to a new system.

    Apart from the eventual physical decay of mother boards and PSU what is the reason to replace a PC?

    I've recently helped two friends move from XP desktops to laptops (one W8.1 and the other W10) and with Classic Shell the interface is sufficiently similar to cause no major problems. The migration tool is pretty good as well. (Hint - if the desktop background is the same that is seen as making it just like the old system.) However the main reason to move was that a laptop suited their current needs better than a desktop.

    I do have an old AMD 3000 system which is struggling but that is very old. It ran (I think) Ubuntu 12 without complaint but this is long out of support and the latest mainstream Linux builds seem to be far more memory hungry. Shades of XP running happily on 512k until about SP2 when it started to struggle on less than 1GB.

    Ramble...ramble....so what are the new "must have" applications which need the latest and greatest hardware?

    Bootnote: I have a Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad both hapilly running W8.1 64 bit (cheap upgrade from Vista 32 bit). I use desktops for real computing and a 10" tablet for reading El Reg and laboriously posting rambling crap like this :-)

  16. quxinot

    Re: One in five consumers upgraded to Win10 for free instead of buying a PC

    This is some strange use of "upgrade" that I'm unfamiliar with.

  17. Fred T

    They didn't need a new PC whether Win 10 or not

    Probably zero correlation between upgrading to Windows 10 and not getting a new PC.

    They didn't get a new PC because it still worked fine. They upgraded to Windows 10 because it was free. They would have kept their PC and not upgrade to Windows 10 if it wasn't free.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Microsoft, dealing another low blow to its hardware OEM partners

    Surface was a foretaste of things to come.

    Advice for the hardware OEMs:if you haven't already, start diversifying away from Microsoft Windows.

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