Windows 8 may not have been such a hit as Microsoft would’ve wanted but here’s something which would surely raise a lot of eyebrows: Windows 7 is growing faster than Windows 8, even today!
Last month, Windows 8’s market share actually dropped slightly, to 6.66% from 7.53%, i.e. by around 0.87%. Windows 8.1 did however grew to 0.92% leading to an overall market share of Windows 8 to 7.58% and combined increase of just 0.05%. While it must’ve captured some of the share of Windows 8, the figures are hardly impressive.
The worrying issue remains Windows 7. As a lot of companies continue to roll out Windows 7 running laptops, the operating system doesn’t only stubbornly stay around, but actually grows faster than the one which has succeeded it. In November, it grew by 0.22%, astonishing for a 4 year old OS, to 46.64%.
Older versions were experiencing usual scenarios. Windows Vista dropped by 0.06% while XP by a meagre 0.02%. At this rate, they’ll probably stay around forever, albeit in minute numbers.
Still, despite the unflattering numbers, Windows 8 does single-handedly trump all of the Mac OS X versions combined, which stood at 7.56%.
That’s because Windows 8’s main focus was TABLET PC’s and still have many driver compatibility issues.
Really? I have been using Windows 8 since a year now (started when its “Preview” was released). Now i am on Windows 8.1 and its definitely an improvement over the previous generation. ELEVEN PCs in my home including laptops are now on Windows 8.1 and they’ve never performed this good. On top of that, ease of use for my non-tech savy parents. It took them just 4-5 hours to completely figure it out … and they did it themselves without any help from me.
Don’t let the Pro-Reviews or this assessment bog you down. Just because it doesn’t have the “Legendary” start menu, doesn’t mean its sh*it (as many others are claiming it to be). Think about it … you aren’t losing any functionality whatsoever. Heck you can disable the start screen if you like, and change to “Start8” or something similar (though i wouldn’t recommend that because start screen, despite a handful of drawbacks is outstanding – one of the drawbacks … that it takes whole area of your screen which if you are watching a movie or something “might” irritate you)
However, the reason for share falling is because of the problems “Gamers” are facing these days and Microsoft’s attitude towards them. Windows 8 doesn’t have any but 8.1 is suffering from “Mouse Acceleration” issues which is by far the most annoying of the issues you’ll ever face, if you are a gamer. (Doesn’t affect others).
Anyway, you should try it if you haven’t yet. Microsoft thinks AHEAD of “ordinary consumer’s mind” and Tablet PC “ARE” going to become common these days. Having an OS to help assist that transition is completely logical, and actually better too.
Your precious win8 may be precious for you as you don’t seem a power user. There are alot of serious issues for power users on Win8. Especially compatability issues in Development (Software) & Graphical Intensive applications (including Games & ALOT more).
So chill out, its a professional suck-up OS!
Whats with the aggression? And stop assuming me as a preacher of Win8 because “i am not a power user”.
Lets hear your “issues” you are facing in your “development” issues. One of my sibling is on her way to become software engineer … she doesn’t have any problem whatsoever with Win8 (and 8.1, after the update). Borland C++, MS visual studio or any software she uses, have been working absolutely fine for her. My cousin in a Designer & Animator who regularly uses Adobe Creative suit as well as Maya & 3DMax … NOT even a SINGLE issue on 8.1.
As for the games, I have a GTX680 w/ i5 2500k (AlHamdullillah) and other than the mouse acceleration issues, i have NEVER faced a single issue in games “because of OS”. Even the olden olden OLDEN DOS games are running absolutely perfect, let alone the new Hitman Absolution, Tomb Raider kind of games. And if you really want to know what kind of gamer i am, you should visit “PakGamers” and enlighten yourself.
@abobobilly:disqus.
Dont know much about IDEs(Integrated Dev Environments ) Compatibility with Win8 as didnt checked,
But for sure Win8 Lacks Many Graphical Capabilities as compared to Windows 7
Could you link me to an article, Kindly? Or a search term probably? I am not a software dev myself and my sibling is currently not in my reach. So its hard for me understand whats “exactly” being criticized.
there is not a single development IDE which work for windows 7 and not for windows 8. and if there is one for that publisher have already provided the patches. So you have not to worry about. i my self is using windows 7 but just because my laptop is quietly overloaded with dev tools and i have very less time to setup all the environments..
Thanks a bunch for the clarification sire. This definitely helped a lot. Might help even more the poor souls who were hating Windows 8 for some reason.
Ever heard the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. I told you before and I’ll tell you again, don’t presume everyone who dislikes windows 8 to be a luddite. Windows 8 is an OS primarily developed & tailored towards tablets. Serves Microsoft right for dissing its customer base towards something which is neither a desktop nor a tablet, but a mashup of interfaces. It’ll only drive people more towards Apple’s own Mac/iPaD devices rather than PCs themselves.
Before you begin asking the same question of what it “broke”, how about you actually tell me about what exactly it has “fixed” that Windows 7 “broke” ?
Microsoft isn’t thinking AHEAD this time. The only reason they released this abomination is because they feel threatened by the presence of closed ecosystems Apple & Google have developed around their system, and they want a piece of the pie too :p
7 will become your XP 2.0, and Windows 8 will be remembered as Vista 2.0.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2316460/windows-7-gains-more-market-share-than-windows-8-and-81
http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/01/windows-7-handily-bests-windows-8-and-8-1s-minute-market-share-gains-in-november/
Windows 7 is the best thing happened to desktop computers after windows XP. Hated that stupid XP whenever you restart the PC, it dared to show “NTLDR” missing, this f* missing that f* missing, resulting in reinstall of XP every month. Windows 8 is a bit of joke.. (want to change password of wifi? it takes 10 minutes because you dont know where the shit settings are and you wont know unless you search google..).
there is a search option easily accessible on the bar on right side of your screen, give it a try next time. Search’s every thing/option within windows. I admit windows 8 is a little difficult to learn and get used to at first for common users but it comes with its fruits. I was also skeptical of it at first but not anymore :)
I am also a Win 8 user and soon i would have 8.1 but I would like to say that win 7 was good and stable enough that most of normal user don’t bother to switch for win 8… they think it is just OK… and this is the reason that XP still alive even in my office.. 10 PC have XP instead servers having windows server and Linux…
However Power Users go fast for newer versions of Windows…
And that’s where you’re incorrect. Power users prefer newer things than most users, but only if the latest iteration provides an increment rather than decrement in both their productivity and usage. The majority of the backlash is in fact from the “power user” group, which are most vocal in their opposition to windows 8.
I’m still waiting for the defence force to give me one good solid reason of why should we even bother upgrading to Windows 8 in the first place.
my dear… Power users are the people who make any program including OS even better.. they can check more aspects of programs and better find out issues and opportunities for which updates and patches are released… I don’t like New thing all the time but Better thing instead.. and i think Win 8 was an improvement in Win 7…
Surprising to see a lot of people commenting here against win8 so aggressively and most of them haven’t even used it, ironically, or haven’t used it enough or thoroughly. You need a month at least to figure out everything and get used to (for normal/average users) after that you will start loving it. Just as I do now. It’s smooth and productive. And there is no comparison with win 7 or xp. Both are different windows, if you don’t like win8’s interface then don’t upgrade, simple as that. Technology always gets better, always. So everything new has something good in it, whether people like it or not is a different story.
You guys amuse me to no end. You’ll literally go out of your way to defend a Company who sprayed turd all over its Windows users by “forcing” them to use Metro.
All windows 8 defence force presumes incorrectly that only they are truly capable of understanding newer version of windows or that people who didn’t like them are mentally challenged or don’t like change. I’ve been using Windows OS since the very beginnings when Windows 95 came out. This is the first time I didn’t upgrade to 8 immediately after trying out both the release preview & RC build for more than 2 weeks.
My conclusion: 8 offers absolutely nothing over what 7 isn’t already doing, and doing it in much better & efficient ways possible. I bet this is how your Start Screen looks like :)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jdxXOQuuuIg/UDmIbGI9d3I/AAAAAAAAAQ0/jP2lGHCUQvE/s640/w8-start.jpg
Continue to be amazed by the tablophobic interface as much as this guy :)
http://windoge.com/
I wasn’t wrong when I said people like you criticize it without knowing or understanding it properly :)
And where on earth did I say or imply people who didn’t like win 8 are mentally challenged? If you thought so then you definitely are one.
As a matter of fact my Start menu looks like this (referring to the pics attached below), and for your info I can customize it whichever way I want to.
I can access search option from the right side of my screen that searches everything within the system as well as on internet. You can access a lot of things by right-clicking the start menu icon (yes they brought it back in 8.1 update)
I don’t see how that is a problem. It only takes getting used to and understanding the OS which many people don’t bother to.
Yes Microsoft has taken a bold step with windows 8 but they are in an evolutionary phase and trying to build a competitive ecosystem.
And why do you keep whining about the interface. It’s not the only thing that happened to windows. There are a lot of improvements as well, why don’t you point them out?
8-10 second boot time (just love it), much improved IE 11 (though I and many others would rarely use it), Skydrive and Skype integration out of the box and overall smoothness of the OS are just to name a few. Were they there in your beloved windows 7?
At the end it all comes down to your choice. Not your mental capability! (and you obviously don’t have to be a genius to run windows 8)
P.S. Sorry about the order of pics I couldn’t figure out how to rearrange them after they had been posted.
It seems you’re completely clueless about what I was even trying to drive the point home. No point in arguing with you if you’re incapable of understanding the point of view of others without throwing insults.
Feel free to continue using your “imbecile-friendly” OS here.
i’m done here.
So what’s up with deleting and re-writing the comments? I think someone else is clueless here :D
Enough said. Peace.
I didn’t remove that comment. Some butt-hurt person did :)