Windows 10 usage up slightly, Edge still floundering

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Usage numbers are in, and there’s some mildly good news for Win10 fans. Post coming on InfoWorld.
[See the full post at: Windows 10 usage up slightly, Edge still floundering]

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ARE there Windows 10 fans? Outside of those working at Microsoft or who own Microsoft stock I mean.

-Noel

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Very few people believe Microsoft’s statistics on this subject as they also count unsold W10 devices in their ‘usage’ stats. There is no choice anymore when you buy a new Windows system as it comes with W10 and no other Windows OSs, so the adoption rate for W10 has only one direction in which to go – up. Why do we continue to even post these inane adoption statistics?

https://betanews.com/2017/01/28/fake-windows-10-share-numbers/#comments

The tech world is getting sick of this c**p and they are beginning to call these stats for what they are: meaningless. When the vendor manipulates the stats to their advantage (MS), then yes you can call it ‘fake’. Unfortunately mainstream media is so self absorbed that they are oblivious to this. I watched a business reporter on a major public TV network going on about how Microsoft was a brilliantly run company that never missteps. It pains me that mainstream media who want to be the arbiters of ‘fake news’ are the originators and agents of ‘half-baked news’.

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Yep. Wayne (and his Betanews article) are right on.

That’s why I didn’t bother reporting Microsoft’s “news.” I also don’t report usage statistics from the US government, which only reflect web access to US government sites.

The numbers from StatCounter and NetMarketshare have serious problems – the former doesn’t massage its numbers, but they only have a limited number of honeypots in places like China; the latter applies statistical balancing in a way that’s debatable, at best. So what I’m showing here are trends from more-or-less replicable trackings.

It’s one of those funny kinds of lies… and statistics.

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See https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/5rg093/windows_10_surpasses_25_market_share_a_214_yoy/dd8e8n6/

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I expected a small bump in Windows 10’s share this month, as the January results represent the first full month that all of the Christmas presents out there that have Windows 10 on them would have been online and able to be counted. The fact that it only grew the small amount that it did even with the Christmas numbers is telling in itself.

It’s evident that Windows 10 is a failed product that has only seen its numbers artificially propped up by a cynical, malware-esque upgrade campaign cooked up by a company that has decided to weaponize its monopoly, and to use it against its own customers, like never before. A good number of the people who have decided to upgrade of their own accord admit to only doing so out of a sense of inevitability; Windows 10 is the future, even if it is a dystopian one, so might as well get on board and learn to live with it.

It’s not my future. Not as it is now, anyway. While I am not hopeful, there is still the possibility that MS will see the light and actually make 10 into a reasonable product with reasonable pre-release testing and drop all of this skullduggery. Only a massive wall of people who refuse to upgrade will make that happen; if we all jump over to 10 and try to change it from within, so to speak, they won’t have any incentive at all to make it more consumer-friendly.

More and more, I am thinking that if Windows 10 still stinks on ice in 2020, and I am not at that point ready to make the jump to Linux exclusively, I’ll move to 8 and use the aftermarket tools to make it palatable. With Classic Shell, Old New Explorer, 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, and aftermarket themes, I’m told it can be made pretty usable now that one can boot directly into the desktop rather than to the Metro interface (one of the 8.1 changes).

Moving to Windows 8 gives another three years of security updates, which is only two less than Windows 10. I wonder how that’s going to work… MS has claimed that Windows 10 is going to be the last Windows ever, and that new features will be rolled out as updates instead of reserved for future products, but it still has the same five years of mainstream support and five years of extended support (from the date of release) as all the other current versions of Windows.

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Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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HiFlyer, AlanH

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That is what I am wondering about… If in 2020 8.1’s market share will start growing rapidly and how those people will get in posession of 8.1 copy then?

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anonymous wrote:

That is what I am wondering about… If in 2020 8.1’s market share will start growing rapidly and how those people will get in posession of 8.1 copy then?

Buy the copy NOW and put it aside. Be sure to get the Pro version b/c you don’t have options in Home. I think you can still find it on places like Amazon. Be sure you buy it from a reputable company in case of return.
When Win7 runs out in 2020, upgrade to Win8.1 for three more years.

I am running Windows in VM on a Mac. I went ahead and installed Win8.1, activated it, and once a month I crank it up and keep it up to date. I’m still on Win7 till 2020, but when the time comes all I have to do is transfer my data. I can sync it easily.

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woody

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@ anonoymous

anonymous wrote:

When the vendor manipulates the stats to their advantage (MS), then yes you can call it ‘fake’.

I thought the *new order* has been dictated–it’s now called *Alternative Facts*, or *Altfacts !

NightOwl

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Poor old firefox, still the best of the major browsers for me. Especially now that the DRM in chrome cannot be disabled with the latest update. Though I notice it’s had a bump in usage since the last stats were released which is good to see.

-T

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https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-wants-windows-10-oems-make-cool-devices-target-windows-loyalists-switchers/

As I argued before, NONE of the capabilities that MS pushes as Win10 superiority is an asset, but rather they are exactly the liabilities that make me not want to have to do anything to do with it.

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fp wrote:

https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-wants-windows-10-oems-make-cool-devices-target-windows-loyalists-switchers/

As I argued before, NONE of the capabilities that MS pushes as Win10 superiority is an asset, but rather they are exactly the liabilities that make me not want to have to do anything to do with it.

Agreed. None of the features that Microsoft mentioned there is what I want or need.

To those who love Windows 10 and its “features” : Good for you. I am fine with that. Let us agree to disagree. Don’t try to persuade me to your point of view as it is pointless.

Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

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And conversely, the constant Microsoft whiners and FUD generators need to respect those whose choices don’t agree with theirs.

Isn’t it a bit, uh, let’s say “ironic,” for you to say that people need to respect others’ point of view in a message where you’re namecalling and (incorrectly) accusing them of FUD? Did you notice how James Bond 007 managed to get his point across without namecalling or accusations of unethical behavior?

Again, FUD is an cynical marketing technique used by unscrupulous companies such as Microsoft. It’s not “FUD” for end users to criticize a product or to express their opinions.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
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HiFlyer, Noel Carboni

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Let’s leave it at that, shall we? This discussion has gone way off the tracks.

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Since the security only rollups for Windows 7 & 8.1 will no longer include Internet Explorer updates does that mean the regular rollups will no longer have IE updates either? I’m in group A and I feel like it’d be taking a step backwards. I like the rollup idea. I don’t use IE but I want to keep it up to date for security purposes.

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Here is Microsoft’s statement about IE security updates https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/windowsitpro/2017/01/13/simplified-servicing-for-windows-7-and-windows-8-1-the-latest-improvements/

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Noel Carboni wrote:

Sorry, but when the “IT Pros” surveyed claim Windows 10 performs better than Windows 7 by 71% to 3%, when in fact pretty much any objective test proves just the opposite, one needs to question the published results – or the intelligence of those surveyed.

Noel, it’s possible that the IT pros surveyed are maintaining and supporting the deluxe version of Windows 10 (as opposed to the economy version) — the one that allows them to control which updates are installed, whether or not Cortana is on or off, etc. That’s what we have at my job. And it runs well, except that opening and saving Office documents (Office 2016) is a lot slower than with Windows 7 / Office 2010.

I’m working on exactly the same documents now as I did when I had W7 / O2010; and I’m accessing them in the exact same SharePoint location. It’s just A LOT SLOWER now than before. And a coworker who does the same stuff I do here has the same opinion about the slowness.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Sorry, but when the “IT Pros” surveyed claim Windows 10 performs better than Windows 7 by 71% to 3%, when in fact pretty much any objective test proves just the opposite, one needs to question the published results – or the intelligence of those surveyed.

People tend to subjectively compare a fresh Win 10 installation against a crudded-up Win 7 setup (or one running on older hardware) – or count a hybrid bootup of Win 10 as faster than an honest bootup of Win 7. Or they’re just saying something that suits their agenda, no matter whether it’s true.

DO the tests yourself. Windows 10 is slower at pretty much everything, partly because it’s more loaded down with junkware right out of the box. It’s impossible to trim to be as lean or efficient as prior versions.

No amount of online BS will change that fact.

The other day I booted up a well-tuned XP system. 19 processes, 110 MB of RAM used for an empty desktop. Each system thereafter has taken a larger and larger amount of resources. Win 10 uses WAY over 1 GB and 42 processes to support an empty desktop, even with virtually all the new Modern junkware expunged.

How much RAM is YOUR Win 10 system using? How many processes?

How much are the other survey “results” skewed if this one simple fact is so twisted in the press?

-Noel

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Attempts to bully people into silence do not deserve respect and won’t be tolerated.

Windows 10 is not (yet) a serious operating system worthy of business use, so it’s no great surprise that it’s not being widely adopted. Older Windows releases remain the engines of choice for serious users as long as their hardware holds out.

The people of the world who NEED computing to get their work done are not sheep and they’re not stupid – and they’re most certainly not “whining” when encouraging Microsoft get back on the straight and narrow and be the good business partner it once was.

-Noel

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I don’t see anyone whining here. I see people making reasoned arguments about how they see things. That’s quite a bit different than whining or FUD.

Personally, I use Windows 10 in a work environment for two reasons.

a) Because my job is in IT and I have to know how to use it to help others.
b) Because it is necessary to work with Server 2016 management.

Aside from that, there’s nothing it does beyond Windows 7 or 8.1 (with a Start Menu replacement) additionally to get my job done. Its file copy speed is faster than Windows 7, but 8.1 solves that for me. The extra features touted are consumer features for the most part. The one thing I though “Oh, that’s nice” about was the Recent Files in File Explorer.

Windows 10 is fine for my regular use, mind you. But the things that Microsoft now tags on aren’t welcome (data gathering, etc.) and it doesn’t get work done for me that Windows 7 or 8.1 would not. And for you to tell people here in this forum that they’re talking about whining or FUD, when they’re talking reasonably and debating, is an exaggeration at the least, and a derogatory label at the worst.

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satrow, woody

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THIS is a complete exaggeration:

“Windows 10 is not (yet) a serious operating system worthy of business use, so it’s no great surprise that it’s not being widely adopted. Older Windows releases remain the engines of choice for serious users as long as their hardware holds out.”

Businesses and serious users don’t use Windows 10?

Give me a break!

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