Newsletter Archives
-
Windows 7 “not dead yet”
Nearly a year after Win7’s EOL, Ed Bott has been diving into how many might still be using the OS. He hints it’s a big number.
…as December 2020 draws to a close, the proportion of PCs running Windows 10 has gone up 12%, to 87.8%; the Windows 7 count has dropped by more than 10 points, to 8.5%, and the population of Windows 8.x holdouts has shrunk even further, to a minuscule 3.4%
…
If my calculations a year ago were on the mark, that means more than 100 million Windows PC were retired, recycled, or upgraded in the past 12 months.It is somewhat reassuring to hear that WinXP is now in the region of a “fraction of a rounding error”. And of course, that doesn’t quantify how many of those Win7 machines are or aren’t enrolled in the ESU program.
You can read Ed’s write-up on Zdnet here.
-
Countdown to End7: Win10 nudges Win7 out of first place, becomes most-used internet platform by a smidgen
Ya’ll know that I don’t trust the statistics from any of the major “network usage” measurement companies. They all rely on arbitrary definitions, sampling methods and/or fudging (er, statistical adjustment) that would make an American pollster blush. Still, if you ignore the two-decimal-place precision in the reported numbers, there’s an obvious and inevitable move from Win7 to Win10.
Duh.
Net Applications reports that in December, Win10 usage share hit 45.5% of all PCs running Windows, while Win7 stood at 42.8%. If you include all of the Netmarketshare-defined “desktop/laptop” computers (screenshot), Win10 was at 39.2%, Win7 at 36.9%, with the most stable version of Windows (8.1) at 4.45% and macOS X 10.13 at 2.84%.
Gregg Keizer has a great summary in his Computerworld article:
Nearly three and a half years after its release, Windows 10 last month surpassed its enterprise predecessor, Windows 7, as the most popular operating system on the planet…
When Windows 7’s support ends, it should be powering slightly more than 36% of all Windows PCs, while Windows 10 will be running 55%.
By comparison, Windows XP accounted for 29% of all Windows PCs when it dropped off the support list.
Countdown to End7: 377 days.
-
Netmarketshare says Win7 and Win10 usage running neck-and-neck
Source: Netmarketshare
As usual, Statcounter has Win10 way out ahead and climbing
-
Usage share blips — Win7 goes up, Win10 goes down — and Edge still sleeps among the fishes
The September report from Netmarketshare doesn’t bode well for Win10. It’s easy to get focused on tiny market share changes — but in this case, with 14 months to go, Win7 (that’s the line on top) certainly isn’t going away.
And if you’re looking for Edge market share from Statcounter, you better break out the magnifying glass.
Gregg Keizer will have his usual detailed review later today in Computerworld.
-
Keizer: Windows 10 shows sign of enterprise upgrading
Keizer’s Computerworld take relies on the numbers reported by Net Applications:
Windows 10 actually slipped two-tenths of a percentage point in user share… during February, ending the month powering 34.1% of the world’s PC…
Using the 12-month average of Windows 7’s user share decline, Computerworld forecasts that the aging OS will still account for about 35% of all active Windows editions in January 2020
It’s clear which way the wind is blowing — but I wonder how many will abandon Win7 in 23 months?
-
Newly revised Net Applications numbers put Win7 usage share below 50%
If you follow Net Application’s usage counting method – newly revised “to remove bots” – the share of people using Win10 for online access has just eclipsed those using Win7. Gregg Keizer at Computerworld has the details.
If you prefer StatCounter’s method (which just counts hits, without trying to adjust for anything), the result is almost the same for the two OSs: 42.51% for Win7 in November, 41.36% for Win10.
The number I find totally surprising is in the race between Android and Windows. StatCounter says they’re running neck-and-neck, after Android jumped out in front in June/July.
-
Netmarketshare: Win7 still at 50% usage, Win10 at 28%
StatCounter says it’s Win 7 at 46%, Win 10 with a bullet at 37%.
No increase in Edge. Per Netmarketshare:
Gregg Keizer has an interesting observation about web browsers in Computerworld and a detailed analysis of Windows version usage.
-
Microsoft’s own numbers suggest declining Windows market share
Do the math, and tell me what you think.
InfoWorld Tech Watch.