The biggest barrier to Windows 10 success is still Windows 7

[corbe]

The biggest barrier to Windows 10 success is still Windows 7

The fate of Windows 10 lies in the hands of users that are still deeply in love with Windows 7.

BySteve Ranger | January 22, 2017 -- 23:00 GMT (15:00 PST)


This year's CES saw plenty of shiny new Windows 10 devices on display, from the acrobat Lenovo Yoga through to HP's all-in-one Sprout Pro.

Hardware like this will certainly boost the fortunes of Windows 10. Sleek new designs and form factors, and the rise of two-in-one devices like the Surface Pro that can function both as a PC and a tablet, are giving consumers and businesses a reason to invest in Microsoft's latest operating system.

And Windows 10 has made some decent inroads thus far: it now accounts for somewhere around a quarter of PCs accessing the internet as measured by NetMarketShare.

All data like this needs to be looked at in terms of trends rather than details, of course, but in December 2016 - the most current data available, Windows 7 stood at 48 percent, Windows 10 had 24 percent, Windows 8.1 held seven percent, Windows XP nine percent, and Windows 8 had just two percent.

Contrast that with June 2015, just before Windows 10 arrived. Windows 7 stood at 61 percent, Windows 8.1 at 13 percent, Windows XP had 12 percent and Windows 8 just three percent.

A few obvious points leap out.

First, Windows XP usage hasn't changed very much at all as a result of the arrival of Windows 10. That's hardly surprising: Windows XP wasn't part of the free consumer upgrade programme that Microsoft offered. Windows XP is long, long past its sell-by date, and most of the hardware running XP is probably so old that is can't be upgraded anyway. If users are happy running such an antique and insecure operating system they'll probably keep using it until the hardware gives up or the Sun expands to finally vapourise the Earth, whichever is sooner.

Second, Microsoft did a good job encouraging people to move away from Windows 8. Perhaps they didn't need much encouraging, considering the reception that Windows 8 got, but it's all but vanished. For Windows 8.1 its (unsurprisingly) is a similar story and usage has fallen rapidly, which presumably means many users have been happy to take their (largely) free upgrade to Windows 10.

But what about Windows 7? This is the big one, of course. Usage has decline according to the NetMarketShare data - from 61 percent to 48 percent over 18 months, which looks at first glance like a rapid decline.

But the big question for Microsoft is whether that erosion of Windows 7 usage will continue.

Looking at the numbers more carefully, most of the drop in Windows 7 usage came in the first year that Windows 10 was available: since April 2016 Windows 7 usage has stayed pretty stable.

That's likely because most of the switchers were consumers. More cautious types and businesses in particular have held fire.

In Windows 7, Microsoft built a good product that companies like. It's now tried and tested, works with their existing infrastructure and their users are confident using it. And they worry about how big a leap it is to Windows 10.

More will no doubt consider the upgrade as Windows 7 heads towards the end of its lifecycle (Microsoft's extended support, which included security updates, ends in January 2020).

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http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-biggest-barrier-to-windows-10-success-is-still-windows-7/

[Oceander]

Windows 10 still has hiccups to work out.  I don't know if my experience is representative, but it seems to keep "losing" the wi-fi card on my new laptop.  Half the time I have to disable the device, then enable it, to get it working.

[Oceander]

And, quite honestly, I get tired of the every-two-years changes.  XP had its problems, but it had long-term stability and that was worth something.  It was nice to be able to have three sets of hardware running the same OS, even though there were a few years between them.  Managing three systems on one OS was doable - trying to manage three systems on three very different versions of Windows is a pain.

[Ghost Bear]

The biggest barrier to Windows 10 success is still Windows 7


<..snip..>

http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-biggest-barrier-to-windows-10-success-is-still-windows-7/

The biggest barrier to Windows 10 success is Windows 10. If it were better than Windows 7, then everyone would be switching to it. But it's not better than Win7, and in many ways it's much worse. And so many people (like me) are refusing to switch.   

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I love Windows 10 personally. Telemetry crap was a bad move on MS's part, but there are ways to stop it, using the hosts file.

[jpsb]

The biggest barrier to Windows 10 success is Windows 10. If it were better than Windows 7, then everyone would be switching to it. But it's not better than Win7, and in many ways it's much worse. And so many people (like me) are refusing to switch.   

Bump! And I still have a couple of XP/Vista machines, lol, but when I buy a new box I only buy if it comes with windows 7.

[Restored]

The biggest barrier to Windows is Windows. Windows was created to make an interface easy for neophytes to use. In order for that to work, you had to give "root" to the user. That means that anyone who gets access to the machine automatically has "root" and can do anything they want.

So an unsuspecting neophyte clicks on a link and their machine gets PWN3D. On a linux system, you would have to enter the root password to install anything. But Windows users complain if they had to be inconvenienced at any time. So Windows has to be constantly upgraded to stay slightly behind the latest viruses and malware.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

The biggest barrier to Windows is Windows. Windows was created to make an interface easy for neophytes to use. In order for that to work, you had to give "root" to the user. That means that anyone who gets access to the machine automatically has "root" and can do anything they want.

So an unsuspecting neophyte clicks on a link and their machine gets PWN3D. On a linux system, you would have to enter the root password to install anything. But Windows users complain if they had to be inconvenienced at any time. So Windows has to be constantly upgraded to stay slightly behind the latest viruses and malware.

This is total ignorance. Windows has limited users and UAC, which is the windows equivalent to sudo (more or less). If Linux was widespread you'd have users running everything as root and just as many problems.

[Oceander]

This is total ignorance. Windows has limited users and UAC, which is the windows equivalent to sudo (more or less). If Linux was widespread you'd have users running everything as root and just as many problems.

I think the problem is that Windows users generally expect an out-of-the-box system that requires little or no setup, and because the first user account Windows sets up has admin powers, they stick with that instead of going to the extra trouble - which isn't explained at all - of creating a limited user account.

Quite honestly, the Windows installation scheme should create two accounts - an admin account for when things need fixin' - and a limited user account.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I think the problem is that Windows users generally expect an out-of-the-box system that requires little or no setup, and because the first user account Windows sets up has admin powers, they stick with that instead of going to the extra trouble - which isn't explained at all - of creating a limited user account.

Quite honestly, the Windows installation scheme should create two accounts - an admin account for when things need fixin' - and a limited user account.

UAC was supposed to solve this, as linux can suffice with just sudo. The problem comes if users disable it and nearly all application have flaws that allow malware in. Or they install "super happy fun toolbar" that comes loaded with malware.


At my company, malware is now very very rare (although far from unheard of still).