Windows 7 Handily Bests Windows 8 And 8.1's Market Share Gains in Nov.

[bill]

http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/01/windows-7-handily-bests-windows-8-and-8-1s-minute-market-share-gains-in-november/ [techcrunch.com]

Windows 7 Handily Bests Windows 8 And 8.1's Minute Market Share Gains In November

November was not a good month for Microsoft's Windows 8.x operating system according to Net Applications, with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 collectively gaining a mere 0.05% points of market share during the period. Windows 8 fell 0.87% to 6.66% global market share. Windows 8.1 managed to grow by 0.92%.

The total gain of 0.05% is a weak figure. The main competitor to Windows 8.x, Windows 7, spanked its homegrown rival in November. As The Next Web's Emil Protalinski pointed out earlier today, “Windows 7 grabbed 0.22 percentage points (from 46.42 percent to 46.64 percent). In November, Windows 7 thus managed to gain more share than Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 combined.” That 0.22% is more than four times the aggregate growth curve for Windows 8.x during the month.

Ouch.

[matrix_jan]

I'm seriously considering installing win7 on my win8.1 laptop. Microsoft is heading backwards while others are heading forward. They brought these "apps" to windows as a sign of an evolution and integration but my opinion is that t's failing big time. People want actual windows on PC screens not full screen apps.

[bill]

You can use Windows 8.1 in pure desktop mode and never see the Metro apps. Windows 8.1 is less resource intensive than Windows 7 and has a number of security enhancements. Other than the traditional Start Menu, what would you gain by reverting to Windows 7?

[matrix_jan]

I wouldn't say it's less resource intensive. I had (still have) win7 laptop before this and my internet connection was 3 mbit at that time when I switched to win8. Compared to 7, 8 was a snail, with all those metro apps and cloud connections there wasn't being left enough space for my internet browsing. And that's after I disabled a lot of apps. And about the Start Menu, I think it was the best shortcut menu ever created. Why did they kill it? For me it's like as if google killed the search box and adopted A-Z directory instead.

Another disadvantage of win8 is that it's less customizable. A lot of startup programs and services are hidden from the user and I think that's what's making it so fat and slow.

And it's not the case of being used to something. I loved XP, and when vista came out I just hated it. And then when windows 7 came out it was like a bright light in the darkness, a better version of XP. I think they messed up really bad with win8.

[bill]

With the same hardware I have seen Windows 8 outperform Windows 7. There are comparison tests on the web that seem to back my experience up. Windows 8 will boot, shutdown and recover from sleep much faster. Also, browser performance, multimedia performance and file transfer speeds are all better.

Internet connection speeds aren't necessarily something you can say are connected to the OS. If you have a lot of apps running, or your neighbor is downloading huge media files, or your line is heavily contented are just some to the factors that have nothing to do with the OS. Out of the box Windows 8 didn't have any apps running on my installs, so that sounds to me like something you turned on.

And about the Start Menu, I think it was the best shortcut menu ever created. Why did they kill it?

I haven't used the Start menu since XP. In Windows Vista and 7 you can hit the Windows key and start typing what you're looking for. Type one or two letters and you usually can find what you need. This works in Windows 8 as well. It's a huge time saver. I don't see any need for a Start menu at all.

Another disadvantage of win8 is that it's less customizable.

Windows 8 is less customizable? How so? I can do everything I could on Windows 7.

I loved XP, and when vista came out I just hated it.

Vista was a great OS if you had the right hardware. It was a resource hog, but it had a lot of the Windows 7 security and usability features.I used it on my primary workstation until Windows 8 came out. It was a very capable, stable OS for me.

There are evolutionary improvements to Windows with each generation. It sounds to me as though you may not have given 8 a fair chance.

[bwnbwn]

Bill I think the majority have spoken. Windows 8 is a failure and many users probably have wiped out 8 and installed 7. I can't use it and won't take the time to learn it. If MS wants to pay me to learn the system then fine other wise I will move on to another operating system. I think MS is seeing this and realized we made a big mistake.

Why didn't MS make the same suppose security enhancements into a new version of 7, I assume because MS thought this was what the people were looking for, what a stupid mistake on their part.

[bill]

Bill I think the majority have spoken. Windows 8 is a failure and many users probably have wiped out 8 and installed 7.

You're basing this claim on your admitted lack of experience with the OS and some articles like this? Unfortunately that seem to be a pattern I've seen...

[outland88]

What about the Back-Up features in Windows 8 compared to Windows 7? From what little I've read it doesn't seem as comprehensive.

I haven't seen Brett make any comments about Windows 8 either.

[bill]

Windows 8 backup is supposed to be easier to use than Windows 7. It's focused less toward comprehensive system backups, but rather toward continuous backup of your data files. You can still access the full system image backup feature of Windows 7 in Windows 8 if you like.