Windows 8.1 overtakes Windows 8 in desktop OS arena

C/NET ^ | 06/03/2014 | Lance Whitney

[SeekAndFind]

Friendlier to PC users than its prececessor, Windows 8.1 continues to eke out a higher share while Windows 8 slips downward.

Net Applications

Windows 8.1 is now more dominant than its predecessor, at least based on all desktop OS traffic seen by Net Applications.

For the month of May, Windows 8.1's share inched up to 6.35 percent from 5.88 percent in April. That gave it just enough of a nudge to steal third place from Windows 8, which earned a 6.3 percent share, down from 6.36 percent the prior month.

Windows 8.1's gradual ascension over its predecessor in the desktop market should hardly come as a surprise. Launched last October as a free update, Windows 8.1 added several features missing in action from the touch-driven Windows 8, notably a Start button, a boot-to-desktop option, and a way to sync the same background for both the Start screen and desktop. An update released this past April added more items to appeal to traditional mouse and keyboard users. Microsoft will try to further placate PC users with the return of a full Start menu, though that may not arrive until sometime next year.

In first place, Windows 7 took home more than half of all desktop OS Web traffic for the first time ever in Net Applications' stats, rising to 50.06 percent from 49.3 percent in April. On the flip side, Windows XP continued to lose share a little bit at a time, slipping to 25.3 percent in May from 26.3 percent the previous month.

The slow but steady rise of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 at the expense of the now unsupported XP is a promising sign, certainly in the eyes of Microsoft. For the past couple of years, the software giant has been urging users to upgrade from XP to a more modern operating system, either Windows 7 or 8. In early April, Microsoft finally ended support for XP, meaning that users will no longer receive bug fixes or security updates, putting them at greater risk to security threats.

Still, Windows XP remains firmly in second place in the desktop OS market. Responsible for a quarter of all desktop OS traffic, the now almost 13-year-old operating system won't be going away completely anytime soon.

[Secret Agent Man]

because microsoft has a history of putting out patches and updates that screw up a currently working computer , and changing things to the point you can’t roll it back to previously working condition.

[petro45acp]

Piled higher and deeper!

[mountainlion]

I downloaded a classic shell which made it better for me.

[ansel12]

As someone who always used automatic updates, I just hadn’t had the problems.

[Alas Babylon!]

Here’s a fix to those live tiles consuming unnecessary bandwidth...

Turn on Metered Connections (tells Windows 8 you’re on a connection with a limited bandwith plan) by going to the Charms (from the Start screen, not within an app) and select Settings. Click your Network Connection and it should open the Networks vertical bar. Then right-click your Connection and chose “Set as metered connection”. One caveat—this only works for Wireless Connections.

After this, go to the Settings of the Live tiles you disabled (you can enable them again) by opening the tile app, and then go to Charms and then Settings and then Tiles. In the Tiles popup, set the “Data used for tile updates” to a low number, like 1 MB per month. When it reaches the limit, it stops updating, but will tell you if there’s new data so you can manually pull it if you wish.

[ansel12]

I downloaded it, but before I installed it, I decided that I would make an effort to step forward, instead of backward, within a couple of days I had everything the way I wanted it, and deleted the never used “classic shell”.

Did you download 8.1?

[mountainlion]

Did you download 8.1?

No, 8.0 too much and I wanted nothing to do with it.

[ansel12]

So everybody asked for some improvements for 8, windows came up with an update and some tweaks to improve it, and you refuse to allow the improving update to 8.1.

I don’t get you people, it is some sort of personality trait that makes you remain forever disgruntled, evidently.

[RegulatorCountry]

Help us oh great one, we seek counsel in the ways of your gruntledness, lol.

[Dalberg-Acton]

“Where did they put the autoexec.bat file?”

Right next to the config.sys file. :)

[mountainlion]

I don’t get you people,

You like new systems and relearning form scratch it seems. Old systems were easier to use. Stuff was similar and usable. You could find a shutdown button to turn the computer off. A mouse worked fine. You did not have strange hieroglyphics that were totally meaningless.

I don’t get you people that always want to force change on everyone.

[ansel12]

I’ve already mentioned it, if you have 8, then update it 8.1. If you have some tweaks you want to make, then google for the instructions.

How did you read the thread and miss those suggestions?

[RegulatorCountry]

Just amused by your superior state of gruntledness, that’s all.

[ansel12]

I think I see your problem, comprehension and reading, if you read my post 36 to you, you would know how little sense you just made.

" You like new systems and relearning form scratch it seems."---- "I don’t get you people that always want to force change on everyone."

To: mountainlion
Lot’s of us say we like 8.1.

I went straight from XP to 8.1 and have no complaints, I like it better.

36 posted on 6/3/2014 3:52:16 PM by ansel12

[ansel12]

You have two posts on the thread, so far they aren’t relevant or useful.

[mountainlion]

I think I see your problem, comprehension and reading

Actually it is you that don’t comprehend. You don’t understand people like me but you do computers?

[RegulatorCountry]

I’m primarily a Mac guy. I use XP Pro on a 32 bit Windows system due to some industrial software that is not supported beyond that version. I detest Windows 8 and every variant of that desktop thereof because it’s just a bad design for a GUI based upon a faulty assumption. Touchscreen interface and desktop with keyboard and mouse do not function similarly, at all. It’s a very flawed assumption.

Oh, and I’m gruntled. Very gruntled.

How’s that?

[ansel12]

I understand people like you, I see it on all such threads, you insist on being unhappy, in this case, determined to not download 8.1 which everyone agrees is better than 8.

[ansel12]

Weird, evidently you want to get into some personal thing.

[RegulatorCountry]

Oh, no. I found your gruntledness amusing. Still do, in fact.