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Windows 8.1 overtakes Mac OS X 10.9 among desktop OS users
C/NET ^ | 12/02/2013 | by Lance Whitney

Posted on 12/02/2013 1:06:09 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Windows 8.1 is now the fifth most popular desktop OS, at least as recorded by Web tracker Net Applications.

For November, Microsoft's latest version of Windows snagged 2.64 percent of all desktop OS traffic recorded by Net Applications. That number was a healthy gain from the 1.72 percent seen in October and the 0.87 percent in September.

The rise also pushed Windows 8.1 just ahead of Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks with a 2.42 percent share and just behind Windows Vista with a 3.57 percent share.

Windows 8.1 popped up in June as a preview edition before officially launching in October. The upgrade is free to Windows 8 users and offers several improvements over its predecessor.

Windows 8 continued to shed its share of traffic in November as more users upgraded to its successor. But combined, Windows 8 and 8.1 took home a 9.3 percent share, easily outscoring Vista but still playing a distant third to Windows 7 with 46.6 percent and Windows XP with 31.2 percent.

XP has gradually lost ground since giving up its dominance to Windows 7 in August 2012. But the 12-year-old XP continues to hang on among users and businesses. Time is running out, though. Microsoft is set to cut off support for XP in early April.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: desktop; macos; microsoft; windows; windows8; windows81
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To: EagleUSA

Zackly right. Some could say that the same thing is why Win 7 is so dominant, but M$ took the same approach when they tried to shove Vista down peoples throaths, and it was puked back up.

First rule of Advertizing: No amount of PR and hype will make people buy a bad product.

(Obamacare ref)


21 posted on 12/02/2013 1:56:44 PM PST by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: Dead Corpse

While that may have been true at one time, MAC has come a LONG WAY, and its because MAC OSX is basically Linux with a nice GUI on top of it.

Last year I went to one of the biggest developer conferences in the world, and not one presenter, not a single one, had a windows machine, all were Mac, and at least 1/2 the audience was using macs.... (And no this wasn’t an apple conference and it had nothing to do with apple).... While I do agree Apple’s markup is insane on their products, there is no doubt that professional development is moving away from PCs. I can recall not all that long ago you might have seen a few macs at best at a serious developers conference that was not Apple Specific.... That’s definitely not the case anymore.


22 posted on 12/02/2013 1:57:28 PM PST by HamiltonJay
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To: Billthedrill
My wife had to replace her laptop last week, and I quickly put Classic Shell in place in her new one, to simulate Windows 7, before Windows 8.1 sent both of us screaming into the night.
23 posted on 12/02/2013 1:57:30 PM PST by deoetdoctrinae (Gun-free zones are playgrounds for felons.)
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To: HamiltonJay

and by PC I mean WINDOWS


24 posted on 12/02/2013 1:58:06 PM PST by HamiltonJay
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To: EagleUSA

“If users had a choice, the majority would choose Win 7”

They do but just for a little while yet. BTW the business user choose Windows XP.


25 posted on 12/02/2013 1:59:11 PM PST by Cyman (We have to pass it to see what's in it= definition of stool sample)
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To: WVKayaker
Hahahahahaaa! I guess it's good to be so ignorant.

I'm a Network Administrator in a largely Mac environment.

Back up. Punt again.

26 posted on 12/02/2013 1:59:37 PM PST by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
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To: deoetdoctrinae

With the Classic Shell, 8.1 is now enjoyable, and stable to boot. I love the system now, though rarely use the tiles.


27 posted on 12/02/2013 1:59:39 PM PST by Red in Blue PA (When Injustice becomes Law, Resistance Becomes Duty.-Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Billthedrill

Windows tops visitors to my company website, Linux is second over Mac.


28 posted on 12/02/2013 1:59:52 PM PST by MaxMax (Pay Attention and you'll be pissed off too! FIRE BOEHNER, NOW!)
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To: Cyman

XP support ends 4/2014. No more patches.


29 posted on 12/02/2013 2:00:24 PM PST by Red in Blue PA (When Injustice becomes Law, Resistance Becomes Duty.-Thomas Jefferson)
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To: erod
I use Macs in my profession because it works best for Adobe

If you don't mind the constant updates, hangs, crashes, and occasional foobar of your Fonts. Sure...

My current fave is still CentOS 6. I don't need a pretty "point and click" interface.

30 posted on 12/02/2013 2:02:57 PM PST by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
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To: Red in Blue PA
We are liking it that way as well. Had our fingers crossed after a couple of initial "Ruh-rohs", but so far it has been an agreeable experience.

We don't use any of the new features. Heck, I thought "charms" was something about a breakfast cereal. ;)


31 posted on 12/02/2013 2:05:21 PM PST by deoetdoctrinae (Gun-free zones are playgrounds for felons.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

XP is still the most dominant O/S on Earth


32 posted on 12/02/2013 2:06:07 PM PST by GeronL (Extra Large Cheesy Over-Stuffed Hobbit)
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To: deoetdoctrinae
Oh, yeah. I snuck that great app onto the Win8.0 box myself out of sheer frustration prior to the 8.1 upgrade, but I have to be somewhat proficient in the 8.1 UI because I have a lot of users requiring help with it and if I don't use it, I won't learn it. My Mac users have a little higher pain threshold but still need help, and so I was able to talk the boss into an Airbook for awhile. Nice box. Kinda spendy but a work of art.

I've got a Live Mint thumb drive (thing about ultrabooks is lack of ports - you pay for the small footprint) and it rocks at USB 2.0 speeds. It's a USB 3.0 port, and so when I pony up the bucks for a USB 3.0 thumb drive, it ought to smoke. Fun stuff!

33 posted on 12/02/2013 2:08:32 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: bigbob

“..First rule of Advertizing: No amount of PR and hype will make people buy a bad product.”

:::::::::::

Yes. Regardless of what M$ might say, Balmer is being fired for Vista and Win 8. Two major losers. I have worked with both Win7 and Win8. Win8 is not user friendly and a clunker but under the hood, it has improvements. If M$ had been smart, instead of trying to change personal computer dynamics with a forced Apple-style interface and left the decision to a choice by the user as to the interface, it would have been much better for them, and the comsumers. Big egos got in the way.

Too bad. Let’s hope that Win9 (or 8.2) bring back the choice of start menu for the user.


34 posted on 12/02/2013 2:08:57 PM PST by EagleUSA
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To: Dead Corpse
I'm a Network Administrator in a largely Mac environment.

Back up. Punt again.

Hahahahahaaa! I guess it's good to be so underemployed!

I have four computers and 2 iPads on my "Network", so I guess I qualify as an Administrator. They access each other wirelessly, and have done so for eons before the Windoze folk caught onto that design thing. Oops, it was the PC manufacturers, since MS only makes software.

I run Parallels, which allows me to use Windoze programs on my Macs. I have it so I can run Microsoft Flight Simulator. It's the only program not available for Mac these days.

I turn them on and leave them on! They sleep as needed. Me, too!


35 posted on 12/02/2013 2:10:09 PM PST by WVKayaker ("Because nothing says "rugged individualism" like heavy-handed big government.../sarc" -Sarah Palin)
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To: HamiltonJay
MAC OSX is basically Linux with a nice GUI on top of it.

BSD variant. Not Linux. Close, but not quite the same. /nitpick

36 posted on 12/02/2013 2:11:09 PM PST by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
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To: SeekAndFind

None of the new models we’ve seen, with 8 will not hookup to our traditional phone plug/jack. All will only take the thick cable plug, which won’t work with our traditional dialup.

We don’t want anything else.

Additionally, we understand that win8 takes too much loading for our regular phone line.


37 posted on 12/02/2013 2:13:22 PM PST by Varsity Flight (Extortion-Care is the Government Work-Camp: Arbeitsziehungslager)
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To: EagleUSA
Let’s hope that Win9 (or 8.2) bring back the choice of start menu for the user.

I agree. I will say that Win-X is closer to it in 8.1 than in 8.0. But why in the name of all that is holy did they make it so hard to turn the durn thing off? (sound of hyperventilating...)

38 posted on 12/02/2013 2:14:04 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: mmichaels1970

The Windows 8.1 NEW start button is missing one little thing.... the START MENU!!!! :) All the new start button does it send you back to Metro UI hell. It’s a ruse so that they can say they put it back.

MS telling people that they put the start button back is like Barak Jackass Obama telling Rats that gub’mint takeover of healthcare at gunpoint is going to save us all money.


39 posted on 12/02/2013 2:14:49 PM PST by MarineBrat (Better dead than red!)
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To: WVKayaker
It's the only program not available for Mac these days.

Are you sure about that?

40 posted on 12/02/2013 2:16:05 PM PST by GeronL (Extra Large Cheesy Over-Stuffed Hobbit)
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