Posted on 01/08/2014 12:30:34 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Windows 8/8.1 has topped 10% market share for the first time, apparently picking up a few users from among those who are finally leaving Windows XP behind.
According to Web analytics firm NetMarkeshare, users of all versions of Windows 8 amounted to 10.49% of Internet users for the month of December, up from 9.25% in December. This as users of Windows XP have dipped from 31.22% to 28.98%.
While the showing for Windows 8/8.1 is a milestone, it is also part of a gradual trend. Since last February, use of the operating system has risen 7.82 percentage points while XP has dropped 10.01. Windows 7 use has moved up 2.97 points over the same period, so it seems most of those abandoning XP have moved to Windows 7 or 8/8.1.
Over the same period, Windows Vista dipped 1.56 points.
NetMarketshare’s data is gathered from the browsers of visitors to its customers’ 40,000-plus Web sites worldwide. The firm breaks down the sites as 46% commercial, 18% corporate, 10% content and 29% other, including government, search engine marketers and .org groups. Seventy six percent participate in pay per click programs to drive traffic to their sites, the company says.
Surface Pro 2 upgrade
While it’s not an official hardware overhaul, customers who buy Microsoft Surface Pro 2 laptops now will get faster machines than those who bought them last month.
That’s because the Windows 8 devices are being built with a better CPU than the earlier versions, according to a report by WinBeta. The newer Surface Pro 2s have Intel i5 4300U (1.9Ghz) CPUs vs the older versions that had i5 4200U (1.6Ghz) processors.
Here’s how Microsoft explained the changes to WinBeta: “Microsoft routinely makes small changes to internal components over the lifetime of a product, based on numerous factors including supply chain partnerships, availability, and value for our customers. With any change to hardware or software, we work to ensure that the product experience remains excellent.”
Chromebooks rule on Amazon.com
Amazon.com reports disheartening holiday sales from a Windows 8 perspective: Chromebooks are outselling the best-selling Windows 8 laptops.
According to the site’s Best Sellers, two Chromebooks – Acer C720 and Samsung Chromebook - are ranked No. 1 and 2 with two Windows 8 devices – Asus Transformer Book T100TA-C1-G and Asus X200CA-HCL1104G – coming in third and fourth. Price seems to be a factor. The Chromebooks sell for $199 and $179, respectively, while the Windows devices go for $448 and $298. Another blow to Windows 8: Toshiba’s Satellite C55-A5245 came in fifth - equipped with Windows 7.
Surface 2 BitLocker woes
Microsoft is promising a Jan. 14 solution to a Surface 2 software problem that has the device demanding the BitLocker recovery key when it boots up.
Microsoft acknowledges it shouldn’t do that and is working on a fix.
You skipped Windows 2000. I think you would rate it “Pass”.
And the reason(s) for that statement? Not a challenge, I'm curious. I have to help out my mother with her 7 machine, and I end up grumbling every time I have to deal with it, especially when using the search.
Because it is better. It’s more accessible, it does faster searching, and the search on the start menu (which is different than the search in explorer) also searches applications and Windows settings (wanna turn off UAC, you don’t need to remember where it is, just type UAC into the search box and Windows brings up the UAC settings dialog). It’s significantly more powerful than the search in XP.
And there was NT. It was popular for business use about the same time Win98 was for home use.
I migrated from Windows XP to Windows 7 and really like it. It is a worthy successor to XP. I have tried Windows 8 and find it quite frustrating to use especially to us so used to the older versions of Windows. I’ll stick with 7 for now.
the Ins. Co i work for still uses XP my co laptop/Desktop both have XP and internet otherwise i can’t function at my job
If your Windows 7 is ultimate you can make XP virtual machines, much smoother than dual booting. When I went to 7 I did the dual boot thing, and never went back. 7’s a good OS.
Man I loved to hate that thing, I bitched and moaned for months. I finally got it set up to my liking, and continued bitching about it to friends and family alike, and then, a few months later, I realized, I had stopped bitching.
You know what? Once I got it setup to my liking, booting straight to the desktop, my most used apps pinned to the task bar... It works. It works darn well too, overall. I see the start menu as an thing I go to from time to time, and I am finding more use for it now.
>So I have stopped bitching and started using, again, realizing, like I did back when I was a Linut, that if you can get it to work for you, then that's all you need. Hating is counterproductive, get to work, or enjoy your free time.
I agree. Windows 8 SUCKS and needs to follow the Blackberry into irrelevancy.
They should come up with “Old Fart Windows”. I want to surf the web, write letters and get email. I don’t need anything else. And I don’t get very many emails.
Don’t mean to hijack your thread here TIM, bear with me for a moment while I attempt to mine the infinite wisdom of FR.
Question for my Techie Friends out there. Is buying a USB stick with WIN 7 STARTER on EBAY (@ $20.00) loading that on a WIN 7 compatible PC-— THEN Loading WIN 7 STARTER to WIN 7 Home Premium UPGRADE a feasible way to get to WIN 7 Home Premium 64 bit. It certainly seems cost effective to have a WIN 7 Home Premium for $35.00 (registered with MS) after the STARTER USB stick for $20.00. Obviously I have allot more TIME than MONEY!!!!
“Question for my Techie Friends out there. Is buying a USB stick with WIN 7 STARTER on EBAY (@ $20.00) loading that on a WIN 7 compatible PC-— THEN Loading WIN 7 STARTER to WIN 7 Home Premium UPGRADE a feasible way to get to WIN 7 Home Premium 64 bit. It certainly seems cost effective to have a WIN 7 Home Premium for $35.00 (registered with MS) after the STARTER USB stick for $20.00. Obviously I have allot more TIME than MONEY!!!!”
This works if what you are buying comes with valid registration codes. I’ve done something similar here with my Office software.
“Old Fart Windows”. well I fit the bill, but would be happy with Windows 7.
That can be Windows 8 for you. The whole idea of that start screen is that most people only use a couple of applications most of the time, put those apps as tile on the screen and they’re right there for you easy to get to no having to find them. Your e-mail app tile can even be pinging the server so the tile will tell you when there’s new mail and you can ignore it until then.
FWIW, I am migrating away from Win XP by April since MS support ends then [Office 2003, too].
However, will migrate to Win 7 - always keep one OS behind becuz they are more stable [MS has put out one or more service packs out for them already]. Win 8/8.1 is gonna have to have SPs put out for them in the future.
FYI: If you like Classic Windows, check out:
It is supposed to be great, works with Win 7 and beyond - I will be using it ...
It screams on VMWare!
We’re all just going to tell you to use Linux.
Win v3.1 and 95 are better than the POS-8. Go with Win-7 Pro 64x.
That said, I was over at the Apple Store in Lancaster, PA, all day with my sister, who just bought an iMac 27’ quad core i5, 3.4GHz, 1TB HD, 32Gb RAM, and the machine is drop dead FAST and sleek. And Apple displays a first class product, with first class salespeople, and treats everyone very nicely. Sure it’s 2x what a comparable HP PC is, but it’s an amazing product. I’m too heavily invested in Win-7 Pro 64x to switch, and that OS is just what I want and need, since 2009.
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