Posted on 11/20/2021 10:31:28 PM PST by dayglored
Dayglored comment: Remember, this is about Corporate Business computers, most of which are managed by corporate IT groups and the uptake of new software, especially a new operating system, is glacially slow, often only happening when new hardware is purchased. Even so, 0.21% is notably low. The uptake on consumer/personal/home computers is, of course, much faster because consumers buy new computers much more often, and are much more likely to upgrade to the latest-and-greatest OS.
Microsoft's Windows 11 adventure is going swimmingly. IT asset management outfit Lansweeper has published the results of a 10 million PC survey that gives the new operating system a 0.21 per cent market share.
That is a good deal less than the 3.62 per cent of Windows XP and a nose ahead of the reviled Windows Vista. It is also not great news as the OS enters its second month of general availability.
App advertising biz AdDuplex put the figure nearer five per cent, although its survey was far smaller at 60,000 Windows 10 and 11 PCs. AdDuplex's data is also based on the approximately 5,000 Windows Store apps running its SDK.
Lansweeper's research comes from 10 million Windows devices, presumably in the business world, of which the IT asset management platform reckoned less than 45 per cent could take the update to Windows 11, thanks to Microsoft's stringent hardware requirements.
It is also worth bearing in mind that the Windows 11 rollout will take place over a number of months as Microsoft keeps an eye on what breaks and what doesn't. Users with compatible PCs running Windows Update could well receive a message promising the update is on the way at some point in the future. Or telling them that Windows 11 won't work on their kit.
That said, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that users are staying away in droves for the time being, and enterprises are highly unlikely to go near the code until a year or more after release.
Plus, the Lansweeper data threw up some statistics that could be more concerning than the snails-pace adoption of Windows 11.
Windows XP accounted for 3.62 per cent of PCs in the survey and Windows 7 was a hair under 6 per cent. Both are out of support, although Microsoft will keep security patches coming for the latter – at a price.
Even more disturbing are those mystery beige boxes in the server room that nobody likes to talk about. Windows Server 2008 accounted for 0.57 per cent of the PCs in the report despite also being well out of mainstream support. Even Windows Server 2003 was still hanging on in there.
With almost one in 10 Windows devices running end-of-life software, opportunities for miscreants abound.
Roel Decneut, chief marketing officer at Lansweeper, stated the obvious: "The situation poses a significant cybersecurity risk... Although the majority of users are on newer operating systems, the billions of active Windows devices worldwide means there could still be millions of people using devices that are insecure and open to attack.
"Plus, a large number of these outdated systems are predicted to be running on enterprise devices, which means it's not just personal information that's on the line."
We asked Lansweeper other questions about its research but have yet to receive a response.
Speaking about the discrepancy between his firm's figures and those of Lansweeper, AdDuplex CEO Alan Mendelevič pointed out that enterprises tended to be much slower on the uptake of new operating systems.
He told The Register: "Our data is highly skewed towards the consumer PCs (much more likely to upgrade at the first opportunity)."
"At any rate," he observed, "0.21 per cent seems extremely low overall. But could be totally reasonable if it's just from the managed company PCs."
We have asked Microsoft to comment. ®
Why do we put these stories out for every single release of Windows?! It’s asinine. Like MS is somehow failing. People don’t like upgrading OSes. It’s a pain. And frankly not worth the effort. But when people get new computers they will get the new OS. Anybody that thinks any version of Windows is “dead” is stupid. We wrote these same idiotic articles for XP. Now the articles worship it as the holy land.
Back-end? Hell, I went to my eye doctor and the machine they use for checking my optical script was running XP. I made a joke about it with the doc and she said that they had to keep using it for reasons that went back to regulations and certification.
I don't know if that was strictly true, but if so, that is even more scary than the XP box itself.
Depending on what you're doing, of course. I find that during the course of a workday, I use Linux with Firefox and Chrome, Windows with Chrome, and MacOS with Chrome, interchangeably. I mostly work at the Linux/Bash command line -- I don't do much of "Office-app" work, but I have Office365 loaded on the Windows10 box and that does the trick.
Edge is, for me, an unnecessary one-more-me-too browser; I only use it for compatibility testing.
> If you don’t do anything of substance with your computer I guess Windows 7 is ok.
The main legit excuse for running a non-supported OS like Win7 is that you have mission-critical applications that can't run on the newer releases. And if you don't trust Microsoft (and who does?) then Win7 might arguably have less spyware on it than Win10.
Thank you for both replies.....very much what I needed and wanted but did not know to ask. Much appreciated. I already have (bought) a copy of “Linux Lite” on thumb drive that I have on a sort of test bed (older Dell laptop). I think I need to bite the bullet and try that on her work machine.
^^ THAT.
There are days when I'm convinced that Microsoft considers Windows, the OS, as their "loss-leader" that mainly serves to get people in bed with Office365 and Azure/SharePoint services.
The OS has become a frilly platform with little point other than supporting the applications.
Of course, one might reasonably argue that that (just a platform) is the proper purpose of an OS. It's not supposed to be a way of life.
I think that is pretty much all it ever was. IIRC, even Gates said so.
I treat these stories as just a string of observations on the passing scene. Microsoft isn't failing. But their business is Office365 and their Azure cloud services. Windows is a bit-player in their overall strategy with regard to their consumer users.
Windows, like MacOS, is becoming increasingly irrelevant for consumers, as mobile devices and mobile OSes consume more and more of the landscape. It has taken a long time, but Windows is finally retreating from the consumer scene.
OTOH, Windows will always have a large base in the enterprise. Business user computers -- other than software development which is nearly all Linux these days -- run Windows, it's just a fact of life.
And then there's that huge, largely invisible mass of computers that run the internet, websites, etc. almost all of which are Linux. Users easily forget that nearly everything they do these days involves the internet, and the internet is Linux, with few and scattered exceptions.
I see these stories as people wanting desperately to say a big company is failing.
Windows has ALWAYS been a bit player in the MS business. It’s a standard. What comes from owning the standard is always worth more than the standard itself. Back in the day it was selling the SDK to developers who wanted to write applications.
It’s never been relevant to the consumers. It’s the road. Roads are relevant, but if roads don’t exist it’s a lot harder to sell cars.
Windows isn’t retreating from the consumer scene AT ALL. Like I said these stories get written for every single version of Windows since Win98. They aren’t stories, they’re idiots misreading numbers to lie to people. By the time the next version comes out 11 will have most of the market. Just like every other version of Windows these idiotic stories have come out about.
XP was the last product MS created that sold itself. Everything else they’ve had to resort to strong-arm tactics to get any market penetration.
In the meantime they’ve spent ten fortunes trying to get a toehold in the handheld digital devices market with nothing to show for it.
They still dominate the desktop market but that market segment has been in steady decline since 2012.
Thanks. I use “open shell” on my w-10 devices. I haven’t tried to use it on w-11.
Thanks for that. and that’s a fact.
At my very last employer(I am retired). I was charged with dual testing - Vista vs W-7.(we were on XP)
It took forever for the higher-ups to make a decision. We bypassed Vista.
Lots of good points made here.
Two things. In the server world we speak of “cattle not pets”. This is the way. Gone are the days when “the mail server crashed or the print server crashed” and now nobody can get work dine. Now these things are just “services” and sure there are real computers under the covers but you don’t really need to know that. Should be the same with laptops and desktops. Backup your data and think of your puter as part of a herd of cattle. If it breaks or needs an upgrade shoot it in the head and get another.
Second - as far as migrating users. Where I work - an admittedly “tech” company - users own their upgrade process. In the same vein - you would get a notice that you’re due for an upgrade and IT would provide you with a freshly imaged laptop (say) and you would own the migration. Doesn’t work for factory floor or point of sale etc. But then again there IT can impose their will and the computers aren’t snowflakes.
At the end of the day an OS is just a “program” just like notepad or your calculator app. To some extent we’ve over mythologized it.
Time will tell. Microsoft's inability to break successfully into the mobile market means that they have to rely on business users and consumer inertia, to keep Windows going long-term. Maybe "retreating" isn't the right word. How about "overtaken and passed by mobile devices"?
I know an awful lot of consumers who were dedicated Windows users for decades, but whose desktops and laptops are gathering dust now, because they can do pretty much everything they need on their phone or tablet. (Serious artists, authors, and spreadsheet jockeys excepted -- for that you need a big monitor.)
When at last one of these consumers blows the dust off their desktop's keyboard, they find that there are Windows Updates pending, and after 10 minutes of drumming their fingers, they grumble and turn back to their phone or tablet to get the task done.
Personally I think Microsoft made a mistake labeling this new release "Windows 11". They should have just made it the next incremental release of Windows 10, and people would have not had that visceral reaction that comes from every major upgrade. Because Win11 isn't a major upgrade -- it's an incremental tweak on Win10. Microsoft jumped the shark calling it a major change, especially after all the hoopla about how Windows 10 was the final major version of Windows (remember that?).
In any case, we'll see. Microsoft is in the business for the long run, but the long run is Office and Azure, and as you said so correctly, Windows is just a road to those services. Time will tell.
Very well stated!
Time has told. People have been saying MS is losing the consumer scene since Windows 98 didn’t storm the world. 23 years in a row those predictions have been WRONG.
Surface Tablets. MS is fine in the mobile market.
It’s not an incremental release. Because 11 is moving away from old hardware with major security problems it wouldn’t work as an incremental release. It actually is a big upgrade, just by jettisoning a lot of legacy crap.
They keep talking about last version of Windows. But it’s a brand that sells. That’s really the proof you need that all predictions about Windows failing are wrong. If it was failing MS would actually abandon the name.
“The OS has become a frilly platform with little point other than supporting the applications. “
Yep, basically a smart phone/tablet dependent on their services. Difference? A whole lot of gigs and heartache to do the same thing a cell phone will do with 3-4 gigs. Most times a cell phone does it more reliably than a Windows PC too. The updates rarely break it.
And you can run a lot more apps offline that Windows will not let you do. The only thing missing is a larger display and keyboard. Might even be better off having a smart phone and a docking station for it with touchscreen and a keyboard.
I’m gonna continue to use Windows 7.
I still have one functioning Dell laptop with XP on it. That laptop is still one of my best ones and I’ve been tempted many times to upgrade the OS, and my nostalgic common sense wins out.
Funny, that most of my favorite anti-virus programs actually STILL accept XP after all this time (thank you Avast)
A LOT of healthcare software was developed on XP for a specific certification and was never updated due to either cost or the vendor ceased to exist. It’s a big problem.
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