Windows 10 - Deeper Impressions

[JorgeA]

Windows drops below 90% market share for the first time in years; Windows 7 falls below 50%

The Windows 7 drop was not unexpected -- after all, Microsoft IS pushing hard for Windows 10.

What's surprising is the first half of the headline.

Quote

The bad news is the drop in Microsoft’s total market share. Microsoft held 89.23% of the OS market in April 2016, as Hot Hardware notes. It’s the first time in years that the company has been pushed below the 90% threshold, even if the cause is somewhat unclear. Looking at Net Applications logged data over time, the company has recorded a significant increase in “Other” market share. In January, “Other” accounted for 5.4% of the market. In April, it held 8.59%. Some of this gain is likely from previous versions of Mac OS X, which used to be broken out independently, but it’s not a net positive for Microsoft, no matter what.

Also worthy of note:

Quote

Windows 10 adoption, meanwhile, continues to slow. The OS gained 1.89 percentage points of market share from December to January, 0.97 percentage points from January to February, and 1.33 percentage points from February to March. The February-March bump may have been due to changes in Microsoft’s update policies, but the effect was transient — the March-April increase was just 0.21 percentage points, the smallest on record.

Is it possible that the bulk of people who are ready to replace their Win7 systems are defecting to Apple? The January-to-April percentage drop in Win7 is very close to the gain recorded for OS X in the same period.

--JorgeA

[vinifera]

thats good, incoming "red stone" 2 and 3 won't help winblows 10 to be better
RS 2 will be more patch upgrade and RS 3 few features, nothing interesting

[BudwS]

It's hard to breathe life into poorly manufactured computer hardware or software.  There's a pile of HP laptops at the shop that won't power on or light up the screen.  As for Win 10, Windows 7 is looking better every day.  I keep wondering why Win10 runs better on the MacBook than it does on the XPS PC?

[Tripredacus]

13 hours ago, JorgeA said:

Windows drops below 90% market share for the first time in years; Windows 7 falls below 50%

The Windows 7 drop was not unexpected -- after all, Microsoft IS pushing hard for Windows 10.

What's surprising is the first half of the headline.

Also worthy of note:

Is it possible that the bulk of people who are ready to replace their Win7 systems are defecting to Apple? The January-to-April percentage drop in Win7 is very close to the gain recorded for OS X in the same period.

--JorgeA

I would like to know how "Other" is determined, and what % is possible that a Windows OS shows up as Other.

[NoelC]

We would probably all have a good laugh if we heard exactly how those market share calculations are done. 

At least in one case it's about what strings browsers report - and that we know is configurable, and even varied programmatically by browsers themselves seeking to provide the user a better experience.  Imagine that even smart phones and tablets set to "deliver a non-mobile web experience" on their browsers are masquerading as systems that they are not.  Mine are all set that way.  Yours?

The reality is that no one really knows with any certainty who is using what.  That's why the figures differ so much from source to source. 

The smartest users don't even allow their systems to report telemetry to the mothership.  That could even bias things against Windows 10, as so many are running privacy-specific software now.  You could say in general that the marketing info is quite possibly mostly about systems run by dummies.  Yet I don't think we folks who think and tweak Windows are all that rare, frankly.

Have you reduced the number of PCs running Windows in your household or business?  The number is holding steady here.

-Noel

[JorgeA]

3 hours ago, Tripredacus said:

I would like to know how "Other" is determined, and what % is possible that a Windows OS shows up as Other.

I imagine that they have some threshold percentage, below which all the also-rans get lumped together.

One of the market share reporting websites (I forget which one) used to provide a table with the breakdown of all the OSes that it detected. IIRC, up until a few years ago it would show Windows ME usage at like 0.01%.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

2 hours ago, NoelC said:

We would probably all have a good laugh if we heard exactly how those market share calculations are done. 

At least in one case it's about what strings browsers report - and that we know is configurable, and even varied programmatically by browsers themselves seeking to provide the user a better experience.  Imagine that even smart phones and tablets set to "deliver a non-mobile web experience" on their browsers are masquerading as systems that they are not.  Mine are all set that way.  Yours?

The reality is that no one really knows with any certainty who is using what.  That's why the figures differ so much from source to source. 

The smartest users don't even allow their systems to report telemetry to the mothership.  That could even bias things against Windows 10, as so many are running privacy-specific software now.  You could say in general that the marketing info is quite possibly mostly about systems run by dummies.  Yet I don't think we folks who think and tweak Windows are all that rare, frankly.

Have you reduced the number of PCs running Windows in your household or business?  The number is holding steady here.

-Noel

Huh, I didn't know you could set your phone's browser to report itself as non-mobile. Time to drill down into the Android settings.

More generally though, while the uncertainties in the stats are undeniable, it may be useful to observe the trends.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

There's a remarkable discussion of Microsoft's Win10 pushiness on Windows Weekly. For the first time that I can remember, Leo, Mary Jo, and Paul are all outraged over what the company's doing to Win7 users, such as Win10 popping up on the PCs of people who never agreed to install it.

The conversation starts at 6:18. Except for a brief detour where Paul decries what he calls the "FUD" about privacy in Windows 10, they're remarkably critical of Microsoft's insistent attempts to foist the new OS on customers.

Too long to transcribe, but too juicy to pass up. Well worth a listen.

--JorgeA

[NoelC]

I believe most have settings to allow that.  I've told our iPad at some point in the past to "browse more like a computer", though the occasional web site still detects it and gives the dumbed-down mobile experience anyway.  Certainly some browsers offer the reconfiguration of the ID string, and I have read enough to know that others do things to the identification programmatically.  I hope you can find the right settings as I don't use Android.

-Noel

[Tripredacus]

9 hours ago, NoelC said:

Imagine that even smart phones and tablets set to "deliver a non-mobile web experience" on their browsers are masquerading as systems that they are not.  Mine are all set that way.  Yours?

No. I use my devices appropriately. I require that a website displays properly on the appropriate platform. If I get a mobile view on desktop, I won't use the site anymore on my desktop. If I get a desktop view on my phone, I won't use that site on my phone.

[vinifera]

I'm still wondering why people use this "OS" when its such a garbage to begin with...

as for Cortana and blocking and OS, they are doing same thing they did with IE in past
they will integrate cortana and this edge so deep into system that excuse will come to: OS can't work without it

sounds familliar ?

[Tripredacus]

I have finally got to use Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSB and it looks to be the version of Windows 10 that everyone truly wants. Except that it is LTSB (10240) and has all those bugs of 10240. If they made a LTSB with 10586, it would be much better. Although, I don't have any idea how one would purchase that OS.

It seems to me that 10240 is akin to Vista RTM while 10586 is Vista SP1.

[JorgeA]

2 hours ago, vinifera said:

I'm still wondering why people use this "OS" when its such a garbage to begin with...

as for Cortana and blocking and OS, they are doing same thing they did with IE in past
they will integrate cortana and this edge so deep into system that excuse will come to: OS can't work without it

sounds familliar ?

IIRC, during the Microsoft antitrust trial Bill Gates on the witness stand offered the analogy that IE was like a car's radio, and asked why you would want to remove it. My reaction at the time was something like -- no, Bill, the car still works if you take the radio out. You've rigged Windows so that my car won't start if I try to replace the factory radio with something that I like better.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Microsoft no longer allows administrators to block Windows Store access in Windows 10 Pro
 

Quote

Up until a month ago, admins could use Group Policy to shut off employees' access to Windows Store if they were running Windows 10 Pro. Controlling this access is a requirement for some businesses.

But last month, Microsoft changed that option, claiming that Store access was required for all versions of Windows 10 except Enterprsie and Education "by design." (Thanks to @SwitftonSecurity for the heads up.)

[...]

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the change, noting that businesses who need to shut off Store access have no recourse other than Windows 10 Enterprise.

Microsoft is increasing the divide between big organizations (corporations, governments) on the one hand, and individuals and small businesses on the other -- handicapping the latter further, relative to the former. Now if you run a doctor's office or an Internet startup you have one more thing to think about, monitoring your employees for playing game apps downloaded from the Windows Store.

It just gets worse and worse with every new report in the Windows news.

--JorgeA

[rn10950]

Windows 10 Now on 300 Million Active Devices – Free Upgrade Offer to End Soon

A few interesting things here:

Quote

We’re pleased to see Windows 10 become one of the largest online services in less than a year. Core to delivering our more personal computing vision, Windows 10 offers experiences that are familiar, safer and more secure, and more personal and productive – enabling innovative new experiences.

Notice how they used "online services" instead of "operating systems"

Quote

Over 63 billion minutes were spent on Microsoft Edge in March alone, with 50% growth in minutes since the last quarter. Exclusively available on Windows 10, Microsoft Edge is our modern browser for helping you get things done.

Remind me how they would get this information without user tracking again?

Quote

Cortana, the personal digital assistant in Windows 10, has helped answer over 6 billion questions since launch.

Most of the presumably "how do I turn Cortana off?" or "How do I go back to Windows 7/8.1?"

Quote

People are playing games on Windows 10 more than ever before, with over 9 billion hours of gameplay on Windows 10 since launch.

Again, remind me how they would get this information without user tracking?

Quote

Apps that come with Windows 10, including Photos, Groove Music, and Movies & TV are seeing millions of active users each month, including more than 144 million people using Photos.

Well, if your application is the default photo viewer on an operating system online service, I would expect a high usage count too.

And my personal favorite:

Quote

With the highest customer satisfaction of any version of Windows, (where are you getting this information from?) we want everyone to enjoy the benefits of Windows 10. We continue to see awesome new Windows 10 devices becoming available – at a price point for everyone. And, today, we want to remind you that if you haven’t taken advantage of the free upgrade offer, now is the time. The free upgrade offer to Windows 10 was a first for Microsoft, helping people upgrade faster than ever before. And time is running out. The free upgrade offer will end on July 29 and we want to make sure you don’t miss out. After July 29th, you’ll be able to continue to get Windows 10 on a new device, or purchase a full version of Windows 10 Home for $119.

FINALLY!!!!! Maybe they will get rid of GWX and stop shoving this garbage down our throats now!