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Windows 7 still OS choice of more than a quarter of Windows users

by Mark Tyson on 4 March 2020, 12:11

Tags: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Windows 7, Windows 10

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NetApplications recently updated its Operating System market share stats. The market researcher added February's data to its OS share charts and it is immediately noticeable that the perceived switching activity from Windows 7 to Windows 10 has stalled. January saw a considerable switching spurt, which is thought to have been inspired by the Windows 7 end of support deadline, but since that time Windows 7 users haven't diminished much at all.

On the NetApplications graph you can see above I have used the online tool to plot just Windows 10 and Windows 7 shares. With the Feb data in you can see from the image that Windows 10 has 57.39 per cent of the desktop OS market share and Windows 7 has 25.20 per cent. This marks a very slight change from January (57.08 / 25.56) but December's figures were very different (53.36 / 29.57) and you can see that the chart line seems to have flattened.

If you are wondering why the Windows 7 upgrade cycle seems to have stalled, usefully Microsoft finance chief Amy Hood talked about this very question on Monday, at Morgan Stanley's Technology Media and Telecom conference in San Francisco. Rather than the situation being a problem, Hood characterised it as an opportunity, with lots of income yet to come.

Looking through the CNBC report and quotes from Hood, the stalling of Windows 7 to Windows 10 transitions seems to be because of two factors. First of all Microsoft reckons that chip supply is slowing the release of new PCs to the market. New PCs and system upgrades are a big driver for adoption of the latest OS from Microsoft. Secondly, Covid-19 is causing supply chain issues in China - again affecting the supply of new PCs / laptops.

Factory worker being checked on way in to work

Hood indicated to investors that the OS adoption curve is broadly similar to what has gone before - with other major Windows transitions', but the two issues mentioned just need a little more time to work through. Meanwhile, the Harvard Business Review reckons that the "worst is yet to come" in terms of Coronavirus supply chain disruptions.



HEXUS Forums :: 39 Comments

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Posted by ik9000 - Wed 04 Mar 2020 12:32
still my first choice! Just reinstalled it at the weekend. Also running win10 on another drive so I can remote work and do unavoidable stuff that needs 10. But for a lot of things the software on win7 is far more reliable.
Posted by Ttaskmaster - Wed 04 Mar 2020 12:56
Have to say, I've had fewer problems (ie, none that I am aware of) using Win10 than Win7.
Only difficulty really is in finding where stuff is in the new layout, and the hassle of re-customising layouts and removing bits you don't want.

Was debating trying 32-bit 7 on my Netbook, or something.
Not sure about the security, though.
Posted by simonpreston - Wed 04 Mar 2020 13:09
So, basically, this is a rerun of the issue Microsoft had, when Windows 7 came out, where users were steadfastly sticking with XP.

If Microsoft didn't dramatically change things, in each OS release, maybe people wouldn't so reluctant to upgrade. But, of course, a OS being pretty much the same as the last isn't going to be easy to sell, either. MacOS and Linux don't have this problem as they can evolve, since they are free (asterisk next to MacOS as you have to buy the hardware).

MS is a prisoner of its own business model.
Posted by Ttaskmaster - Wed 04 Mar 2020 13:43
Linux has a billion-and-one different releases though and you have to have some idea of what you're doing with them.
MacOS is not (intended) for PCs, but for Mac people with Macs, who run MacOS on their Mac, because they're Mac people who have Macs…..

Windows is intended for PCs in general, capable of being installed by almost anyone. In some regard, that holds it back because they must cater to a wide variety of people with varying degrees of handholding required… even if it's just laziness.

But following in MS's footsteps, I wonder if I can similarly blame my lack of work progress on Covid-19…..? :D
Posted by philehidiot - Wed 04 Mar 2020 13:52
So Windows 10 adoption started how many years ago and it's clearly a bug that has been going around for the past couple of months that is the problem. CLEARLY.

The simple fact is that if a business runs just fine with a product, they won't upgrade as there is absolutely no benefit and a huge outlay and potential disruption. Why would they upgrade? The only way to get them to do it is to make the old product not work properly anymore by stopping updates, etc. But they'll still be reluctant as there is no real payback from upgrading. It's an OS. It allow their other software to work. If this is happening, there is no need to upgrade.

I've had endless problem with Windows 10 - the lastest being that it outright refused to install, claiming my drive wasn't GPT (it was, I checked before hand). It forced me to find all the stuff that Windows setup is supposed to do to the drive pre-install (partitions, etc) and do it myself from the command prompt. There was no problem executing any of the commands and once it was done, Windows installed just fine…. all I did was do what Windows setup is supposed to do. I gave the same commands in the same order and it just worked.

Maybe it's a sign. I'm seriously debating dual booting with Linux and gradually switching over.

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