Windows 10 Passes 50% Market Share, Windows 7 Falls To 30% (venturebeat.com) 169
More than four years after its release, Windows 10 has passed 50% in market share. This means every other desktop computer is now running Microsoft's latest and greatest operating system, according to Net Applications. From a report: In January, Windows 10 passed Windows 7 in market share. These are nice milestones for Microsoft to finally hit, even though they took longer than the company had hoped. Windows 10 adoption started out very strong but naturally slowed as the months progressed. Microsoft was aiming for 1 billion devices running Windows 10 in two to three years but backpedaled on that goal.
4 years and malware like tactics (Score:5, Insightful)
What a compelling product.
Re:4 years and malware like tactics (Score:5, Insightful)
The only reason people (and more so, companies) are starting to move away from Win7 is that it's reaching EoL within 4 months.
Re:4 years and malware like tactics (Score:5, Informative)
IMHO the scummiest thing they've done is to make it so that Windows 7 doesn't support Ryzen and newer Intel chips so people buying new hardware for the last couple of years have been forced to use it (or switch to Linux). Ran into that myself when I built a new machine just as the first Ryzen chips came and had previously been happily using Windows 7 on the machine I'd previously had (was was still going to continue using some components of). Thankfully my main use OS is Linux anyway so it's only really come up whenever I need to boot up Windows to play games (which isn't often anymore thanks to Proton/Wine).
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"Windows 7 doesn't support Ryzen and newer Intel chips"
That is correct. Microsoft does not use Windows 7 to "make money from" Ryzen and newer Intel processors. Or did you have some other, non-standard, meaning of support other than "make money from" in mind?
Re:4 years and malware like tactics (Score:4, Insightful)
Let me rephrase: Microsoft has deliberately made Windows 7 incompatible with newer Intel and AMD processors.
Re:4 years and malware like tactics (Score:5, Informative)
Probably too late for you, but wufuc has been pretty handy to keep several Windows 7 installs updated on Ryzen systems.
https://github.com/zeffy/wufuc [github.com]
Definitely not looking forward to EoL day when I'm forced to jump over for security updates.
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Re:4 years and malware like tactics (Score:5, Insightful)
It's kind of depressing how they haven't gotten adoption this much closer to 100% of Windows users
I'm depressed that they got as far as they did, rather than accepting it was a terrible product and fixing it.
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"It's kind of depressing how they haven't gotten adoption this much closer to 100% of Windows users despite the impending EoL date and everything they've done to push people towards it. "
Another way of looking at it is that it's kind of good computers last long enough to reach the standard Windows EoL without ending up in landfill.
What's depressing is that Microsoft isn't offering a decent way for those machines to remain productive and useful. The Windows 10 upgrade process will brick half of them and isn'
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I've convinced three non-techies to use Linux.
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Is it better to depend on Steam than MS for your gaming needs is the question, though. So far, it's the lesser evil, whether it stays that way is something the future will tell.
Steam is clearly better than MS, but by the nature of corporations, Steam will eventually end up owned by an evil master that will tear it down for its component parts. It's on you to make sure you have cracked backups (and not "steam backups") before then, or to have to accept whatever you can warez at that point.
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"The only reason people (and more so, companies) are starting to move away from Win7 is that it's reaching EoL within 4 months."
Well, that is untrue. Within 4 months it will be reaching the end of Microsoft fiddle-faddle and entering the stage of Stability.
The young-uns prefer things that are in a continuous state of change since it keeps them employed dealing with the continuous breakage. Once Windows 7 exits the stage of fiddle-faddle end enters the stage of stability, they will have nought to do. Beca
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Well, a car with a blown engine is more stable than a moving one, that's true.
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The only reason people (and more so, companies) are starting to move away from Win7 is that it's reaching EoL within 4 months.
Not the only reason. There's also the small detail that you can't buy a new PC running Windows 7 any more.
Re: 4 years and malware like tactics (Score:2)
Re:4 years and malware like tactics (Score:5, Insightful)
Many Slashdot denizens seems to have this bizarre notion that Windows 10 is free. First, it was only a limited time free upgrade from Windows 7 & 8, which has long since expired. Second, Windows licenses are tied to hardware, not to the user, so when you get a new computer, you need to pay for Windows 10 again if you want it on that new machine. The only thing Microsoft has done with Windows 10 is to eliminate the concept of paid version upgrades going forward.
The rest of the comment stands though. The aggressive malware-like tactics for upgrade were disgraceful, and Microsoft really tainted the concept of telemetry by making it appear more like spyware that you can't opt out of.
Re:4 years and malware like tactics (Score:5, Insightful)
"The only thing Microsoft has done with Windows 10 is to eliminate the concept of paid version upgrades going forward."
For now. Microsoft did the same thing by distributing Windows 1.0 "for free" in boxes of Corn Flakes. See where we ended up?
Windows 10 will be renamed to Windows 365 and you will be paying a monthly rent. And like the other Microsoft 365 products, it will stop working whenever there is a Microsoft or other network issue, and Windows 365 will *only* work with a continuous Internet connection so "all your data belong to us".
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They made it appear that way by making it that way. If it had an off switch, and that off switch worked, there would have been zero bitching.
Ugh, I know. Now "telemetry" is a dirty word among some people, even though (used properly), it's a benign and extremely valuable tool for developers. And what really kills me is that this was 100% unnecessary. Microsoft could have left it on by default, given an off switch for those that want it, and 99% of users probably would have left it on.
But the security is better! (Score:2)
They've given it away for free for four years, used malware-like tactics to bolster adoption, and purposely degraded the older version through backporting of telemetry to Windows 7.
What a compelling product.
But the security of Windows 10 is much better!
If you believe that, then I have a lovely bridge to sell you. Only used by a little old lady to drive to her church on Sundays!
Actually, I think the biggest problem with this story is the monoculture thing. Every flaw and security vulnerability in Windows 10 now represents a possible attack on half of the computers in the world. That is bad.
Solution time again? As if the typical Slashdot user has time for or interest in solutions?
Imagine that you cut Microsoft i
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You can download an ISO here https://www.microsoft.com/en-u... [microsoft.com]
You don't need to activate it.
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Yes you do, otherwise after a time you get a nasty reminder that's overlaid on top of everything, even in full-screen games.
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"Nasty reminder" that is a tiny text in lower right end of the screen. And OS is fully functional. Everything works.
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I used to have my machines boot between FreeBSD to work and Windows 7 to play on weekends.
For the lack of Windows 7 support on Ryzen, it is now FreeBSD and Linux.
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Last I checked about "lack of support of new CPUs on win7", they're actually all supported just fine. The only thing you're missing is the more advanced power management modes.
All the standard AMD64 stuff and its extensions work just fine and older power modes work fine. The main problem is USB support during installation, as win7 installers do not have needed USB drivers - those are typically available only as a separate install. So you'll need to slipstream relevant drivers into your install media or fix
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By the way, that link only works to be able to get the actual ISO if you use a browser that sends a user-agent string that Microsoft interprets as being "ancient and unsupported", otherwise you get that Media Creator crap that cannot actually build a proper ISO.
Re: 4 years and malware like tactics (Score:2)
Hahahaha! Yes, Microsoft *could* do away with activation bullshit and let you download ISOs if win 10 was free. They also *could* fix the bugs in their software and stop slurping data. There is no end of neat stuff they *could* do. Just like the Taxman *could* refund you all the money you paid over your lifetime plus a gold hat.
Latest but I don't know about greatest (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Latest but I don't know about greatest (Score:5, Insightful)
Excellent search features like cortana... ok.
Let's put it that way: Type "cortana" into google and watch what the first suggestion is that you get. It gives you a hint how much people like it. Seriously, it's the least liked Windows feature since the demise of clippy.
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Type "cortana" into google and watch what the first suggestion is that you get. It gives you a hint how much people like it.
A bit curious as to what you're seeing? I'm getting as search suggestions and links just the ordinary wiki and microsoft links followed by links to the game halo (which I've never played but apparently features a character named cortana). Never used cortana either btw.
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Me too. I see:
cortana
cortana download
cortana android
cortana windows 10
cortana halo
cortana apk
Disclaimer: I'm 99% of the time on Linux and I never attempted using Cortana.
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Re:Latest but I don't know about greatest (Score:5, Informative)
It takes more clicks to do common things like changing an IP address. You think you're in the right place at first and all you get is a giant ON/OFF switch.
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Hope you like scrolling! And don't get me started on the critical privacy options hidden throughout, like some freaking easter-egg hunt. It'd take a masters degree in Windows 10 just to mitigate the myriad of fucks Microsoft shoves up our collective ass wit
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netsh interface ip set address name="(connection name)" static (ip) (nm) (gw)
if you're allergic to powershell.
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I have no idea why Microsoft so drastically changed the user interface between Windows 7 and Windows 10.
Because, yet again, they were trying to ape what Apple was doing. But instead of making Windows Phone look like Windows 7 on a mobile device, they outsmarted themselves and made what they thought was an ideal mobile interface than then ported it to the PC, with disastrous results. Do you know ANYONE that uses Windows 8/8.1? No? Thought so.
Ever since Windows 95, Windows lives and dies with the start menu. Microsoft leadership should have known better than to do a Redmond version of New Coke. ESPECIALLY Stev
The remaining 20% ... (Score:2)
Windows means jobs for everyone (Score:2, Insightful)
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If only mac's were a choice for a lot of business comps. I handle a bunch of dentist and doctors offices and their software sure won't work on macs unless they're running windows, lol
Re:Windows means jobs for everyone (Score:4, Interesting)
Dentists offices are where IT goes to die.
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It is. I've seen a lot of macs at companies lately. More than I would have ever thought I would.
Re: Windows means jobs for everyone (Score:2)
I would have thought that the software for a dentist would in 2019 work from a browser and you could just use a cheap chromebox or similar thin client to access it. If you can run an entire university turning over hundres of millions a year on a web based erp then you sure as hell should be able to manage a dentist.
Re: Windows means jobs for everyone (Score:4, Insightful)
For the ERP-based side of a dentist's office, sure, you can make that mostly browser-based.
Now, add in oral X-ray sensors, intra-oral cameras, and the imaging formats (protip: most systems use proprietary formats rather than something sensible like jpeg or png). Most of the hardware I've come across has interfaced either with USB or been another thing on the network. To get these interacting with a browser you can't have a sandbox anymore, or you're ending up with some horrendous shim like Java or ActiveX or Silverlight...but, let's pretend you've solved that problem.
You've got your perfect dental management system in The Cloud (tm), and you've got a whole lot of hardware built that can interface with it. You've also managed to get all of that hardware certified by all the people that one needs to get their hardware certified from, which will cost you millions. Oh, and all your back end servers are 100% HIPAA compliant.
X-Ray scanners are *expensive*. A quick Google search showed me entry-level *used* machines going for $12,000 a pop, and those were the film-based ones. I am confident that it's not too hard to find $100,000 models; dentists aren't just going to just buy new ones if the one they have is 1.) working, and 2.) less than ten years old.
All of that to...get off a system that, in all likelihood, is working just fine for them at the moment? In practice, it will be miraculous if your system manages to beat out current Windows-based systems on price. Even if a dentist moved away from Windows purely on principle, you'd be their only option, while Windows has a handful of existing vendors, enabling dentists to at least keep their computers (and possibly some hardware) if they change software vendors.
So, yes, there are certain things that work in a browser. However, there are things that don't work in a browser, and they very much exist and are critical to the services dentists provide.
Re: Windows means jobs for everyone (Score:4, Interesting)
I honestly don't think I want my dental X-ray images to reveal small cavities that are actually JPEG artifacts.
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Jobs that deal wIth windows disabling attached monitors randomly.
To be fair, I’ve been seeing this with Macs as well. I think it could be the fault of the display manufacturers doing things half-assedly, or the extra crap HDCP forces into the process.
Re:Windows means jobs for everyone (Score:4, Informative)
Jobs that deal with constant updates.
Windows updates once a month on a predictable schedule. Ubuntu updates all the damn time, at least once a week, and always seems to ask to reboot after (most people ignore that, but it does ask).
Jobs that deal with Intel driver updates that suck.
Wait, is this a rant about MS or Intel?
Jobs that deal with viruses and security.
Plenty of viruses everywhere these days.
Jobs that deal with print spooler never restarting a job, ultimately always requiring .....a........reboot.
OK, I guess I get your point: every damn OS sucks at being a print spooler (other than mainframes, which are great at it).
Doesn't matter who's driving, the ride sucks, and there's job security for all ...
Jobs that deal wIth windows disabling attached monitors randomly.
... but Ubuntu has the absolute worst multi-monitor support of any consumer OS I've ever used. I cannot imagine how it manages to do exactly the wrong thing every damn time I switch to a different application.
Re:Windows means jobs for everyone (Score:4, Informative)
Windows updates once a month on a predictable schedule. Ubuntu updates all the damn time, at least once a week, and always seems to ask to reboot after (most people ignore that, but it does ask).
Is this a joke? I have an Ubuntu box with an uptime today of 696 days. Try going more than 2 weeks with a Windows 10 box before it decided for you to reboot killing all the VMs it supports.
XP VS Linux (Score:2, Offtopic)
Linux is at 1.72%, while Windows XP is at 1.57%. So, Linux only has a few more users than an operating system that they ended general support on a decade ago, and ended extended support on 5 years ago.
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If you sell every other PC with Windows preinstalled and keep people thinking that it's the only OS they can get without having to get a degree in CS, what do you expect?
What can I say, marketing works. It can have a strong influence on the weak-minded.
Re:XP VS Linux (Score:4, Insightful)
With Linux being free, how the fuck does anyone count the number of actual Linux installations anyway? I've got Linux installed on all my machines, but the only cash register records out there are for me buying a copy of Windows 7 back in the day for playing video games, Windows 7 pre-installs on my laptop and desktop purchases from the manufacturers, etc. Now a days I only run Linux because there is just too much malware/ransomware going on in the Windows world...
Going by sales numbers, Windows gets counted maybe 3 or 4 times over from my purchases, while completely missing that I don't use Windows and doesn't count any of my Linux machines that I do use because there is no paper trail of those.
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I've sometimes seen computers with Linux preinstalled, and the first thing their buyers did was format and install Windows. The problem with Linux is not being preinstalled or not, the problem with Linux is still not providing a desktop environment that works consistently.
Do you believe that people with linux preinstalled even try it? Afaik you can run windows with activators not needing an official licence. Unless you purchase a dodgy licence and buy it directly from a reputable store or microsoft it seems like it would be cost prohibitive compared to buying it preinstalled.
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P.S: That doesn't mean I agree with everything they are doing with Windows 10. His interface is so mediocre, so half done by chimpanzees that I believe the time they decide to remove all old control interfaces (like the original control p
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I love the concept of Linux. I've used versions to run my file server for over a decade and previously, operated my own email and web server. I've also tried using it as my primary desktop off and on since 2005 but I always become discouraged. Wifi driver woes. Graphic driver woes. Stuttering sound or stuttering video, or both. Days spent
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Weak-minded? You mean the people who don't give a damn because they're not tinkerers like we here are. Which is about 90% of the population according to the pie graph in the article.
Re:XP VS Linux (Score:4, Informative)
You know, back in the days when /. was great, people would spot a Star Wars quote from a mile away...
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I'm migrating from Windows to Linux due to not liking anything from Microsoft since Windows 7, and I've wondered how many others are doing the same thing. Seeking confirmation bias, I went to the article read:
Meaning that Linux saw a net gain in market share change over Windows. Yes, they both lost overall to Mac, but still....
Re:XP VS Linux (Score:5, Funny)
Linux is at 1.72%, while Windows XP is at 1.57%.
When Slashdot was young and optimistic, everyone told me that Linux would overtake Windows XP on the desktop and they were right!
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Linux is at 1.72%, while Windows XP is at 1.57%
Citation please?
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Linux is at 1.72%, while Windows XP is at 1.57%
Citation please?
Are you joking? That would be a good one.
But I honestly can't tell. I'll provide the citation if you still need it.
Buying a bunch of Windows 7 machines (Score:3)
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What do you plan to do in January?
Re:Buying a bunch of Windows 7 machines (Score:4, Insightful)
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Why? Are Windows 7 systems going to shut down and self-destruct in january?
Re:Buying a bunch of Windows 7 machines (Score:5, Funny)
Well, yes, but not any more than any other month.
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Why? Are Windows 7 systems going to shut down and self-destruct in january?
With no security upgrades and the trend of ransomware, pretty much yes if you intend to have it connected to the internet.
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How many Windows 7 PCs really connect directly to the Internet, though? If you have a laptop and you connect to any old WiFi you can find, that's one thing. However, for professional work, we have several layers of security between any machine running Windows 7 at the office and the outside world.
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How many Windows 7 PCs really connect directly to the Internet, though? If you have a laptop and you connect to any old WiFi you can find, that's one thing. However, for professional work, we have several layers of security between any machine running Windows 7 at the office and the outside world.
We're talking about 30% of _all_ computers here, don't be silly.
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Right, so anyone connecting via a WAN router on their home or office network is immediately outside the group I mentioned. We're primarily talking about people who take their laptops out and then go online using untrusted WiFi networks being at heightened risk here.
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If you're behind a firewall, assuming you don't go poking holes in it, you're pretty much immune from remote attacks - worms and stuff like that.
If you use common sense and don't go download random executables from the internet and run them, you're pretty much immune to that.
The big one of course is browser-based attacks. But you can mitigate that by keeping your browser up to date, running an antivirus that's up to date, and not installing swiss-cheese plugins like Flash, Java, or Adobe Reader unless you
Reasons for Windows 7's long life (Score:2)
Wow still 30%?? (Score:2)
I never would have guessed that usage of Windows 7 was still 30% of the install base, not this many years later...
I wonder if that affects people much who are writing Windows applications?
Corporate users (Score:2)
I believe that most of corporate users are still with Windows 7. Probably the most important metric regarding the success of Win10 is how well it has penetrated the corporate marketspace. I can't find what it is with a quick search - maybe somebody could provide these numbers.
I suspect most business apps are going web based so the choice of the OS is less important, allowing companies to stick with Windows 7.
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IME, big corporate users are some of the least likely to be holding back. They're all running Enterprise editions, which for Windows 10 is almost a different product without the worst downsides of the Home and Pro editions, and they all have volume licensing and support deals so the cost is typically a moot point. It takes time to manage an organisation-wide change at that scale, but after four years, I suspect most have done so.
Now, small businesses and power users -- the kind of people who might tradition
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Windows 10 should be near 100 percent compatible with Windows 7 apps.
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Re:Wow still 30%?? (Score:4, Interesting)
I have Windows Applications from before the turn of the century that work just fine on every version of Windows that was ever released, including those not yet released. There is no application compatibility problem. Just application developers' and vendors' practicing *lock in*.
I had a LOT of problems with Bluetooth (Score:2)
The Bluetooth Drivers were rewritten in Windows 10 (I believe the last previous upgrade was XP).
They seemed to be fixed as of 2018 but it took a lot of complaints from a lot of people and companies.
Re:Wow still 30%?? (Score:5, Insightful)
I never would have guessed that usage of Windows 7 was still 30% of the install base, not this many years later...
I wonder if that affects people much who are writing Windows applications?
Nothing important has changed since Windows 7, aside from MS shitting all over the UI and telling everyone it's chocolate ice cream.
Correlation with hardware replacement (Score:2)
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It's hard to say. Up to some time like the end of 2017 or even later, corporate users kept installing Windows 7 on new PCs or ordered them from vendors already preinstalled with 7. If you wandered into Dell's business PC store, they'd still offer you machines with Windows 7 Pro, etc. On the other hand, home users don't upgrade or buy new PCs that often any more unless they play demanding PC games. In my home I have three PCs strictly used for office tasks, and two of them are from 2012 and one from 2010. Th
A great success (Score:2)
After only four years since the release of OS, one year of near forced free updates, forcing Windows 10 on all new retail PCs, and a conspiracy to prevent Windows 7 and 8 from running on the latest AMD and Intel CPUs they finally got to 50 percent of Windows installs.
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Indeed. Impressive in its level of complete fail.
Wait, Intel and AMD doesn't work on 8.1? (Score:2)
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No. But Microsoft does not make money from them.
Old news (Score:2)
https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
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After only four years since the release of OS, one year of near forced free updates, forcing Windows 10 on all new retail PCs, and a conspiracy to prevent Windows 7 and 8 from running on the latest AMD and Intel CPUs they finally got to 50 percent of Windows installs.
Why do you say Windows 7 won't run on the latest AMD and Intel CPU's?
Are you talking about the fact that Windows 7 doesn't have USB 3.0 out of box drivers for new motherboards so you can't do the Win 7 install?. For those that don't know, the new motherboards don't have USB 2.0, so the Windows 7 installer doesn't see a keyboard/mouse.
There's a simple workaround. Otherwise, AFAIK Windows 7, once installed and updated, runs just fine on the latest hardware.
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It depends how many problems there are with your CPU, motherboard, etc. and whether any of the software you want to use tends to encounter them.
A lot of people don't realise this, but the major operating systems work around a huge number of problem cases where hardware simply doesn't work properly in some specific situation.
What an utter fail (Score:2)
I mean, could these numbers be any worse, considering that Win7 is not even being sold anymore?
Modified Rapture (Score:2)
misleading (Score:2)
i bet they are grouping all of windows 10's releases under a same category. wake me when the _latest_ windows 10 release (as of right now 1903) has over 50% market share
Ya. Still 7 (Score:3)
Every (Score:2)
>"This means every other desktop computer is now running Microsoft's latest and greatest operating system"
Only in some alternate reality where EVERY desktop computer runs MS-Windows, perhaps. This ignores at least MacOS and Linux.