Windows 7 Won't Die, Still Second Most Popular OS

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: The data analysts firm NetMarketShare revealed that Windows 10 has seen another uptake in users and it went up to 64.04% from 61.26% last month. Linux (multiple distros) went from 1.14% to 1.65% and Ubuntu now holds a market share of 0.51%. The market share of Windows 7 has also dropped, but many users are still actively using outdated Windows 7, which could be due to its huge number of enterprise users. According to NetMarketShare, Windows 7 saw a drop from 22.77% to 20.41% last month. The report shows that 20.41% of desktops still use Windows 7. Even worse, some are still using Windows XP, according to the report. As of October 2020, the market share of Windows XP is 0.87%.

"Windows 10 is the worst spyware"

[Futurepower(R)]

Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. [networkworld.com]

"Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC."

There are many other articles like that.

Re:

[Brain-Fu]

Windows 7 wound up getting most of that spyware functionality added to it in patches, as I understand. I don't actually know how extensive it's spying is, as it was just something I read about right here on slashdot some number of years ago.

But the facts are simple: Windows has better compatibility with the software that people want to run, and the hardware that people want to use, than any other OS. So, people put up with all the spying and advertising and bullying from Microsoft, because they would rath

Re:

[Krishnoid]

It's got quite good inter-platform compatibility and even reliability, especially if you don't run Microsoft software [portableapps.com] on it.

Re:

[bobby]

Well, ultimately Windows 7 got a patch that "upgraded" it to 10.

Yes, there was a series of Win7 patches that did "telemetry" and "customer improvement program" and others. It's pretty easy to find the fairly short lists of them, and some .bat files to remove them. Every now and then they pop up in the Windows Update screen.

Linux could be made as simple and easy as MacOS. There have been some distros that seem like they could be smooth but I don't know of any for sure, and to be fair I prefer the more han

Re:

[SirSlud]

Linux could be made as simple and easy as MacOS.

I'm a *nix guy. I program across 7 different platforms. I was a big mac guy in the past. I have a hackintosh I use regularly. And I've been here for awhile. (20+ years)

Talk is cheap. Of course it *could* be. It could have been 20 years ago. But it isn't. So what's your point?

Re:"Windows 10 is the worst spyware"

[RitchCraft]

After a Windows 7 update, or fresh install after update, run Tronscript. It removes and then blocks all telemetry updates by M$ and other various vendors such as nVidia. Tronscript even helps makes your Windows 10 spyware edition less of a lurker.

Re:"Windows 10 is the worst spyware"

[Darinbob]

But it wasn't good enough for Microsoft, so now they encourage all enterprises to put their source code in the Cloud, along with all their documents, spreadsheets, calendars, project plans, and so forth. They'd NEVER look at it of course, they have a long history of being perfectly honest and forthright.

Re:"Windows 10 is the worst spyware"

[drinkypoo]

Windows 7 wound up getting most of that spyware functionality added to it in patches, as I understand.

Run as Administrator: https://gist.github.com/xvital... [github.com]

Re:

[Luckyo]

>Windows 7 wound up getting most of that spyware functionality added to it in patches, as I understand. I don't actually know how extensive it's spying is, as it was just something I read about right here on slashdot some number of years ago.

Windows 7 doesn't have the nearly rootkit level of control by the mothership, which means that you don't have to install a single one of those patches. And if you did install them by accident, this should be #1 search results for "remove windows 7 telemetry updates"

Re:

[careysub]

My last Windows desktop - bought as the window was closing on getting Windows 7 configured machines (basically right after Windows 10 was released and I saw what a horror of spyware it was) has software updates disabled to prevent spyware patches from being installed.

Don't use it much though, only when I have to run Windows software - which is a rare occasion.

Re:

[oh_my_080980980]

Ah the taste of Bill Gates dick in the morning...

Re:

[jellomizer]

Well to be fair, For a Computer Operating System it will need to be able to Poke through everything on your PC. This included features like Thumbnail icons of documents and pictures. To get such a picture it kinda needs to open up the file and get data without your direct permission to do so.

I think Windows 7 was the Peak of Windows. It basically gave us everything we were advertised in Windows 95. Very Stable, A useful desktop UI. It even basically put an end to the I am a Mac and I am a PC commercial

Re:

[drinkypoo]

to be fair, For a Computer Operating System it will need to be able to Poke through everything on your PC.

Yes, but it doesn't need to send it home. And the EULA gives them the right to collect any data they want from your PC, and do anything with it not expressly prohibited by law.

I'm using Windows 10

[ozduo]

Was a Linux user since 9.04 and have returned to the dark side 12 months ago and haven't regretted it. I'm a Google fanboy so I'm used to being spied on plus if I'm doing anything sensitive I boot up tails.

Re:

[fbobraga]

The year of Linux Desktop!

Re:

[NoWayNoShapeNoForm]

Was a Linux user since 9.04 and have returned to the dark side 12 months ago and haven't regretted it. I'm a Google fanboy so I'm used to being spied on plus if I'm doing anything sensitive I boot up tails.

I guess you also volunteer for monthly colonoscopies?

*Which* Windows 10 versions/builds ?

[Athanasius]

I help maintain some OSS software and we're unable to properly, universally, switch to UTF-8 because of users insisting they stay on older versions of Windows 10 (pre-1903, which added the Unicode codepage support). I'm sure there are going to be other features/upgrades/fixes where users lingering on older versions are going to be a pain.

So, I do wonder about a breakdown of which Windows 10 releases/builds are in use. In 10 years time are we going to be rid of anything but Windows 10 for Windows OS ver

Re:

[bobby]

Any kind of patch, utility, dll, or something available to make UTF-8 work?

Re:

[Tablizer]

we're unable to...switch to UTF-8 because of users insisting they stay on older versions of Windows 10

Slashdot, is that you?

Re:

[scdeimos]

(pre-1903, which added the Unicode codepage support).

Is this in relation to a particular Windows API or application? Do you have a reference?

Windows APIs have used UCS-2 encoding for widechars and strings since Windows NT and UTF-16 encoding since Windows 2000, so I'm curious where you think UTF-8 encoding is needed and why you think Windows (as an operating system) needs to support it - as opposed to specific applications like PowerShell and Notepad that can load and save text files in UTF-8 format for data interchange.

Re:

[Athanasius]

This is specifically with regard to Python and TKinter. If you try to use their folder selection dialogue with a UTF-8 character in the returned folder name whilst using a codepage other than the Unicode one (65001) an exception is thrown due to (in my personal test case) cp1252 not matching up. If you try to select a UTF-8 encoding with the locale functions prior to Windows 10 1903 the program will fall over flat (no python exception with a py2exe produced executable).

With Windows 1903 or later you ca

Re:

[DaveV1.0]

with regard to Python and TKinter

There's your problem.

Re:

[JasterBobaMereel]

If proper UTF-8 was only supported in later version of win10, how is it even working!

Re:

[Athanasius]

Windows has UTF-16 via wide character support and a whole set of API calls dedicated to that. It's only more recently that it's been gaining proper UTF-8 support (and keep in mind that the totallity of UTF-8 code points doesn't all fit into UTF-16). UTF-16 works for many use cases.

Re:

[im_thatoneguy]

we're unable to properly, universally, switch to UTF-8 because of users insisting they stay on older versions of Windows 10 (pre-1903, which added the Unicode codepage support).

December 8. One more month.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-... [microsoft.com]

Re:

[Athanasius]

The relevant date would be when the version before 1903 was out of support.

But at least we're moving back to the main point I was trying to make, with the UTF-8 issue being an example. It doesn't matter if Windows 7 use drops to literally zero, we'll still have people on now unsupported releases of Windows 10. Some of them object to it being more difficult to disable telemetry in later versions. Others might have been scared off by the numerous issues various releases have had. But in the end it just

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[Athanasius]

It's the encoding that's the issue. Sure, Windows has code pages and supports the character sets of all sorts of languages, but not all at once (until Windows 10 version 1903 which introduced this Unicode codepage to have it "all in one"). The specific issue I ran into was that the windows dialogue that python's tkinter invokes returns a utf-8 encoded string, but the program in that instance was running with cp1252 (UK encoding) and there's no working conversion for that character into cp1252. FTR I was

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Still ticking

[AndyKron]

I like it, dammit, it still works this machine and one of my laptops. I can play with Win 10 all day on my work laptop.

Re:

[LehiNephi]

That's the thing. For the most part, Windows 7 just gets out of your way and lets you do stuff. Windows 10 seems to go out of its way to make life harder for you. And what makes it worse, is that Win10 tries to make life easier for you, but in the process makes things worse.

For example: Printers. They worked fantastic in Windows 7. You could install drivers from Windows Update if you wanted. Or, you could manually install drivers, if WU didn't happen to have what you needed. Not so in Win10. Jus

And the 2nd most unpopular OS

[rossdee]

Is Win 10

It was beaten to the most unpopular position by Windows ME

Re:

[Luckyo]

Pretty sure that's fake news. Windows ME was pretty bad, but it didn't have a built in oral probe designed to be inserted anally.

And there should be enough of people of opinion that their anus is "exit only" to surpass the total install base of Windows ME back in the day.

Re:

[DaveV1.0]

Look at the FLOSS fanbois modding your trolling up. No wonder Slashdot sucks ass so much.

Re:

[jonadab]

You forgot Windows Eight.

I mean, it's understandable. A lot of people want to forget Windows Eight.

Well of course...

[FuegoFuerte]

It was the last version of Windows with a decent UI that didn't piss me off every time I turned around with stupid notifications I don't care about (no matter how many times I try to turn them off) and other rubbish.

I use Win10 on some machines, but in general I find 7 more user friendly and much more pleasant to look at.

Re:

[thegarbz]

You're not very good at Windows if you don't know how to turn them off. What gives you constant notifications? Do you install every browser bar you can find?

Re:

[FuegoFuerte]

Lol... that's funny, because I know significantly more about the internals of Windows than the vast majority of people, after several years running one of the largest AD implementations in the world (and no, I won't go into details about where). One might say I'm pretty good at Windows, even at getting it to do things most people don't realize it can do.

The problem is, you set up a new installation of Win 10, turn off all the notifications except calendar, and then use it for a few days... suddenly, a bunc

Re:

[thegarbz]

One might say I'm pretty good at Windows

Sounds like you're good at windows server.

Seriously notifications? What are you doing? I've got 2 notifications in my bar, a standing one from Outlook which I can't be bothered turning off, and a Snip and sketch from 2 days ago. Wow I don't use that function very often.

Yeah quite the workflow breaker there ... How annoying. /sarcasm

Win7 / Win10

[Camel Pilot]

Although not a heavy user of Windows 10 I can't think of any feature in Win10 that I "have to have" or any more intuitive interface features that were not in Win7. I see Win10 as a slightly upgraded Win7.

Win8 on the other hand was a confusing mess... on par with Gnome 3. I wonder if all those UI designers were micro-dosing something back in those dark days?

Re:

[Darinbob]

I had Windows 8.1 for a long time. It improved Windows 8 in a lot of ways, and the only thing I hated was using the registry to change the windows border size to be 0 (which equals 1 in microsoft-land). It got rid of auto-booting to the start screen which was horrid and I almost never used, and I had no applications whatsoever that used Metro apps, and I skipped past the page that hinted that registering for a Microsoft ID was required to continue. What Windows 10 mostly does is get rid of the start scre

Re:

[Tony Isaac]

It's like new model years for cars. There's generally no specific feature anyone wants in that 2021 Honda or Toyota. It's just a slightly redesigned look, some supposedly improved engineering, and incremental safety enhancements. That's where we are with operating systems. It's not that each new version is something we "have to have," but over time, safety features do add up, as do features we DON'T want. Still, owning a really old version gets harder and harder over time, requiring more maintenance and hac

Re:

[oh_my_080980980]

No for the love of god please don't drive a 2001 Toyota Camry because you know all those safety features you're missing in today's cars.

Not too mention all that maintenance a car requires is an effort in futility.

Fucking moron.

Re:

[Tony Isaac]

This is precisely my point. If you are on Windows, it's a good idea to stay current, if nothing else for the safety features that are not retrofitted to Windows XP or 7.

Re:

[SirSlud]

Windows 7 is a dog. I have no idea who would run them side by side and choose Windows 7. All things being equal, 7 is slooow.

Re:

[Luckyo]

If you get off drugs, it become normal speed. Just like the clock.

Re:

[sconeu]

Upgraded recently to a Ryzen mobo. It didn't have Windows 7 drivers.

Re:

[Smidge204]

I'm posting this from a machine using a Ryzen 9 3900X and running Windows 7.

It's possible. That doesn't mean it's a great idea, as some USB related things are broken and not all of my USB gadgets function properly. It's a mild inconvenience that I can't use my USB microphone (since I rarely use it anyway) and USB logic analyzer, but I have a second machine I can use those with if necessary.

I tried Windows 10 when it came pre-installed on my laptop a few years ago. That lasted about a day, then I spent a wee

Re:

[sconeu]

The other reason I have it on my home desktop is that for remote work, my company insists that the home machine is up to date with any and all known patches for the latest vulnerabilities.

I don't use Windows in home since 2007...

[fbobraga]

Only was forced to use it on by some employers (in my home is only linux, with XFCE, that is far superior for my needs...)

I have windows 7 machines

[ClueHammer]

The tasks I use them for just will not run on windows 10 as the operating system is to much of a resource hog to allow the programs to run correctly. Then there is all the windows 10 tracking stuff.. and forced updates and reboots... not at all user friendly. If windows 7 should stop being useful, these machine will go Linux, not Windows 10.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

So I guess what you're saying is that Win7 is more useful than Linux.

It's more useful than Linux for running Windows software. If that's your use case, you may still be better off with Win7 for a while yet. For any other use case, Linux is superior.

Microsoft's going to stop allowing driver signing

[rsilvergun]

which will kill it dead pretty fast.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Only affects updating drivers, not continuing to run existing drivers.
Not as big an issue.

Re:

[ClueHammer]

This will just incentivize hackers to break the the current locks...

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Not really. Most people don't update drivers, so holes in drivers were always attractive.

The only drivers which commonly get updated are those which are delivered from Microsoft Update, and those which are delivered by updater programs, for example nVidia drivers being delivered from GeForce Experience. Those are WHQL drivers, so they don't need to be signed by Microsoft, and they will keep coming. (Too bad they suck, but that's another discussion.)

Re:

[toddestan]

What it does is effectively kill off new hardware support for Windows 7. Not that Microsoft hasn't already had some success at that already, but it'll make it impossible to install Windows 7 on newer hardware, or to upgrade a Windows 7 computer with something like a new graphics card because the hardware manufacturer won't be able to sign drivers for Windows 7.

it still works

[adfraggs]

I have a media machine next to my TV on Windows 7. It does everything I need it to. I'm not sure why I would need to change that, but I guess I'll upgrade to Windows 10 eventually. Motivation is low. If something works well then what exactly is the point?

Vive windows 7

[groobly]

Yeah, I use win 7 on multiple boxes. Why should I upgrade? So I can spend weeks fixing all the misfeatures that MS introduces with every "upgrade"? So I can waste countless hours learning gratuitous changes in UI that are there simply for the sake of change? So that I can spend my days looking for drivers that will make my peripherals work again? So that I can wait years for developers to fix their programs so they are compatible with win 10? So that I can brick my machine with every new release that'

Re:

[LehiNephi]

I've tried several times to make the hop to Linux, each time running into one showstopping issue or another. About a year ago, however, when I got a new-to-me laptop, I decided to give it another shot. I installed Ubuntu Mate, and when it booted to the desktop the first time, it just ....worked. No driver downloads needed, minimal-to-no bloat and spyware. Just a desktop ready to go.

It really took me aback. I kept expecting to run into some sort of wall, but never did.

So you might give it a shot.

Because windows 10 is pure garbage.

[anoncoward69]

Hopefully soon the code to windows 7 leaks like the winxp leak. Every PC i've used with win10 is just a sluggish mess. My 7 year old personal laptop that I still run win7 on runs circles around my not even 2 year old work laptop with win10 on it. Even small things like sound is lagged as fuck. Why is it that in something like putty, if you hold down backspace in an ssh session and delete all your txt to where you get the ding sound, it is pretty much instant in win7. my win10 work laptop feels like there i

Is there anything Windows 7 users can do?

[OrangeTide]

Or will Microsoft move forward with recent changes that prevent new drivers from being signed (is that including updates?) and updates that serve no other purpose than to give you a warning message that you must upgrade to Windows 10?

Can users stop this, or convince Microsoft to sell support or licenses for a "legacy" fork of Windows? I'd pay a few bucks a year to keep two machines humming along, the alternative is I retire them and replace them with newer Windows 10 machines (more than I want to spend) or

Re:

[UnknownSoldier]

TL;DR; Solution: Switch to an OS that respects your time, space, rights, and hardware. Linux, BSD, etc.

> prevent new drivers from being signed

This includes newer CPUs which MS refuses to support.

> convince Microsoft to sell support or licenses for a "legacy" fork of Windows?

If you throw enough Money at MS you can get support. The problem is too many people are drinking the Windows 10 Kool-Aid so this will never happen.

> I'd pay a few bucks a year to keep

MS is more interested in shoving their crap

Duh

[PuppyKhan]

My Windows 7 laptop still works fine, cannot be upgraded to Windows 10, & I would lose a bunch of purchased software if I replace it. And that's before even starting to discuss what crap Windows 10 is. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Win10 UI..boring, not intuititave, hidden options,

[airfr8dog]

I agree. Why the modern trend toward little or no color,ugly UI, hiding options, spyware, pushing forced updates and/or ads, windows 10 is just ugly. We have CPUs and GPUs which are extremely capable, why the simple, dumb, gray look and the stick icons which don't tell you anything? There is nothing win10 can do which my 7 can't, except for the security update issue, which will become more significant as time passes. Moving to Linux. **Maybe** if I can get a copy of enterprise 10, disable all of the cra

Still using XP???

[brinkeguthrie]

How does that even function anymore?