For Windows 7 to be declared a full success it will need to tempt Windows XP users to its fold - and while users of its last attempt at an Apple-competing OS, Vista, are migrating rapidly to Win 7, there’s no such movement among XP users.
We’ve seen the hype - strong initial sales, decent reviews and the confirmation the new OS was inspired by Mac OS X’s look-and-feel (which the company later denied, but not especially convincingly)...
But information Windows 7 is “quickly displacing Vista - but not XP” has got to be disturbing for Redmond. InfoWorld’s Windows Pulse service reports: “As Windows 7 picks up user share, it seems to be making most of its gains at the expense of Vista. In fact, there seems to be a direct correlation between Windows 7 adoption and Vista abandonment, with the latter losing a percentage point and the former gaining the same in a little over a week.”
However, XP users seem to remain at c.64 percent, indicating these users are reticent to upgrade, suggesting early enthusiasm for v. 7 could end up going fairly flat fairly fast. And that Microsoft has lost the hearts and minds of a large slice of its Windows users base.
The report confirms pent-up demand for “something better than Vista”, but also observes, “It will be interesting see if this one-for-one user share correlation continues in the coming weeks. Will anyone still be using Vista a year from now?”
We’ve said all along that bringing XP users across to Windows 7 is essential to true success for the new OS. If we assume XP users to be both value-conscious and resistant to change, then what options will be open to them in the coming months?
Netbooks are clearly in vogue, and it’s likely versions of these powered by Google’s OS, Linux installs and Windows versions will continue to attract users, though the Google and Linux versions will have the advantage of being considerably less expensive.
A huge slice of its c.90 percent desktop OS dominance rests on these Windows XP users, who will also likely consider the Mac platform.
They have numerous options. Which will they take?
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a lot of people on xp arent
a lot of people on xp arent going to be able upgrade without buying a whole new computer, which is obviously going to stop a lot of people.
Its, not It's
IT'S = it is.
ITS = the possessive form of it.
I prefer to let Strong Bad
I prefer to let Strong Bad explain it: http://tinyurl.com/dm4qso
The amount of typos on
The amount of typos on 9to5mac is astounding.
Economy
We're still deep in a recession regardless of what gdp numbers may say, and xp users are mostly cheap, people who can't afford something better. Of course I'll now get flamed for that but I think it's generally true. When the economy picks up and/or as old computers die off, W7 will gain more ground.
I use XP under Parallels, and
I use XP under Parallels, and I'm not getting 7 anytime soon, and it's not because I'm cheap. Why, then? XP works for what I want to do. I don't see any compelling reason to upgrade. Vista users, on the other hand, have a real reason to upgrade (the reason being, of course, that Vista sucks).
Yeah I have to agree. I'm a
Yeah I have to agree. I'm a PC user, using XP, wouldn't mind getting W7 but my computer wouldn't be able to handle it. But most definitely my next upgrade will be a Mac (13" Macbook pro that is)..........its just at the moment I don't have money to through around, I have to spend wisely, and for right now my pc does the trick.
This is not true. I know
This is not true. I know several people who are upgrading from XP to 7 and are loving it.
So, your sample group of
So, your sample group of "several" is representative of the population?
If the population is "people
If the population is "people this guy knows who are competent to upgrade their computers without purchasing a new one", then "Several" is probably a fairly representative sample size.
Windows 7 is a nice OS and is
Windows 7 is a nice OS and is likely better than Windows XP if you really need it. However, I use both of them (Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows XP Pro SP3) and I see no appreciable reason for the average user with an older computer to upgrade. Not if they're using the computer for ordinary browsing or email or even MS Office. There is no compelling reason for corporations to upgrade aside from losing support of Windows XP. Windows XP is very stable even if it's supposedly less stable than Windows 7. I believe most of the Windows XP home users will wait until they get new computers. Windows 7 has a very clean interface and some nice sharing capabilities. It's definitely faster than Vista but still slower than XP. I'm waiting to find out if Windows 7 will start to slow down over time as the registry gets filled. I would certainly urge anyone that is buying a fast computer to go with Windows 7. Of course, I'll still be sticking with Mac OSX.6 which is the OS of my choice.
Somebody buys new machines.
My mother uses an XP-based laptop for her consulting business. She's had it since 2002 or so. Although it's a laptop, she really uses it like a desktop - she very rarely moves it. Email and the web and some word processing is all she really does with it
She has no need for anything else, so she isn't going to replace it any time soon, unless it fails catostrophically.
If or when it does fail, I'll likely just get her one of the perfectly fine surplus machines that we have at work and set her up with that. For some dumb reason our work policy is to buy the top of the line desktops, and then replace them after 4 years. The surplus machines get given or donated away as having only "minimal value".
For the average user, these machines are prefectly fine - a new hard drive and OS re-install and they get another 5 or more years of useful life.
Why (down)upgrade?
MS will have to stop shipping security fixes so that the OS becomes more vulnerable to virus attacks and such in order to force people to upgrade. (personally I'll only go kicking and screaming as XP is a perfectly good OS for work, I use Macs at home) I don't see any reason to upgrade as 7 does not offer anything useful that XP doesn't have. Eye candy is no reason to change!
KRR
That's a big reason why XP
That's a big reason why XP users use alternative browsers. To minimize the impact of security flaws within Windows.
Besides the obvious and
Besides the obvious and understandable hesitance to upgrade just for the eye-candy, I'd bet that many XP users have waited this long, and are willing to wait a few more months to let the early adopters find all the bugs.
I know, people will say that Vista was the early-adopter, bug finding stage of Win7. regular XP users (ie not power users) perceive it to be a whole new system, and they probably remember what happened last time.
who cares
Mac Forum? Who really cares what MS does? Been a Mac user since '84 and lovin it.
People have to realize that when you buy Apple you get the whold bag… hardware and software supported by one company not two MS and ?? whoever makes your computer. This to me is a big sales point. Now if you want to run the W7 on your Mac you can but OSX is just fine for me. Does everything a W7 will do.
Keep it simple is a good motto.
Who cares?
People have to realize that when you buy Apple you get the whole bag… hardware and software supported by one company not two MS and ?? whoever makes your computer. This to me is a big sales point. Now if you want to run the W7 on your Mac you can, but OSX is just fine for me, does everything a W7 will do.
Keep it simple is a good motto.
Windows 7 Sucks!
I have XP on my pc. I had Vista on my laptop, which i hated. So I got the student offer from win741.com for $30. It is no better than Vista in my opinion. Except for a few parlor tricks, it' definitely not worth any amount of money. My next laptop will definitely be a Mac :)
If it ain't broke.......
I would (possibly) upgrade if;
a) I would get a guarantee that my ageing HP workstation wouldn't buckle under W7
and
b) like Apple, Microsoft would sell this W7 upgrade for $25
I do agree with the other poster who was afraid of being flamed. My old PC works fine. I have no real need to spend all that money getting a W7 upgrade. I will upgrade this Macbook Pro to Snow Leopard way, which I still need to do, but haven't got round to yet, before I upgrade to W7. My XP based work PC works fine, and does the job I need it too. Why do I need to spend all that money just for the sake of some eye-candy? The IT department at work also have a similar attitude, but say that they will run their computers into the ground before updating them. The machines that will replace them will have W7 on, and that's when the upgrade will happen.
If it ain't broke.......
I would (possibly) upgrade if;
a) I would get a guarantee that my ageing HP workstation wouldn't buckle under W7
and
b) like Apple, Microsoft would sell this W7 upgrade for $25
I do agree with the other poster who was afraid of being flamed. My old PC works fine. I have no real need to spend all that money getting a W7 upgrade. I will upgrade this Macbook Pro to Snow Leopard next, which I still need to do, but haven't got round to yet, before I upgrade to W7. My XP based work PC works fine, and does the job I need it too. Why do I need to spend all that money just for the sake of some eye-candy? The IT department at work also have a similar attitude, but say that they will run their computers into the ground before updating them. The machines that will replace them will have W7 on, and that's when the upgrade will happen.
I'm nothing
The real reason Mac is a great computer is that when people write viruses they use the OS most used by the world which is Windows not Mac It doesn't make sense to use Mac seeing that more people use Windows. thats why if you use Mac you don't really worry about viruses.Business computers use Windows not Mac.Windows is the platform most used around the world.The Windows platform came out years before Mac.If I wrote viruses (I don't know how ) I would use the platform most prevalent (Windows) Most of you know this and always overlook this.
Yeah, it was only a matter of
Yeah, it was only a matter of time before someone trotted out that ol' yarn.
There were viruses for OS8 and OS9, and they had a tenth of the market share of OSX.
On top of that, look at us! We're practically singing from the rooftops; "You can't break into my ho-ouse! 'Cause you're just not good enough! I'm holding up a big bulls-eye! And you're too lame to hiiiiit it!"
We're like the French knights in The Search for the Holy Grail.
Seriously, don't you think at least a couple of the virus writers out there would like to knock us off our smarmy high horse? You think people who write viruses have all agreed to take the high road on this one?
hey, get your history
hey, get your history straight idiot.
"windows came out years before mac"
Macintosh- introduced 1984, OS introduced with the LISA in 1981.
Windows- version 1.0-3.1 ran as an application in DOS and wasn't really released until 1985. Windows 95 was the first form of the OS to actually run a computer, and was a backwards copy of Mac system 7.
Honestly, is getting simple facts correct really that difficult?
I don't agree with his
I don't agree with his reasoning, but I believe he means OS X has been available for a Mac less time than Windows has existed. That is true. I don't know the LISA OS, other than it is the "father" of OS X, but it certainly wasn't available for a Mac. The LISA was pretty obscure and not available to the public, at least at first. But even it was based on unix.
The unix environment has existed since the 1960s, so it is FAR older than Windows! Security was designed into it and developers have been fixing issues as they arise for 40 years. That doesn't mean it is perfect .... just WAY better than Windows. It is simplifying to believe the only reason Windows is so vulnerable is because it is targeted.True, you if you are a virus writer, it is both easier and have a bigger target if you aim at Windows. That's why I use Macs and Linux.
MS should not have unleashed Windows XP on the world in the Home version with no permissions. I've suffered from security issues because of that, as have most people. It is also true that more attacks on unix machines came about with the popularity of Linux. All you have to do is read forums and you will see there are unix security issues fixed every day. But I have NEVER had a security issue using Linux (13 years) or Mac OS X (3 years).
Windows came out years before Mac?
You should check your facts.
Why anyone wants to support a
Why anyone wants to support a company like Microsoft is beyond me.
your dumb no more then 5
your dumb no more then 5 percent are going to go to mac, if they hear any good thing about windows 7 like speed or something they well jump to a 500$ PC over 1200$ mac especially in this economy.
Sorry man, everyone stopped
Sorry man, everyone stopped reading after "your dumb". Laughing too hard.
Say, in your opinion, which platform has the best grammar checker?
We're dumb?? You don't wanna
We're dumb?? You don't wanna go there matey. Btw last time I checked the $ sign came before the number. $1200. Just because you say something a certain way doesn't mean you write it like that. FOOL.
WIN Users Hate WIn
The bottom line is that WINDOWS has so poisoned the user experience of most personal computer users that they are only willing to spend the absolute minimum (MS knows this - their laptop hunters is all about that, their only three criteria for buying a computer is price, keyboard & screen size). To 90% of WIn users, why in the world would you spend anything more than the absolute minimum? For the ultrta haters, it's $399, for others who might trade a slightly faster speed for a few dollars more but as the laptop hunter says, $700 is all I'm willing to spend on a WIN computer. On the mac side, is the Mini or the Macbook the best selling mac? No, why, because mac users understand VALUE trups price. Sure, who doesn't want to save a few bucks but mac users understand that it's VALUE and not just price that determines what computer you buy. That is why Macs have an 89% market share (NPD) of the retail $1k+ computer market - people who do not loath he personal computer experience are 9 times as likely to buy a mac ... or vice versa ... WIN PC $1k market share has dropped from 98% to 11% in 10 years.
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