Windows 8 apps pass 100K, Windows 8 passes Vista Microsoft has received two pieces of good news concerning its not-exactly-barn-burning Windows 8: there are now over 100,000 apps in the Windows 8 app store, and the installed base of Windows 8 has passed that of the late and unlamented Windows Vista. What's more, that 100,000-app milestore was reached in just eight months – …
"I told you getting rid of TechNet was a good idea.. Only one day after we decided to whack it and Windows 8 sales are already surpassing Vista!".
The sad part? Although this is meant as a joke I'm somewhat serious here. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if some beancounters actually draw these kind of conclusions.
Whilst surpassing Vista might seem a joke statement given that Vista was viewed as being doomed, the point is the timeframe - Vista was around for over 2.5 years, compared to barely 8 months for Windows 8. Whilst Windows 7 may be a lot higher, that was around for 3 years. (And reports have suggested that Windows 8's uptake rate is on par with Windows 7 - and that was with 7 following on from Vista, which you'd think people were keen to upgrade from or skip over from XP; 8 has no such "advantage".)
OS X may be doing better, but that's every version of OS X compared to 8 months of Windows 8. The most recent version, 10.8, has only 3.14% share, despite released almost a year ago.
In some sense, this really shouldn't be surprising. Given we already know that Windows is the 90% dominant OS, you'd expect there to be lots of software for it, even for just the Windows 8 only stuff. And you'd expect it to do well.
But that's not what people claimed. People, the media, insisted Windows 8 would be a flop. It would be a failure - not just in relative terms, but absolute terms. PCs were dead, they said. Ipads and Chromebooks were the future. Even after the initial sales reports appeared, they still insisted it was a flop. "Those are just licences sold, doesn't mean people are using it" they claimed.
Now we have stats based on usage rather than licences sold, and I bet people will still stick their head in the sand and claim it was a flop. And when Apple next release a product that takes 76 days to sell a million, it'll be hailed as a runaway success...
@Mark .
Now we have stats based on usage rather than licences sold, and I bet people will still stick their head in the sand and claim it was a flop.
It is a failure - the resellers and manufacturers have been saying this since launch.
Comparisons with the much unloved Vista are appropriate. Check the stats for the uptake of Windows 7 in the same time frame.
"It is a failure - the resellers and manufacturers have been saying this since launch."
That demonstrates my point perfectly - we have claims of it being a failure, based on hand-picked quotes (e.g., from one who was advertising their new Chromebooks), but the actual hard evidence time and time again suggests this is not the case.
"Comparisons with the much unloved Vista are appropriate. Check the stats for the uptake of Windows 7 in the same time frame."
Do you have a source? And are you arguing "It's not as successful as 7" or "It's a failure"? I can hear the back-pedalling already.
I hate windows 8.
None of the 100,000 appp in the store are what anybody wants.
Windows 8 will not be coming near my machine until they bring back the start menu, not just the start button.
Windows 8 is confusing and I just want it to boot to the desktop.
All of the tablets that are windows 8 tablets have shitty resolutions.
Hey Windows 8 the year 2000 called ad it wants it kernel back
Buy a linux PC cos they are sooooo much better and they just work.
I've been in the IT business for 2,000,000 yea...................
Oh, who gives a schitt.
Out of curiosity I fired up the Surface.
Fart returns 38 apps, most with zero ratings, a few cost money like Metro Fart for $1.99
Some of the apps don't seem to fit the fart theme like Stanley Level, Math Plotter, and a Photo Shop book. Drops the total down to 26.
They must use Bing search tech, maybe there is a fantastic fart app that would make the Surface totally worth owning, but search can't find it.
Angry Birds Space $4.99 has 86 reviews, they don't tell you the number of downloads. Android $3.00 is 15.613 reviews and 500,000+ downloads.
So Win 8 beats Vista now. Any word on how many of those sales are actually Win 7 machines with shiny Win 8 discs included in the box?
Of course, it still looks rosey for MS. Forcing the box shifters to pay for both OSs to sell a machine just means that MS gets two checks per machine, way to double-dip, guys!
No, just as Tom35 has states. Now, what Microsoft said about 2 months ago is that they SHIPED/SOLD Win8 licences as fast as Windows7... which of course means nothing as that is sales to OEM. Who have paid for Win8 but not sold or shipped Win8 computers.... so Microsoft is playing with the numbers.
Lets say you buy a notebook like the ThinkPad with Windows7 Pro. It still counts as a Win8 sales that has been "downgraded" to windows 7.
Given that Classic Shell takes 30 seconds to install, I don't understand why everyone is so intent on moaning about the new start screen. Big whoop, alternatives are available, avail yourselves of them while you avail yourselves of Win8's otherwise complete superiority over Win7. Some people just want to attention whore and look cool, I guess.
Well, one downside of running an XP box is that you can only run an XP box. Hyper-V will jut as happily run any OS you care to load it up with.
It's brilliant with a Technet subscription because you can test anything and everything is available.
For now. Some fuckbag in accounts at MS has killed that plan, sadly. But at least they're offering the freebie trials.
Honest question - what is shit about the "whole UI"? Given that programs work just the same way as before? Yes there's the new UI for "Windows store apps", but if you don't like them, don't use them.
"Why pay for Win8 when it does nothing over Win7 other than have the Microsoft Store and a butt-ugly UI design?"
It has plenty more. Sure, it might not be worth upgrading, but that's true with every new OS that comes out. I didn't see the point in upgrading from 2000 to XP. Many people were happy with XP and didn't upgrade to Vista or 7. But I don't see those people foaming at the mouth to tell people how their more up to date version is awful.
Oh dear.
Looks like ChromeOS is not getting widespread support and has therefore failed and is useless and should be junked.
No? But those are the arguments which are used for Windows Phone, aren't they?
I wonder if the downvotes all came from ChromeOS users. If so, either Larry or Sergey has more than one Reg account, it seems.
I almost miss Eadon for his insightful rants.
Though when I say almost, I mean "not at all"
on a more serious note, does anyone know what Vista peaked at in terms of percentage or number of installed systems?
Disturbingly, the trend for "other" is down on their latest data 5.6% from 6.9% a year ago.
Though MacOS is rising by about the same so it implies transfer between windows versions within the shrinking (so I belive) overall desktop market rather than a displacement of Windows by the alternatives.
"I almost miss Eadon for his insightful rants."
Well, the user currently known as Belardi seems to have a single issue fixation of Windows Hate, to have similarly troubled grammar, and a need to use capitals in rather too many of his posts.
Just sayin....
I don't miss him. I enjoyed the passion he held for his subject, but I hated the vastly over inflated sense of his own knowledge and the utter lack of being able to debate, rather just shouting his opinion over and over again. I also hated the way he personally abused people when he didn't get his way and the way that any article which he didn't agree with resulted in accusing the author of corruption, shilling or taking back handers. I believe the latter is what did for him in the end.
In short, I don't think he was a very nice person and I don't ever want to meet him in real life.
...filling up the windows app store with apps?
http://www.lingscars.com/
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(a) Nothing wrong with Ling; her website is legendary. It's like that for a reason.
(b) One thing I'm happy about is that Microsoft decided to force its corporate font across all its sites and those of its 'experts'. All I have to do now is go to a website, see the typeface, and go away again. Much like when those Prussian blue borders appear on my TV, I know it's an IBM ad and can immediately change channels, fast forward or go make a cup of tea.
As is usual for Windows you have to buy stuff to make it usable. i.e. Classic Shell
I have not seen Win 8 but judging by Win7 the file manager is rubbish. Even with XP, I could not bear to use it without Total Commander.
Try opening a DVD .iso file in Win 7 "Media Player" and get an "unknown file type". WTF!
Since switching to Linux I don't have to buy any software that makes the OS actually usable.
I cannot understand why you would want to pay for an OS that is missing things that I take for granted.
"I cannot understand why you would want to pay for an OS that is missing things that I take for granted."
Because we have to use software other than the OS to earn our daily crust. Some of that software, in my case Adobe Photoshop for one, does not have an open source equivalent. Please don't start the "but there's The Gimp" argument. I have the Gimp for Windows installed as well and the true fact is that it is not a straight replacement.
Plus there are probably as many, if not more, free "things" available for Windows as there are for Linux. All the "flagship" open source programs for a start. Plus Classic Shell is in fact free.
"* The "file manager" in Windows 8 is much improved over Windows 7"
In what way? I was trying out 8.1 last night* and the ribbonisation of Explorer alone was enough to remind me never to put 8 on my main PC. I was ready to just switch the laptop off and abandon it without having even figured out how to boot straight to the desktop (which I also found was in a really stupid location).
* Trying 8.1 required me to dig out an old HDD to shove into my spare laptop... I tried simply installing to the same KVM instance I already had 8.0 running on, but the ISO black screened (0x0a). Fiddled with the settings there, still kept failing. Moved to my desktop PC and VMWare Player. Same result.
It's almost as if MS don't want anyone to try their stuff anymore.
@Mystic Megabyte: By "As usual for Windows you have to buy stuff to make it usable", I presume you mean "download stuff, for free, to slightly alter how it works". I've never bought anything for Windows to change how it works, apart from an IP stack for Win 3.11, I've always downloaded legitimately free software. As releases go on, I find that I need to do that less and less. Sure, stopping native support of DVDs is probably a retrograde step, but it does contribute to the OS costing less and VLC does the job just fine. Also it appears that some people aren't too keen on the start screen replacing the start menu (!) but I believe there are free alternatives.
My use of Linux is similar - many of the distros that I use don't support MP3 and similar patent encumbered systems by default, so I have to download it, it's not a big deal. I have to download (or yum/apt-get) many packages which aren't installed by default, but I wouldn't consider this "having to download stuff to make it usable" just normal OS tweaking.
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