Windows 10 growth stalls during October If it's the first Monday of the month, then it's time for our monthly look at desktop operating system market share data from StatCounter and Netmarketshare. This month the news is mixed for the main player, Microsoft, because while Windows 10's market share is growing its rate of growth is slowing. StatCounter has Redmond's …
Nope. This is usage-weighted share, so Linux isn't in the running at all.
Here's StatCounter's September 2015 list for all platforms (desktop & mobile). Note also how small the mobile OSes shares are when set beside their desktop rivals (as most interaction with web-based services is via apps, not the browser)...
46.98 Windows 7
12.41 Windows 8.1
8.55 Windows XP
7.87 OS X, all releases
6.97 Windows 10
5.72 iOS, all releases
2.97 Windows 8.0
2.68 Android, all releases
1.77 Unknown OS
1.69 Windows Vista
1.58 Linux
0.37 Chrome OS
0.09 Windows 2003
0.09 Playstation
0.07 Windows 8.1 RT
0.07 Windows 98
0.04 Xbox
0.02 Win2000
0.01 Nintendo
0.01 BlackBerry OS
0.01 Windows CE
0.02 Other
(source http://gs.statcounter.com - choose your dataset, and click "download CSV")
Whilst I have been a fan of Linux over the years (and have watched it grow to maturity with some satisfaction) I haven't really used it as a home OS apart from the odd media center and single purpose device (NAS/router/firewall that sort of thing).
However, I was recently required to build my wife a new PC as her old XP machine was finally dying a death (she wouldn't let me upgrade it in the past due to my apparent inability to keep all her files, but that's another story).
Due to her predilection for RTS games (Age of Empires/Mythology type stuff) I decided to build her PC with one of my NUC's and a spare Vista licence I had kicking around. Well, I had so much trouble with Vista (turns out to be the only version of Windows that Age of Mythology doesn't like and it was downloading updates for bloody ages - nearly 200 of the fuckers) I decided to go with a flavour of Linux since I didn't want the hassle of a more recent version of Windows and all that upgrade to 10 bollocks - so I bit the bullet and made the effort to get the games working under Wine.
Well, did all that over the weekend, installed Linux Mint 17 and got the games running under Wine no problem at all - bit of a learning curve, but all re-usable info so it's all good.
When the NUC was started up after the initial build I actually thought I had missed some important stages out though, the desktop appears in around 5-10 seconds (and I haven't optimised the boot sequence in BIOS yet either). There also appears to be a complete lack of a 'still busy' circle with the mouse pointer when it starts up as well - it's almost as if it's immediately useful.
Very odd, so I thought I'd test it and run the game under Wine as soon as the screen appeared. Bam, it's just there. Admittedly this is all now on an SSD as well, but even so, it's like magic.
So, I still have a couple of laptops that run Windows7 and another NUC waiting for an OS - they are going to be built with Linux. Fuck windows...forever...goodbye...good riddance.
It was a *lot* more hassle building a windows machine than it was a Linux machine, and it plays games too. It's a lot faster to boot, is immediately useable, and appears to make better use of the hardware resources. Oh, and it was free (as in totally, no strings attached).
The line has been crossed, it's now just a question of how long it takes for Joe public and business to twig.
The more people use it, and switch over and discover how much easier it is these days, and how good the drivers are etc. the more publishers will program for it, the more attractive it will be. I know most people don't do the research thing, and it took me all of about 20 minutes to decide which flavour (and which topping) I wanted or would be most suitable for my needs, but how many people know that about Windows?
I feel like a weight has been lifted off me, it must be all those $$$$$$'s that M$ won't get their grubby little mitts on anymore.
Consider me converted.
Similar to my experiences in recent years, Linux installs with less pain than a typical machine without the correct pre-configured Windows OME image to install from (which users almost never saved when they had the chance). Less dicking around with updates as well.
And yes, I have suffered the exasperation of re-installing Vista to help a friend and it was crushingly slow to get and apply updates. After 3 hours I went home and told him to reboot it in the morning.
To be fair, installing an enterprise copy of Win 7 on recent hardware was no major trouble, but still slower than typical Linux install and try as I might, I could not get it to go from a USB stick. So it had to be a DVD written and temporary DVD reader to get it to boot and then install 7.
Maybe Win 10 has solved the USB boot and install process? Perhaps I shall never know care...
Just back from a Powerpoint Presentation on a big screen that began with the boot up sequence. Yep, XP. I see it often XP in our local GP practice - connected to my medical records.
My problem with it is now such an open hackfest vector for recruitment into bots and stuff. Hence every connected XP machine not paying the MS penalty tax is a deadly danger to the rest of us who have the sense to use a supported OS whatever the flavour.
Maybe H&S should close them all down?
I assume you drive the very latest car, because failing to do so makes you an accident waiting to happen...
So far this year every single machine, I've had to rebuild due to the destructive effects of malware has been a Win7 or 8 machine, even though the number of XP users I support out numbers Win7 and Win8. The last time I had to deal with malware on XP was in 2009...
I don't think the fall update is going to be much help with these numbers. I expect big jumps when
a) Edge gets extension support.
b) They finally fix the one drive sync client.
c) When the one year free upgrade program is about to run out.
I for one upgraded to 10 on july 29th but have told everyone around me to wait till june 2016.
I was very happy using XP for many years. It did everything I needed it to do and it did it quckly and quietly without fuss on my old laptop. I can understand why some people like to keep it going though I realise that it no longer gets security updates. I do remember that just before Win 7 was released, XP got a load of updates that made it really, really slow and so I felt that I 'had to' move on to Win 7 on a newer cheap laptop.
Maybe the people still running XP blocked out all updates except for security updates and run it in a cautious and technically/security aware manner?
(I avoided any further Windows 'upgrade' experiences.)
This should be interesting over the next few months. MS seem to be getting increasingly desperate to shovel W10 out by any means necessary. I'm really curious to see how many of us there actually are saying a firm 'no' to it - sitting in my little bubble of like minded techie types, my view of what's happening out there is probably a bit skewed.
And yeah, wouldn't hurt to know the Linux share too.
Partly because Linux is not counted properly. A week ago I bought a new laptop, it came with Windows 8.1 installed; I immediately upgraded it to Linux Mint - but it will be counted in the statistics as another MS Windows 8.1 installation.
I will be shortly replacing MS WIndows XP on my sister's laptop with Linux Mint, this will not be officially recorded.
Linux is under counted, by how much I cannot say.
@alain Williams - "Partly because Linux is not counted properly. A week ago I bought a new laptop, it came with Windows 8.1 installed; I immediately upgraded it to Linux Mint - but it will be counted in the statistics as another MS Windows 8.1 installation."
I don't think that's true, I beleive the stats are based on web usage, so if you didn't use 8.1 to access the web* but did use Mint then only Linux would be counted. The problem with these stats is that it can't count those machines not connected to the net. If anything that means WinXP (many manchines unplugged from the net) is most under represented.
* - or at least the site(s) that are used to collect the stats
> I beleive the stats are based on web usage,
They are based on web usage of visiting particular self-selected sites which include javascript in some or all of their pages. It also requires that the client allows javascript to run as it is the client browser that sends the information directly to the collector.
If sites that are of interest to Windows users but not to Linux users predominate the sites that include the javascript then Linux will show low statistics. If javascript blockers are more often used by Linux users then Linux will have low statistics.
I doubt that any of my Linux machines are ever recorded at all.
Since we're doing pedantry, ...
It doesn't stop as such, it starts to progress along the vertical axis only
That's not entirely true; what happens is that the wings stop producing life and start producing drag. This doesn't mean you go straight down - certain aircraft[1] flutter down quite gently in a full stall. Some bite...
The pont is - you're likely still travelling (partly) horizontally, even when fully stalled.
Vic.
[1] Part of the BGA Glider Certificate, for example, requires demonstration of the "mushing stall", wherein the wings are stalled, but the ailerons and rudder still work. I didn't see the point, myself, but they required me to fly it.
> That's not entirely true; what happens is that the wings stop producing life and start producing drag. This doesn't mean you go straight down - certain aircraft[1] flutter down quite gently in a full stall. Some bite...
s/life/lift/
No, the wings do not _stop_ producing lift. They, most often, continue producing lift (as indicated by 'flutter') but produce less than required for sustained flight.
No, they do not _start_ producing drag. They produce drag all the time they move through the air. They produce a much increased lift/drag ratio.
No, they do not _start_ producing drag. They produce drag all the time they move through the air. They produce a much increased lift/drag ratio.
There's some drag in unstalled flight. There is a lot more drag once the wing has stalled[1]. It's not just lift/drag; the amount of drag increases sharply once the wing has stalled[2].
Vic.
[1] You can see a typical drag curve here. Note how the drag coefficient rises sharply as the AoA goes through the stall point.
[2] It's a big part of why a developed spin is self-sustaining; the stalled inner wing is much more draggy than the outer wing, leading to yaw, meaning that the inner wing has a higher AoA than the outer, meaning that it is more deeply stalled than the outer (which probably isn't stalled), meaning it is more draggy, ...
"Stalling an aircraft is only dangerous when you're very close to the ground..."
There ya go, and I thought it was only dangerous when the aircraft hits the ground :-)
As the guy who jumped off the Empire State Building said as he passed the 13th floor: "So far, so good!"
> Stalling an aircraft is only dangerous when you're very close to the ground...
Not necessarily true. Or, more to the point, higher altitude does not make stalling 'safe'.
For example some high-tailed aircraft (such as the Gloster Javelin), when stalled, can enter a super-stall where the tailplane is blanketed and there is no ability to alter pitch leading to an inability to recover regardless of height.
For example some high-tailed aircraft (such as the Gloster Javelin), when stalled, can enter a super-stall where the tailplane is blanketed and there is no ability to alter pitch leading to an inability to recover regardless of height.
The Javelin is certainly a tricky aircraft.
The Pilot Notes give the recommended recovery method: use aileron roll to induce a spin, and then recover from the spin in the usual manner.
I'll dig out a copy next time I'm at he museum and post the official text.
Vic.
I'll dig out a copy next time I'm at he museum
Well, I've not got the pilot notes yet, but I did check this with my CFI[1]. Apparently, "it's another crap bloody aeroplane", but when pressed for more detail, "you roll it and put in full throttle, and see what happens".
I don't think he likes it...
Vic.
[1] I won't name-drop, but he is a fairly well-known test pilot.
The aeroplane doesn't "stall"; its engine does.
Wrong.
"A stall is a condition in aerodynamics and aviation wherein the angle of attack increases beyond a certain point such that the lift begins to decrease." [Wikipedia, I'm afraid]
Stalling of an engine is a different phenomenon entirely.
When your stats are based on millions of unique connections, although they may not be perfect, there still can be meaning inferred from them.
In this case, we can argue about exactly how much the slowing is, but apparently, that there is a slowing is not in doubt.
> might have these websites blocked
It is not just whether users have the sites blocked, it is also whether particular groups of users visit particular self-selected sites.
It may be that the majority of the sites that include statistics gathering javascript are of no, or little, interest to, say, Linux users. Conversely, sites that are of interest to that group may not have this implanted code. I see no evidence that this site has any visits recorded in the statistics.
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