What are the odds that the Windows 7 share passes or doesn't pass XP's share at the time that Windows 8 is RTW?

I was always happy with XP but when I went to Vista I didn't know how it worked and the same with 7. If I download things I can't find them. Bring back XP.

I only just retired my last XP PC here at home, and I only did it because that PC finally kicked the bucket. My guess is a lot of companies will likely wait for a technology refresh, new equipment purchase, before moving on. XP was a reliable OS for me. I can count the blue screens I got on all my PC's together on one hand. Its a great OS for an older PC. Windows 7 runs great on older PCs too, but if the PC is already stickered/licensed for XP I can't see spending extra cash for Windows 7. Just my 2 cents. :)

alphanumeric said:

I only just retired my last XP PC here at home, and I only did it because that PC finally kicked the bucket. My guess is a lot of companies will likely wait for a technology refresh, new equipment purchase, before moving on. XP was a reliable OS for me. I can count the blue screens I got on all my PC's together on one hand. Its a great OS for an older PC. Windows 7 runs great on older PCs too, but if the PC is already stickered/licensed for XP I can't see spending extra cash for Windows 7. Just my 2 cents. :)

I liked XP a lot too, but the fact is that it along with IE8, you can't run IE9 on XP, are lot less secure than Windows 7 especially the x64 version of Window 7. Windows 7 IMO also does a lot better job at multi-computer sharing than XP.

I also loved Windows 98 SE which I thought was a lot more stable than XP for a long time.

However, computers being what they are time moves on and significant enhancements continue to be made.

The two biggest problems in upgrading from XP to Windows 7 as I see it are.

1. The hardware cost. A lot of XP based computers just can't handle Windows 7 without some serious compromises in being able to fully utilize its features. For example I was running XP on a Dell Dimension 2400. However the hardware just wouldn't cut if for Windows 7 and the cost to upgrade it assuming that I could find the hardware to do it would have been as much if not more than buying a new Dell computer with Windows 7 x64.

2. The learning curve since Windows 7 is significantly different from XP.

When you consider that a corporation's concern with computers is quite different than a typical home user, and don't care about gaming or other uses where XP might fall short, it is understandable that they don't find sufficient motivation to go to the cost and hassle of upgrading. For some things, XP equals W7.