Microsoft's Windows 7 Problem Isn't Going Away

[Brink]

Windows 7 usage share didn’t change much over the past year. That is a huge problem for Windows 10, and for Microsoft.

After the many issues it had getting the Windows XP installed based moved forward to more modern and secure Windows versions, Microsoft is basically facing the same problem again. That is, Microsoft doesn’t want Windows 7 to be the next Windows XP. But Windows 7 is absolutely the next Windows XP.

Oops.

To see what I mean, simply examine the NetMarketShare usage share data that Microsoft also uses. Over the past three Januaries, Windows 7’s usage share has hovered around the 50 percent mark:

• January 2015: 55.92 percent
• January 2016: 52.47 percent
• January 2017: 48.34 percent

Windows 10 was released in August 2015, basically. So looking at the past two Januaries, we see the following for Microsoft’s latest platform:

• January 2016: 11.85 percent
• January 2017: 24.36 percent

So Windows 7 usage has barely fallen but Windows 10 usage has of course catapulted upward, though if you look a bit closer you’ll see that this progress has slowed dramatically in recent months...

Read more: Microsoft's Windows 7 Problem Isn't Going Away - Thurrott.com

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yep I'd imagine more new machines with 10 are more of a reason than upgrading since the freebie was ended through the update system
Extended through other means though for people willing to contact MS directly.

Then we have been seeing more people attempting to bail on new win-10 machines to install 7 on which the people should of asked that question before they bought the machine and possibly they wouldn't of bought it knowing it is a pain at best and more than likely isn't going to happen.

7 rules
I poked at 10 yesterday and updated it and did heaven benchmark I nearly got sick going through the menus refresh install... just to update it to the recent build testing the benchmarks before and after...

4th quarter 2016

 

[mjf]

Hi,
Yep I'd imagine more new machines with 10 are more of a reason than upgrading since the freebie was ended through the update system

That seems to be a reasonable assessment in my view. My hope is W10 will become a stable OS in a couple of years and the world moves on.
My problem is I have a number of W7 PCs with compatible (paid) software that work fine. Moving to W10 is going to involve a fair bit of work and extra $.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Checking all of the important user settings, after every W10 update, is a PITA.

The new update system (UUP) is farcically slow.
It took 5 hours to update an install (download took ~90 minutes).
The only software installed, other than the default Windows stuff, was Pale Moon.

My problem is I have a number of W7 PCs with compatible (paid) software that work fine. Moving to W10 is going to involve a fair bit of work and extra $.

IMO, the only viable solution to that issue is to convert your existing W7 installs to VHDs/VMs.

I've only had mixed success the times I've tried.
Since my systems are all dual boot (minimum) the conversion process only left one bootable OS.

I suspect that what I should have done is:

1. Created a backup image of the system
2. Removed the other OS
3. Repaired the boot of the OS I wanted to convert (if needed)
4. Performed the conversion
5. Re-image the HDD and repeat the above steps (1 - 4) until I had VHDs/VMs of each individual OS

As for running W10, I'm running W10IP as a VM (Linux Mint 18.1 Host running VMware Player).

This has the advantage that you can keep W10 disconnected from the network and yet still be able to browse the Internet when desired/needed.
If an update seems "relatively safe", I can connect to the Internet and download it.