The State of Windows 7 Two Years After Release

Back in October 2009 Microsoft released the long awaited and highly acclaimed Windows 7 operating system. Unlike Windows Vista, the operating system's immediate predecessor, Windows 7 managed to do what where Vista failed: Snag away market share from Windows XP. Depending on which statistics you look at Windows 7 is installed on 39% (Statcounter), 42% (W3CSchools) or 32% (Net Market Share) of all computer systems. In comparison the same companies see Windows Vista at 11%, 5% and 9%, and Windows XP at 40%, 36% and 50% respectively.
If you look at the statistics you will notice that Windows 7 has surpassed Windows XP in one already (W3Schools) and that the operating system is about to surpass XP in another in the coming month (Statcounter) if current trends continue.
Only Net Market Share sees Windows XP still in the lead by a large margin.
One of the interesting things here is that Windows 7 managed to surpass Vista's market share in less than a year in all three statistics. If you project the rates at which Windows 7 grows in market share you will come to the conclusion that the operating system may gain another 15% to 20% of market share in the coming 12 months. Why is that period important? Because after that time Windows 8 will be released. An earlier release of Windows 8 may slow down the rise of Windows 7, but it won't halt the market share drops of Windows XP and Vista.
There will still be plenty of users working on Windows XP and at least some that use Windows Vista. When you look at global operating system brands and their market share, you will notice that Microsoft with Windows is still the big fish in the pond. Depending on the statistics service used the company has a worldwide market share between 85% and 93%.
Can Windows 7 be called a success because of this? I'd say yes it can, especially when compared to Windows Vista. The biggest feat in my opinion is that Windows 7 turned around the perception of Windows from a bloated slow operating system to something that people love to work with.
It will be interesting to see how the public perceives Windows 8 once it comes out. Will Microsoft be able to break the good OS bad OS cycle (Windows 98 good, Windows ME bad, Windows XP good, Windows Vista bad, Windows 7 good) and deliver two great operating systems in a row, or will the new operating system fail to impress with its new Metro start page and design changes.
What's your take on this?
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What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help