If it doesn’t have “8″ or “Phone” after it, nobody thinks or cares about Windows anymore. But let’s not forget that Microsoft is still selling a gargantuan tower of operating systems every second — and it matches everything else combined.
Dan Frommer put Microsoft’s recently reported 525 million Windows 7 licenses in perspective:
Since…October, 2009, Apple has likely sold about 35 million Macs, possibly 250 million iOS devices, and Google has seen almost 250 million Android activations.
We may have our eyes on mobile software and operating systems that don’t yet exist, but an enormous chunk of the human race still looks at (and buys!) regular old Windows every single day. Every, single, day. [SplatF]
lolwut
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 12:06 PMIf the only good thing you can say about the major OS is that its selling well even that becomes sad news to the world.
MotorMouth
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 3:43 PMIf that WAS the only positive thing you could say about Win7, then maybe you’d be right. But the reality is that it is very difficult to find anything bad to say about Win7. In my experience it is faster than other OSes, it is more stable than OS X, prettier and more functional. Its backwards-compatibility is nothing short of incredible. It is easy to understand and use and supports more software applications than any other OS. Any negativity around it is largely related to changes from previous versions but once you get used to them, you generally realise that the changes are largely for the better. My biggest gripe with Win7 is that the version of Windoze Media Player that ships with it isn’t as good as the previous version but I use Zune now, so I don’t really care about that any more. In any event, it is still better than Quicktime and there are plenty of free alternatives available if its a real issue.
I stuck with XP for years and resisted Win7, mainly because I was trying to conserve space on my old laptop’s SSD, but since moving to Win7 in March I’ve realised that I should have upgraded much sooner. All the reasons people might have given a decade ago to switch to MacOS are things you can say about Win7. Win8 will take it to a whole ‘nuther level, making iOS and Android seem pathetic and the devices that run them useless, whilst simultaneously making MacOS look terribly limited.
smith
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 4:53 PMI can’t agree with one thing you said there. Not one. It sounds as if you’ve only owned Windows machines, which limits your perspective considerably. Of course, if this isn’t true and you have used computers of many types (including both Windows and Mac) in the last 30 years like me, then I apologise.
MotorMouth
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 10:24 AMYou WANT that to be the case but the reality is that I use a MacPro at work every day. I’m a graphic artist and I have been using both PC and Mac for 15 years or so. There has never been a time when I thought I could be more productive on a Mac than on a PC.
I started out on PC and was really excited when I first got to use a Mac, until I actually got to use it. Then I realised that there was nothing special about it at all, it was just another computer. That was OS 9 and when OS X was released, I got all excited again because I’d been playing around a bit with Linux and thought Apple might have sorted out all the annoying Linux things but, if anything, OS X was even more of a disappointment. The lack of customisation/optimisation, the stupid, annoying dock and the fact that it couldn’t even run applications properly. e.g. I was teaching a short course at AFTRS on a bunch of G3s and they were so underpowered that they weren’t even able to render the UI of the software I was teaching. The main UI was OK but as soon as you opened a dialog box, the G3 would run out of memory and not be able to draw all the widgets, so you’d lose things like the “OK” and “Cancel” buttons. These machines were less than two years old at the time. The same software ran perfectly well for me on my much lower spec, cheaper PC.
Today, nothing has changed. Adobe CS applications are slower to start on the MacPro than on my PC laptop (no Pre-Fetch, I assume) and Photoshop crashes very regularly on the Mac, never on the PC. Once it even took the whole system down with it, something Win7 would never allow – Win7 is excellent at isolating crashing applications to preserve the rest of the system. I have never once had a Win7 crash, never had a Vista crash and the last time WinXP crashed on me was in 2003 or 2004, I think.
There is only one thing in OS X that I really like and that is the Preview app that you can invoke with the spacebar from Finder. Despite that, I prefer Windoze Explorer overall, as it is much easier to navigate and move files around. Its search seems much faster, too, but its hard to know with two completely different machines (could be hardware).
For me, Windoze is like democracy – it is the worst possible system, except for all the others. Fortunately, MS seem to agree which is why they put so much work into making it better and better. OTOH, Apple seem to be more interested in making OS X more and more profitable, adding new ways to take money from their customers and simply bolting on new bits and pieces, instead of fixing it properly.
olearymo
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 9:05 AMSmith, I disagree with almost everything MotorMouth usually says, but as a former Windows user and now a very happy Mac user, I gotta say he makes excellent points. Windows 7 really is damn, damn good. I personally prefer OSX (never thought I would!), but Windows 7 I think is about equal.
It really is personal preference at this point, the gap is so narrow. An opinion to which everyone is entitled without being called ‘fanboy’
olearymo
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 9:08 AMalso, guys, it’s spelled ‘Windows’ not ‘Windoze’. Yes, we know, very droll etc. Act your ages.
MotorMouth
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 12:17 PMI don’t think personal preference has anything to do with it. It is just an OS and it really shouldn’t come into purchasing decisions. My computing experience, and I am sure it is the same for almost everyone else, is built around applications. You choose the applications you want/need to use and the OS decision makes itself. Need FCP or Logic Audio? Use MacOS. Need anything else and it is almost guaranteed that it will be better on Win7 than on OS X, if it will even run on OS X. Almost everyone develops for Windoze and ports to other OSes. (Sorry, but “Windoze” just tumbles out of the keyboard, I have to stop and think to type “Windows”.)
Michael
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 4:14 PMWho even cares if that is the only positive thing to say (which it isnt), last time I checked, peopled go into business to make money.
Dave
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 12:12 PMlolwut, your ignorance is all consuming…
stop bashing windows untill you understand what it is does and why it is still the number 1 os.
top 3 off the top of my head.
1 runs on more hardware than any other os
2 has been built for home and office applications and is extreamly developer friendly (which OSX is not)
3 allows you to use it like a dumb ass or use it as a enteprise solution so home users can goto work and not realise the substantial differences.
Charles
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 1:06 PMYeah it’s pretty silly, but I guess Windows isn’t EXCITING any more to anyone. It’s just… Windows. I use Windows at work and at home even though I have been a Mac user my entire life, and frankly it isn’t as good and it isn’t as stable but it does do the job for a lot cheaper. I would say your first point is definitely right and your second point is right I guess (I know naaa-thing about developent). I disagree with the third point though, OSX seems very scalable to me, at least when I was using it often. It seemed pretty simple to play with to me, though the new Tablet-ey version I guess is a but more ‘dumb’ or whatever. Anyway, kinda looking forward to Windows 8, I’m bored with 7.
Ben
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 1:18 PMMostly take issue with first point, but the other two are kind of arguable
1. Linux runs on way more hardware (x86 and AMD64 are not the only processors out there).
2. OSX is unix based (like linux) and many people find it easier to develope in; I personally use VS2010 at work and like how integrates so well with other Microsoft products.
3. Some what agree, but most intensive networks I’ve used run on linux
BenDTU
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 12:43 PMThey absolutely NEED to launch Windows 8 with a WIndows 8 Whopper.
Telextial
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 4:26 PM8 pieces of dripping meat in between two soggy buns, topped off with an oily wrapper? Deal!
Boz
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 1:45 PMThe thing about Windows (and the Office suite) is that it’s the standard. If you go back about 20-25 years, ask anyone who employed people what computer issues they had – you had different OS, word processors (Wordperfect vs Word vs Wordstar) and spreadsheets (Excel vs Lotus vs Quattro). Every time you hired someone you had to send them to basic training to get them familiar with whatever you had. Nowadays, if you hire someone, chances are they know how to navigate Windows and use Word and Excel. So the cost of training dropped, which was always good for business.
Standardising this has been a productivity bonus. Competing products need to demonstrate why their tech is better (Apple did it with smartphones and tablets – now everyone is playing catchup). Anyone who’s used OpenOffice knows that it just isn’t powerful enough or has enough support in the community (and not the tech-head community, I’m talking about everyday people) to justify the cost saving.
MotorMouth
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 3:50 PMThis is a valid point but I would add this to it. Where other “industry standard” vendors, Adobe spring instantly to mind, are happy to rest on their laurels and offer minor, largely useless product updates, MS seem to work their arses off making their products better. Maybe that impression is born of them having a lot more opportunity for improvement but I think it is more that they believe they need to remain the best to stay no. 1. That’s exactly how Bill Gates generally comes across in interviews – consumed by a paranoid belief that they could be swallowed whole by IBM or someone else at any moment if they take the foot off the gas for even a minute. Its a great attitude and is why MS are kicking so many goals recently.
Normandy
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 6:05 PMGlady I am one tht will never buy it, use it or download it.. Windows yuck
MotorMouth
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 2:15 PMThat suggests your opinion is worthless then, doesn’t it? If you won’t use it, you cannot possibly know what it’s like. It would be like deciding a car was horrible to drive based on the pattern of the alloy wheels.
Ash
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 9:41 AMTrying to be a Mac elitist for nothing. Fanboi-ism much?
Osiris Fox
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 1:23 PMMS rules.
James
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 1:55 PMI cannot wait to get my iMac and be done with windows once and for all. I don’t care how good it appears to be getting. The mere fact that they brought something like Vista out that was clearly broken out of the gate just goes to show its about the money, not the experience.
I used to have Mac’s and felt I was missing out on something with Windows. Turns out all I was missing out on was a buggy experience, crashes and gaming. That’s it.
Max
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 1:32 AMThe maths is a little off here. The title says MS sells more Windows 7 than every Mac, iOS, and Android device combined. According to the figures quoted in the article, the number of Mac, iOS and Android devices combined is 535 million, which is 10 million more than the quoted number of Windows 7 licenses.
I mean, it’s still impressive of course, but the title isn’t really accurate ;)