Windows 7 Share Surges 40% in First Week of Release

Overall, the Windows OS continued to lose share globally while Apple's Mac OS X picked up most of that loss, according to Net Applications

Windows 7's market share surged nearly 40 percent in the week following its release, according to Web measurement company Net Applications.

Overall, Windows continued to lose share globally, dropping 0.23 of a percentage point during October, while Apple's Mac OS X picked up most of that loss, gaining 0.15 of a point to finish the month near 5.3 percent, its highest ever.

For the week after Microsoft launched Windows 7 on Oct. 22, the new operating system's share averaged 2.66 percent, a jump of more than 39 percent over the 1.91 percent average for the part of October prior to its retail release.

Windows 7's peak of 3.48 percent on Saturday, Oct. 31, represented an even larger 82 percent increase over the average of Oct. 1 through Oct. 22. For the month, Windows 7 finished with a market share of 2.15 percent, up 41 percent over the 1.52 percent for September. The numbers from Net Applications mean that about one in every 44 personal computers was running Windows 7 last month.

But some countries boast a much higher Windows 7 share, Net Applications said. "Upon analysis of global Windows 7 usage share, we noticed a distinct pattern," the company said in a note posted on its site. "Russia and many Eastern European countries already have significant share of Windows 7 usage. We are sure these are all properly licensed users."

The tongue-in-cheek comment was well taken: Of the top 25 countries by Windows 7 usage, 17 are in Eastern Europe or formerly part of the U.S.S.R. Slovenia, where 7.8 percent of the computers ran Windows 7 last month, led the list, followed by Lithuania in the No. 3 spot (6.5 percent), Rumania as No 4 (6 percent) and Latvia at No. 5 (6 percent). In Russia, at No. 21, 4.2 percent of all machines used Windows 7.

Net Applications' implication -- that the Windows 7 share in Eastern Europe is due to counterfeit copies -- is backed up by data from a May 2009 report generated by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), an industry-backed anti-piracy organization, and research firm IDC. In 2008, the piracy rate in Central and Eastern Europe was the highest of all seven regions the BSA and IDC tracked.

Slovenia's piracy rate -- the estimated percentage of all software in use that is not legally licensed -- was 47 percent last year, more than double the rate in the U.S. Lithuania, Rumania, Latvia and Russia, meanwhile, had piracy rates of 54 percent, 66 percent, 56 percent and 68 percent, respectively.

However Windows 7 was acquired -- legally or not -- its increase was outweighed by a steeper-than-usual decline in Windows XP last month. The eight-year-old operating system lost 0.92 percentage point in October, significantly more than the 0.64 point average loss each month during the past year, falling to 70.6 percent.

Vista rebounded from September, when it fell for the first time in more than two years. Vista's October share of 18.77 percent, however, was still off its record of 18.8 percent in August.

Windows' overall share dropped 0.23 of a percentage point to 92.5 percent. Microsoft's OS has lost about two and a half share points in the last year.

As it has repeatedly, Mac OS X was the recipient of most of the users lost to Microsoft: Apple's operating system climbed by 0.15 of a percentage point to end October at 5.27 percent, a new record and only the second time it's finished above 5 percent since Net Applications revised its methodology in June.

Net Applications Measures Operating System usage by tracking the machines that surf to the 40,000 sites it monitors for clients, which results in a pool of about 160 million unique visitors per month. It weights share by the estimated size of each country's Internet population.

Source:

http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/windows-7-share-surges-40-in-first-week-release-471

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Windows 7 Compatible? Microsoft Provides Answers

Redmond is using online tools and Web sites to help consumers ensure computers can run new version of Windows OS.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has introduced an online service designed to let consumers know whether their PCs are capable of running the company's new Windows 7 operating system.

The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, as the service is called, will scan a user's hardware to determine if it meets Windows 7 system requirements.

It will also provide recommendations on which version of Windows 7 is the best fit for a particular system, and sniff out potential incompatibilities with third-party peripherals.

"If an issue can be resolved, it suggests the next steps for you to take before installing Windows 7," said Microsoft VP Mark Relph, in a blog post Tuesday.

Windows 7, which will be released to consumers Thursday, comes in several home and business editions. Some are engineered to run on higher-end 64-bit processors.

Microsoft is also hosting a Web site, called the Windows 7 Compatibility Center, that lists third-party hardware and software products that have been certified as compatible with the new operating system. "The site goes beyond just telling you what will or will not work.

It also provides links to drivers and software updates to help get your PC running with the latest software," said Relph.

That Microsoft is taking Windows 7 compatibility seriously is hardly a surprise. Conflicts with third-party peripherals and applications plagued Vista, Windows 7's predecessor, in the weeks following its release in January, 2007.

Partly as a result, Vista failed to win the hearts and minds of tech enthusiasts and was virtually shunned by the enterprise market, where only a handful of large enterprises upgraded to Vista from Windows XP.

Microsoft can ill-afford a repeat performance with Windows 7, as the company's software sales have slumped badly in recent quarters.

Windows 7 hits online shops like Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) and electronics retailers, including Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), beginning Thursday.

The full version of Windows 7 Professional is $299, with upgrades going for $199. Windows 7 Ultimate is priced at $319, with the upgrade version at $219. The full version of Windows 7 Home Premium is priced at $199, with an upgrade from Vista or XP costing $119.

Source:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220800075&subSection=News

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