By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Microsoft - Windows 8 OutSelling Windows 7 !!! W7 over 670m licenses sold so far!

pokoko on 29 October 2012

I don't know that I would directly compare Windows 7 and Windows 8 as far as demand. After Vista, people were ecstatic over Windows 7 and bought it in droves even with the higher price. A lot of people and especially businesses had skipped Vista completely and were thus upgrading from XP. It wasn't just huge at launch, it built momentum as people began to trust Microsoft a bit more based on the positive press about Windows 7. Vista had angered a lot of people. I think with Windows 8, we're seeing a lot of upgrades based on how cheap it is, as Windows 7 satisfaction was pretty solid. I think it's less excitement and more, "sure, why not." The exception would be the true-blue Microsoft fan who buys everything Microsoft makes and wants all their stuff connected.

I don't know about anyone else, but personally, I don't want everything I own to be connected under one account. I don't like that at all, especially when some devices are mobile. If you think Windows LIVE accounts (a term Microsoft no longer uses, I know) were big targets before, it's going to get even worse.

Even without that, I refuse to buy things because they match with other things I own. I'd much rather select the best products based on their own merits.



Around the Network
disolitude on 29 October 2012
mothman said:
I wonder how many people had to take their copy back to the store like I did. I needed a full license because I was forced to reformat my hard drive to get it to work again. I was assured that I'd bought a full license but once I'd installed it, it asked for another license key during activation. When I put my key in again it told me the license key was only for upgrades not clean installs.

Now I have a 30 day eval of Windows 8 until Tiger Direct gets their OEM licenses that Microsoft hasn't bothered to ship yet. The only reason I bought it was because it was cheaper than buying Windows 7 and my son can play games on it and he can't on Linux. The Futureshop I bought it from told me I was the only one to buy a copy on Friday when I returned mine. Ballmer's just blowing smoke.

Anyway, I can't see a lot of people going for it. People used to XP and Windows 7 won't be able to find Sweet FA on Windows 8, it's a totally different paradigm.

You can do a quick registry edit that takes 10 seconds to fix this upgrade/clean install fiasco.



Slimebeast on 29 October 2012
yum123 said:
I think everyone is overlooking the most important factor here. The Price

Windows 8 is by far the cheapest OS microsoft has released. its $89 and $50 for an upgrade

where as the basic windows 7 was I think $149 on release
these are NZD

Wait a minute. Only $89 for a full version to install on a fresh new system, not an OEM or upgrade version?



xLeftyx on 29 October 2012

Smartphone operating systems

IDC looked at global smartphone shipments in Q2 2012, placing Android well out in front in terms of operating system share:


Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, August 8, 2012

Gartner's analysis of global Q2 2012 smartphone sales also shows the Android operating system dominating market share:


Source: Gartner (August 2012)

Nielsen's figures for Q2 2012 in the US show Android as the leading OS with 51.8% of all currently-owned smartphones, followed by Apple's iOS at 34.3% and the RIM OS at 8.1%:


Source: Nielsen (July 2012)

They also note that the dominance of Android and iOS is even greater among more recent smartphone purchases.

A comScore survey from December 2011 for the US gives the following figures for the operating system market:


Source: comScore (February 2012)

Smartphone manufacturers

July 2012 data from IDC for worldwide smartphone sales put Apple and Samsung phones on top for Q2 2012:


Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, July 26, 2012

Apple themselves announced they sold over 37 million iPhones in Q4 2011. IDC also provide a chart showing how market share has changed across recent quarters:

 



disolitude on 29 October 2012
Slimebeast said:
yum123 said:
I think everyone is overlooking the most important factor here. The Price

Windows 8 is by far the cheapest OS microsoft has released. its $89 and $50 for an upgrade

where as the basic windows 7 was I think $149 on release
these are NZD

Wait a minute. Only $89 for a full version to install on a fresh new system, not an OEM or upgrade version?

He's wrong...well maybe not as he may be from Australia or something. But in North America Win 8 pro Upgrade download is 39.99. Upgrade Pro DVD is 69.99, new OEM license for Windows 8 is 99 bucks and Windows 8 pro is 149.

so compared to windows 7

69 - upgrade

99 - windows 7 home

149 - windows 7 pro

Looks right to me.



Around the Network
yum123 on 29 October 2012
Slimebeast said:
yum123 said:
I think everyone is overlooking the most important factor here. The Price

Windows 8 is by far the cheapest OS microsoft has released. its $89 and $50 for an upgrade

where as the basic windows 7 was I think $149 on release
these are NZD

Wait a minute. Only $89 for a full version to install on a fresh new system, not an OEM or upgrade version?

My bad there are upgrade and OEM but the price comparing site im looking at pricespy.co.nz Windows 7 is still far more expensive even oem version. entry is definitely cheaper for windows 8. Hell it even goes down to $19 folling this http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=149142&page=1#



Slimebeast on 29 October 2012
disolitude said:
Slimebeast said:
yum123 said:
I think everyone is overlooking the most important factor here. The Price

Windows 8 is by far the cheapest OS microsoft has released. its $89 and $50 for an upgrade

where as the basic windows 7 was I think $149 on release
these are NZD

Wait a minute. Only $89 for a full version to install on a fresh new system, not an OEM or upgrade version?

He's wrong...well maybe not as he may be from Australia or something. But in North America Win 8 pro Upgrade download is 39.99. Upgrade Pro DVD is 69.99, new OEM license for Windows 8 is 99 bucks and Windows 8 pro is 149.

so compared to windows 7

69 - upgrade

99 - windows 7 home

149 - windows 7 pro

Looks right to me.

So which one should a guy like me buy, if I wanted to build my own system and perhaps have the ability to reinstall the OS on a new HDD down the road?

You were babbling something about registry keys, has that something to do with the choise of Windows version (Retail, OEM or Upgrade)?

Even though I'm a PC guy I never went through this process of actively buying or pirating an OS since the days of Windows 3.11 or something. My current OS is Windows XP which was pre-installed on a computer I got from work, and later I called Microsoft to get it to work on my new (current) system I built in 2008.



superchunk on 29 October 2012
Slimebeast said:

So which one should a guy like me buy, if I wanted to build my own system and perhaps have the ability to reinstall the OS on a new HDD down the road?

You were babbling something about registry keys, has that something to do with the choise of Windows version (Retail, OEM or Upgrade)?

Even though I'm a PC guy I never went through this process of actively buying or pirating an OS since the days of Windows 3.11 or something. My current OS is Windows XP which was pre-installed on a computer I got from work, and later I called Microsoft to get it to work on my new (current) system I built in 2008.


I always buy the full version of Pro for system builders.

Technically, you can only install on one computer, but if you all your PCs you'll still be fine. When you call MS just make sure to say its only on one PC and you are simply replacing a HDD or refresh etc. They only know the number of times its been registered... nothing about hardware or user or anything else.



Slimebeast on 29 October 2012
superchunk said:
Slimebeast said:

So which one should a guy like me buy, if I wanted to build my own system and perhaps have the ability to reinstall the OS on a new HDD down the road?

You were babbling something about registry keys, has that something to do with the choise of Windows version (Retail, OEM or Upgrade)?

Even though I'm a PC guy I never went through this process of actively buying or pirating an OS since the days of Windows 3.11 or something. My current OS is Windows XP which was pre-installed on a computer I got from work, and later I called Microsoft to get it to work on my new (current) system I built in 2008.


I always buy the full version of Pro for system builders.

Technically, you can only install on one computer, but if you all your PCs you'll still be fine. When you call MS just make sure to say its only on one PC and you are simply replacing a HDD or refresh etc. They only know the number of times its been registered... nothing about hardware or user or anything else.

Yeah that's the safest but I hate spending unneccesary money.

I want the cheapest possible version.

Btw, wouldn't your strategy work with an OEM version? It worked for me in 2008. I called MS and said exactly what you wrote and they were very friendly and gave me a new key.



mothman on 29 October 2012
disolitude said:
mothman said:
I wonder how many people had to take their copy back to the store like I did. I needed a full license because I was forced to reformat my hard drive to get it to work again. I was assured that I'd bought a full license but once I'd installed it, it asked for another license key during activation. When I put my key in again it told me the license key was only for upgrades not clean installs.

Now I have a 30 day eval of Windows 8 until Tiger Direct gets their OEM licenses that Microsoft hasn't bothered to ship yet. The only reason I bought it was because it was cheaper than buying Windows 7 and my son can play games on it and he can't on Linux. The Futureshop I bought it from told me I was the only one to buy a copy on Friday when I returned mine. Ballmer's just blowing smoke.

Anyway, I can't see a lot of people going for it. People used to XP and Windows 7 won't be able to find Sweet FA on Windows 8, it's a totally different paradigm.

You can do a quick registry edit that takes 10 seconds to fix this upgrade/clean install fiasco.

I wish I'd known that before I took it back and paid 109 bucks for the pro OEM from Tiger. I did a lot of googling and came up empty.