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Firefox Operating Systems Software The Internet Windows

Most Firefox Users Still Running Windows 7 (softpedia.com) 210

Microsoft is pushing hard for Windows 10 to become the operating system of choice for everyone across the world, but this isn't happening just yet, as Windows 7 keeps dominating the desktop market. From a report on Softpedia: The Firefox Hardware Report published recently by Mozilla shows that Windows 7 is the number one browser for users running the company's browser, with a share of 44.86 percent, followed by Windows 10 with 25.67 percent. Seeing Windows 7 dominating the desktop OS charts is not surprising, but on the other hand, it's living proof that Microsoft will really have a hard time moving users to Windows 10 before 2020 when it reaches end of support. Microsoft's Windows 10, however, already improved substantially since its launch in 2015, mostly thanks to the free upgrade offer targeting Windows 7 and 8.1 users, but this still isn't enough to become the number one choice for PC users.
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Most Firefox Users Still Running Windows 7

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  • Missing the point (Score:5, Insightful)

    by UnknowingFool ( 672806 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @12:28PM (#53514693)

    Microsoft's Windows 10, however, already improved substantially since its launch in 2015, mostly thanks to the free upgrade offer targeting Windows 7 and 8.1 users, but this still isn't enough to become the number one choice for PC users.

    Quality isn't really a problem for Windows 10 as to why people are not upgrading Windows 7. While some drivers will eventually be updated for Windows 10, some of the "features" like telemetry are the problem. That and how MS forced updates on people involving trickery.

    • by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @12:49PM (#53514895) Homepage

      Yep, and the way you never know what sort of OS you'll be running tomorrow.

      MS has given themselves total control over your computer. You have no say in the matter.

      Obviously they're not going to delete all your files, but ... what happens if they push out a bad update and everybody's machine is out of action for a week?

      What happens if they decide a new monthly subscription model is the way forward for Windows "professional" users? Insert credit card...?

      • Excellent points. As a windows user since 3.0, I finally reached my limit and installed Linux Mint on my personal machines. LM has some issues (grumblesoundgrumble), but the overall annoyance level is clearly lower than win10.

        I can see the subscription model for windows up by 2020 - time to get out now.

      • Re:Missing the point (Score:5, Interesting)

        by ArhcAngel ( 247594 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @02:30PM (#53515721)

        what happens if they push out a bad update and everybody's machine is out of action for a week?

        You mean like last week? [arstechnica.com]
        I was scratching my head for an hour trying to figure out why my wife's laptop showed it connected to the AP but not the internet. I felt really dumb once I figured it out. Then I read this story and got really mad. All the while happily connected to Steam playing games on my Win 7 desktop running Waterfox [waterfoxproject.org] (64 bit FF fork). And of course since it took out DHCP there's no way for the average person to connect to get the patch!

      • Obviously they're not going to delete all your files, but ...

        I don't see how the last part of your statement follows from the "Obviously" part. Please elaborate.

    • Re:Missing the point (Score:5, Interesting)

      by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @12:51PM (#53514919) Journal

      That and how MS forced updates on people involving trickery.

      Bingo. The flat-out trickery and subterfuge that was used to force the upgrade on people was the most damning indictment of why people shouldn't upgrade.

      If they have to trick you into doing it, chances are it's not in your best interest.

    • by emil ( 695 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @12:51PM (#53514921)

      Microsoft removed the cheesy [extremetech.com] Aero interface for one reason only: mobile devices could not run it efficiently.

      As Microsoft's mobile strategy has utterly failed, Windows 8 and 10 users are forced into a mobile-friendly UI for no purpose whatsoever.

      The market objects.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Yeah, the trickery and spying are the problem for me. And I suspect that's probably the case for a lot of Firefox users.

      Look, I use Firefox because I'm generally privacy-conscious. I don't want a browser that phones home to Google all the time. I definitely don't want a broken browser [brokenbrowser.com] made by Microsoft. I use Firefox because it allows me to (provably) disable third-party communications, I can fine tune which features are enabled and turn off the ones I feel may pose a security threat, and it has a solid bas

      • Look, I use Firefox because I'm generally privacy-conscious. I don't want a browser that phones home to Google all the time. I definitely don't want a broken browser made by Microsoft. I use Firefox because it allows me to (provably) disable third-party communications, I can fine tune which features are enabled and turn off the ones I feel may pose a security threat, and it has a solid base of plugins to help create a more secure environment.

        Firefox talks the talk about privacy but makes it virtually impossible to achieve. Sheer volume of "call home" excuses in Firefox is breathtaking. Their own expansive about:config privacy documentation tweak guide is as incomplete as it is ridiculously long and convoluted to follow.

        If they really gave a shit they would provide usable privacy options as in options that mortal people can actually manage.

        Such as:

        "Never call home for any reason".
        "Ask me before calling home"
        "Automatically call home for x class

    • by nnull ( 1148259 )
      A lot of PLC software stopped working on Windows 10. Specifically Siemens Step software that just utterly pisses on you for trying (I don't know if they fixed it, I run it in vmware). So there's quite a few reasons why people will not install Windows 10. I've completely moved away from Windows.
    • No No No (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      The reason that people are NOT upgrading to Windows 10 especially from Windows 7 are many. It is a multifaceted whole.

      • - There's no need. Windows 7 suites their needs just fine and they have no need to replace their OS until they buy a new machine.
      • - Windows 10 now costs a non-trivial amount to upgrade an existing machine.
      • - Upon purchasing a new machine, people do not like the new look, which goes way beyond just the Start Menu. Literally everything has been moved/re-arranged and it is beyond cumbersome to fi
    • by Anonymous Coward

      There's a lot that I like in Windows 10 but there's SO MUCH MORE ASININE FUCKERY that you can't get rid of that just makes it teeth-gratingly irritating to use

      Case in point: There's this insidious piece of trash called the Windows Game Bar, fine, cool... cool... how do I rid myself of this unwanted plague? Oh well, simply LOG IN to the Microsoft XBox app and disable it ...but what if you don't have an account? Then make one and log in and then disable it. Riiiiiight

      OKAY well lookie here there are some power

    • You have a valid point - I use Win10 at home and I'm not sure what "telemetry" really is (its extent, reach, etc). Win10 seems good to me, fast, it works - my PC was a Free upgrade from Win7. Sure there are a few hiccups here an there - but nothing to the level of say my iPhone which occasionally freezes for 15-30 seconds at a time. Plenty of things to like & dislike such as searching for "Event Viewer" and having Bing results including Plane Ticket to Event.

      Which makes me wonder what the Corporat

    • Given Microsoft's trickery in attempting people to download Win10, I'll stay away from it.

      It's sad. When I go to a store and see the new PCs, part of me wants to buy the latest. However, when I see "Win 10" listed as the OS, there is NO WAY I will buy a PC with that operating system.

      So... I stay with my Win7 systems and have migrated another laptop to Linux Mint, in preparation for completely pulling the plug on Microsoft operating systems once Win7 is no longer usable.

      If Microsoft would keep the UI simpl

    • I bought the GPD Win palmtop PC (not for games, really, but there was no alternative with an x86 CPU and this form factor and my Viliv N5 is a bit slow). It came with Windows 10. After failing to make Windows 8 work on it (sound driver didn't work properly and there was no display of remaining battery charge - kinda important for a mobile device) I had to go back to Windows 10 and spend a few days making it not send data to Microsoft and disabling updates (so my settings stay).

      As an OS, Windows 10 is not th

  • by anthony_greer ( 2623521 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @12:29PM (#53514713)

    It is far and away better than it was a year and a half ago, but Win 10 still has a ways to go before it is ready for the "it just has to work all the time" workloads of many with demanding workloads. It is stable, but they need to really finish the transition from old to new completely, and add proper GPO management around new features like the Windows Settings app that is replacing control panel a little more with each feature update. Give it another 6 months or so and it will be there I think.

  • 7 works (Score:5, Insightful)

    by turkeydance ( 1266624 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @12:30PM (#53514721)
    10 sometimes
  • by Spy Handler ( 822350 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @12:33PM (#53514743) Homepage Journal

    One of my desktops is a Phenom triple-core I built in 2009. It's kinda underpowered for newer Windows versions so I still have XP (service pack 3) running on it.

    It runs like a champ by the way, still quite snappy. I used to run Google Chrome on it, but some time last year it started spamming me with "Upgrade your windows, Chrome no longer blah blah" message so I uninstalled Chrome and put Firefox on it. Runs great, happy with the setup.

    • by Merk42 ( 1906718 )
      What do you use it for? I'm curious why you'd leave a vulnerable OS connected to the Internet rather than using Linux (or some more recent, supported, version of Windows)
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        WinXP isnt a "vulnerable OS" is you do the wepos registry mod to it. Google is your Friend. essentially the wepos mod makes your xp install look like one of the embedded windows xp installs that are still out there in the wild. think of ATM and other POS uses.There are still regular batches of monthly updates coming out for XP after you make this mod to your system.

    • by Skuld-Chan ( 302449 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @02:18PM (#53515637)

      I enjoy running your copy of XP too ;). I have to admit - your old machine is a weak link in my botnet though - especially as everyone else likes using it too.

    • by antdude ( 79039 )

      Does Mozilla still support Windows XP SP3 for its products? I thought they dropped that OS support recently. I used to run an updated 14 years old 32-bit Windows XP Pro SP3 too until my old Seagate SATA HDD died due to its clicks of death back in 10/22/2016 in the early mawning hours. I was forced to get a new SATA HDD and install a new Windows (64-bit 7 HPE SP1 this time). That's OK. It was way overdue to start from scratch especially when I stopped doing backups of everything (only do unrecoverable data

  • by Type44Q ( 1233630 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @12:40PM (#53514805)

    ...shows that Windows 7 is the number one browser

    Sure thing, Manesh.

    • Worse - it's in the cited article as well. Didn't the submitter (msmash) bother to read it first, or is this just karma whoring.

      The Firefox Hardware Report published recently by Mozilla shows that Windows 7 is the number one browser for users running the company’s browser, with a share of 44.86 percent, followed by Windows 10 with 25.67 percent.

      How hard would it have been to link to the actual report [mozilla.com], which doesn't claim that Windows 7 is a browser?

  • by AndyKron ( 937105 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @12:41PM (#53514811)
    I run Firefox on Win7 at work and home. Use Android for the mobile though.
  • Poor 3rd party link (Score:5, Informative)

    by marcle ( 1575627 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @12:43PM (#53514839)

    This link is to a badly written Softpedia article, which has the link to the actual Mozilla report.
    Why couldn 't Slashdot link to the original report? It's very informative.
    The Softpedia article adds no information, and sounds like the writer is a non-native English speaker.

  • by PPH ( 736903 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @12:43PM (#53514841)

    Windows 10: Do not want [pandawhale.com]

  • Considering most laptops have a 3 year life span because people buy the cheapest one on the market IE HP/Compaq. They'll be forced to buy a Win10 laptop anyway. Either use it or move to Linux.
  • just think, in 85 more releases they will be back up to windows 95, i will wait for windows 95 to be released before i buy another windows OS
  • Only 77% have Flash? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gQuigs ( 913879 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @01:04PM (#53515033) Homepage

    My biggest surprise is that only 77% have Flash installed. That either means users don't need Flash any more on the desktop or Mozilla has a bigger mobile usage than I think... Either way I think it's good.

    https://metrics.mozilla.com/fi... [mozilla.com]

    • I'm not sure how you concluded that 77% = nobody.

      Sounds like just about every telemetry report companies use to "prove" that useful features need to be removed by force.

      • by gQuigs ( 913879 )

        The conventional wisdom (that I've been exposed to) would say that on desktops the Flash marketshare would be >95%. Most of that "wisdom" may have come from Adobe itself: https://www.adobe.com/mena_en/... [adobe.com] (2011 time frame too).

        I knew that Flash was being used less, I just didn't realize a substantial install base didn't have it. Or in other words 23% != nobody.

  • by Thyamine ( 531612 ) <thyamine@NOsPAm.ofdragons.com> on Monday December 19, 2016 @01:07PM (#53515061) Homepage Journal
    People running Firefox are users who are more aware than standard users. They have gone out and downloaded a non-standard (for not tech people) browser and are using it. It makes sense that they are more likely aware of their OS, and what they would want or not want; as well as able to avoid the forced Windows 10 upgrade many techies were forced into.
  • Right. "Free upgrade offer".

    I'll have to remember that phrase next time I want to forcibly coerce someone to do something that they don't want.

  • Microsoft is pushing hard for Windows 10 to become the operating system of choice for everyone across the world

    I wanna continue to run Linux.

  • to "convince" the hold-outs.

    Anybody who knows Windows at all knows you have to periodically reinstall the operating system, and you really don't want to skip the security updates.

    As best I can tell, it is now impossible to reinstall 32 bit Windows updates, because the first time you run it, the master list of all updates exceeds the maximum possible memory for 32 bit operating systems. It might still be possible to - slowly - get through it with automatic updates every night for a week, but I wouldn't bet o

    • by AVryhof ( 142320 )

      Get this, and keep it on your NAS.

      https://support.microsoft.com/... [microsoft.com]

      • by taustin ( 171655 )

        I'll take another look at it. I haven't have all that much success with convenience roll-ups in the past. I firmly believe this is intentional on Microsoft's part.

  • Microsoft's Windows 10, however, already improved substantially since its launch in 2015..

    'Improved' for the user, or have they just 'improved' their spyware/adware/malware/surveillance/privacy-invasion software? I'll never use it willingly until it's 100% free of all the above. I'd rather use some flavor of Linux, even if that means I lose access to some software and some functionality. Fascism is a real thing, and even a corporation can be Fascist in how they conduct themselves; this does not however mean that we end-users must put up with corporate Fascism.

  • Windows 10 won't be popular until it stops restarting without asking users.

  • by WaffleMonster ( 969671 ) on Monday December 19, 2016 @03:13PM (#53516011)

    Win10 is not even on my radar. As long as it is loaded with malware and forced updates feature set is irrelevant.

    • Win10 is not even on my radar. As long as it is loaded with malware and forced updates feature set is irrelevant.

      I don't think the phoning home is ever going to stop. So I wonder what you are going to do when the security updates for Windows 7 finally stop.

  • There will always be people running old computers that should NOT run a new OS. Many, if not most of you don't remember when low end computers had 128MB or 256MB of RAM when Windows XP was first released. Needless to say, Windows XP was painfully slow for those who decided to pay to upgrade their computers to XP back in 2001-2002. When faced with "too little RAM" as the reason for the performance issues with XP, you had people who either stuck with Windows 98 or ME, or they upgraded their computers,

  • It's 2016. Why is anyone still running *any* version of Windows outside of some backward, locked-down corporate environment? I know there are little gamer kiddies that are desperate for compatibility with their proprietary software, but outside of that, I honestly don't understand. I don't know anyone who uses Windows myself. The people I know who refuse to use some variant of Linux (including Chrome OS and Android, of course), all use Mac OS. I can only assume this is *still* due to Microsoft's unethi

    • Why?
      Because various gadgets' software often require Windows or a Mac to function. If they subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud, they'll be on Windows or a Mac (gimp is NOT a Photoshop replacement, and there is no F/OSS photo processing/lightroom software as good and easy to use as Lightroom). If they're into 3D gaming (3D Vision) they'll be running Windows. If they're running $GameNotOnSteam, they'll be running on Windows rather than mess with Linux + Crossover Office and find it doesn't work out of the box.

    • 1. Games (I may not be a "gamer", but I like to play games once in a while)
      2. Windows-only software. I use Multisim for drawing circuit diagrams. It does not work on Linux.
      3. Hardware compatibility. Find me a clamshell UMPC with x86 CPU (so I can use Wine) that completely supports Linux. I have a Viliv N5 with 1GB RAM and Windows XP (too little RAM for newer Windows). I tried installing Linux on it, but I could not get it to be stable.

  • Does this study say something about Firefox users, or does it say something about Windows users?

    Maybe Firefox users are more likely to use Windows 7, but that doesn't mean that Chrome users are likewise inclined.

    A person's browser choice says something about them.
    - Edge - probably a person who doesn't know how to switch to a different browser, or doesn't know why one would want to.
    - IE - probably a similar person, who is using an older computer.
    - Firefox - probably more security-conscious than most
    - Chrome

  • ...notably excluding the one's they DON'T:
    https://blogs.windows.com/wind... [windows.com]
    Scroll down to "Known Issues."

    Whatever happened to the concept of "testing" and "fixing" defects ("bugs") in code. Apparently, end-users are not as eager to be willing to be guinea pigs for untested code, not that they have to PAY for this kind of punishment.

    Remember: If the product is claimed to be "Free," YOU are the product!

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