Some interesting OS stats

from WinCustomize Forums
In the last month we at Winstep have noticed a steep increment in the number of NT technology users (NT/2000/XP) vs Win9x users (I think Brad will be able to vouch for this too).

Not long ago only about 15-20% of users were running NT or Win 2000. With the release of XP, this percentage has climbed up to 40% (vs 46% of Win9x users - the remaining 14% are either unknown or using a non-Windows OS).

This is very good news - it means that most Windows users out there are quickly leaving the Win9x code base for the rock solid NT code base (therefore leaving behind resource and instability problems for good!).

For us, who develop Windows customization solutions, this is even better news.

Because of the graphical nature of our programs, it was very easy to run out of resources under Win9x if you loaded a lot of skinnable applications at the same time (and then it would be the applications themselves that got blamed, not the OS and its limitations). The unification of Windows into a single, stable, code base like XP also makes our life easier and our programs smaller - once the migration is complete, we will no longer have to support obsolete ways of doing things because the different code bases handled things quite differently.

As if by magic, our applications will apparently be a lot stable too - because external applications can no longer interfere with our programs in very subtle ways.

So, apart from the XP activation debate, I personally welcome this OS with open arms - and applaud the upcoming death of the Win9x code base. In the end this will benefit all of us - developers and users alike. Specially when users realize they don't have to reboot their OS's every 3 days anymore, just to keep their systems stable.

Jorge Coelho
NextSTART 2.80 - A user interface you can actually use!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies
IRC Chat: #winstep on AustNet
6,632 views 23 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Although I agree that the faster the majority of users move to a NT based kernel the better, I don't think it will happen so quickly. I think your users might contain a great deal higher percentage of early adopters than the normal population. Personally I would love to be on XP right now but I'm going to wait 6 months after release to ensure everything functions properly. Every three days huh, I think I average three times a day on 98SE....
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The bad news is that a large percentage of those XP users are probably pirating it. Why? Sales and pre-loads of XP aren't nearly high enough to account for those numbers (and I agree with your numbers).

So if you're trying to sell software, the only ones who really count are the people who buy software.
DeskScapes - Bring your desktop background to life.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I know a lot of people who are just moving to Windows 2000 now. They want stability, but they don't want XP, and so they are choosing Win2K.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Stability eluded me even in Win2000, usually locking up once or twice a day....[I tried every permutation of proggy running, shells etc...but losing wowexec.exe was the last straw [It just eventually failed to load]...some of my 'must-use' proggies were 16bit...[even ACAD2000 has a 16bit installer...[twits]].
Since switching to XP, with exactly identical hardware and software, just a new OS, I have finally found stability.
Now and then a proggy will politely mention that it needs to go to the bathroom [shut down], but it always comes back [after washing its hands] and the OS is not affected.

To me, this is the first OS from Microsoft that is actually worthy of payment.
In the past, the systems were great value....heaps of bugs for your bucks.
Now, with XP, you actually get what they claim to be selling.....an OS....
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Brad, I agree that a large percentage of early XP adopters are using pirated versions of the OS (and personally I am convinced one of the reasons is the activation mess, which is now backfiring on MS) but I don't agree that these people will not buy other software just because they are using a pirated version of the OS. For starters, there is a huge price difference between XP and the majority of shareware programs out there.

I obviously do not condone piracy in any way or form, but I do understand the frustration of some of these people who have legitimally bought God knows how many versions of Windows over time (which they aren't using anymore) only to be penalized by MS - and I think you have written about this too, so you know what I mean.

One of the golden rules of the shareware business is not to let legitimate customers suffer because of piracy (ie.; don't make it so convoluted to register that actually using a pirated version is easier - and specially never make legit customers angry in your efforts to stop piracy). Another golden rule is not to tie a registration to a specific hardware configuration - people change their systems all the time, and you end up spending more time (and money) providing new keys than actually answering real support email. The former will also piss customers off - what happens to the software they paid for if you go out of business (ok, hard to happen with MS, but...), what if they are unable to contact you, etc...

Microsoft decided to break both the above rules. They did so at their peril - for instance, personally I will stick with Win 2000 until they realize their mistake and backtrack (fingers crossed )

Jorge Coelho
NextSTART 2.80 - A user interface you can actually use!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies
IRC Chat: #winstep on AustNet
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I wonder how that remaining 14% runs NextStart et al then, if they're not on Windows.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'll have to go with Bill on that one. It will take yet another couple of years before the majority abandons the Win9x platform. People who would use such program like NextSart or Wndowblinds are also the kind who would most likely upgrade quickly, either a legal or a pirated version. It's like the resolution surveys, all surveys done on the skins sites show that most people use 1024, but for the avarage computer user, 800x600 is still vastly used (around 75%). Our communities are not a good indicator of the general computer population.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
w2k uptime 19 days 8 hours 3 minutes........I'd called that pretty stable Jafo.....
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ah, uptime. Luxury problems. Ya'll running servers or what? I switch my machine off when I don't use it. Saves power, which is good for the environment and good for the finances too. What's the use in having your machine on for twenty days? Massive rendering?

(not specifically aimed at Koasati, just wondering)
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well crae not all of us have an ancient powerdraining P75 ya know
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Craeonics, from those 14%, roughly 11% are unknown, ie.; it was impossible, for some reason, to determine what OS they were running - doesn't mean they are not using some version of Windows.

From the remaining 3%, some are running a Mac, others Linux, even others Win 3.x (1.61%!!), etc... Some of them might use those OS's at work (and a PC at home or vice-versa), or be people just passing by, etc...

Jorge Coelho
NextSTART 2.80 - A user interface you can actually use!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies
IRC Chat: #winstep on AustNet
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Koasati...
2K and my system did not get along.....the longest I had it running without freezing was about 2 days. Sometimes it would go belly-up 3 or 4 times in a day and have to be cold-booted.

XP is now 5 days, 14 hrs, 46 mins....on exactly the same hardware....and now probs at all....
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Jafo, out of curiosity: did you do a clean install of W2k or did you install it on top of a previous Win9x version?
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Jafo
and now probs at all

and 'no' probs at all.............maybe hehe
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
WinCustomize's stats for this week:

Win2K/XP: 40%
Win98: 28%
Other: 15%
WinME: 12%
WinNT: 3%
Win95 1.2%
Linux: .5%

Another interesting one: 74% of users on this site are running at least 1024x768.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yes, Frogboy, as I said above.
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
JcR....clean installs...[and more than one...3 in fact, on different removable hard drive caddies...
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Weird, Jafo... Probably some driver problem.

I was stubbornly sticking to Win9x until Win2K came out. I installed it so I could dual-boot between the two OSs, and, as soon as I had all my hardware working in the new OS (and I have a lot of stuff in this machine, some so exotic I even helped beta test the drivers) I switched to Win2k and never looked back.

I don't think Win2k ever gave me problems. Only reason I reboot is to install new stuff or things like that. For me it's the best MS OS ever!
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
JcR....exactly the identical Computer/hardware....same graphic card, same ram, same cpu, same audio, same tv card, same modem, same Promise Ide expansion card, same monitor, same mouse, same printer, same scanner, same web cam, same burner, same CD rom, same 3 Physical hard drives, same IDE hardware connections, same PCI slot usage, and all of the same, identical Software.

Just the OS.....that's the only change.

XP is definitely better on my machine....no question, no argument, no ifs, no buts....
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
paxx - I'll have to go with Bill on that one. It will take yet another couple of years before the majority abandons the Win9x platform.

i use win2k at home for all my serious work, and i will use it for my games to once i get a decent 3D graphics card it will talk to.

however, at work i use win98, and there is no chance of getting a better OS, although i would really like one. i waste SO much time with this machine giving up on me.

however, it is only a few months ago that my machine was upgraded from win95.

i suspect there a quite a lot of people in the same sort of position. machines they use, but cannot get upgraded to a better OS, since it would cost money, and isnt perceived as a worthwhile investment.
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Feline said > I'll have to go with Bill on that one. It will take yet another couple of years before the majority abandons the Win9x platform.

Actually, Feline, XP/Win2k users are only 6% away from becoming the majority (read the stats above), and catching up fast. Once this happens, more and more software will be developed that runs on Win2k/XP only (or has important features that only work on these two OSs). This, in turn, will accelerate the rapid decline of the Win9x codebase.

It may take years before the Win9x user base becomes meaningless, true - some people are still running Windows 3.x, after all! - but it will eventually get to a point where most applications will abandon support for Win9x. This is what happened when Win95 came out and replaced Windows 3.x.
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
the one thing we have to look at is, that there is a giant number of computer users that are still on the win 3.x platforms. Look at the industrial, banking, medical, and etc industry. They are all in the process of moving into the 19th century with new computers, but unfortunatly the computers they are installing are mostly win 98 machines, so soon I can see a boost of win 98 machines. As the home users convert to win2k/xp, the commercial users will move to win98. It seems a lot of software the manufacturing industry uses is still not even win 95 compatible.

This is a very scary thought that the average home user is a decade above the commercial world. But yes the win2k/xp platforms will overtake the home users with the exception of people with machines that cannot handle it, and hopefully the gaming community will start to develop win2k compatible games
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Mobius, if you call 1.6% a giant number of users, well...

Anyway, you must surelly agree that comercial users are the last ones interested in customizing their Windows PC - so, for us, those 1.6% of users still running Win 3.x are, unfortunately, completely irrelevant.