The Real-World State of Windows Use 374
snydeq writes "Performance and metrics researcher Devil Mountain Software has released an array of real-world Windows use data as compiled by its exo.performance.network, a community-based monitoring tool that receives real-time data from about 10,000 PCs throughout the world. Tracking users' specific configurations, as well as the applications they actually use, the tool provides insights into real-world Windows use, including browser share, multicore adoption, service pack adoption, and which anti-virus, productivity, and media software are most prevalent among Windows users. Of note are the following conclusions: two years after Vista's release, not even 30 percent of PCs actually run it; OpenOffice.org is making inroads into the Microsoft Office user base; and despite the rise of Firefox, Internet Explorer remains the standard option for inside-the-firewall apps."
Browser use isn't exclusive (Score:3, Informative)
At least Hulu lets me use Firefox.
Re:Browser use isn't exclusive (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Legacy Software (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Browser use isn't exclusive (Score:4, Informative)
The problem with vista (Score:1, Informative)
I had an install of World of Warcraft on my desktop computer. I pick up a new laptop, I figure it would be faster to copy the WoW install I have on my desktop to over to the laptop over the network. After about an hour of "calculating time" - I tried to cancel the operation. Frustrated at the length of time it took to simply cancel a file, I literally pulled the plug on both machines and powered them back up.
After that I went to the Blizzard website on my laptop to download the client from there. And as for the add-ons, I zipped them up and mailed them to myself as an attachment, in order to save time.
.psd files from the Design Department.
Both the laptop and desktop have Vista on it (came with the computer).
Considering that companies usually have a central file server somewhere, imagine business workers trying to do basic file IO stuff, like copy word docs, spreadsheet files, or large
As long as you never have to manage files on your computer, and you have gobs of ram, Vista is a nice OS. If not, it's better to wait for an alternative. I've preordered my copies of 7 a few months back, and I can't wait for the goddamn day I get rid of this POS operation system.
Then I can start streaming my music over the network to any machine in the house, once again.
Re:Browser use isn't exclusive (Score:1, Informative)
FYI, I used to have the same issue, but now Netflix has a plug-in for Firefox, so you can go ahead and avoid using IE even more!
Re:Inside the (Corp.) Firewall no one can ... (Score:3, Informative)
Which federal govt? Not the US.
Statistical Asshats!!! (Score:0, Informative)
That's right. I said it. You are all statistical asshats!!
For a population of 3B and confidence interval of 5% you need a sample size around 400. 10,000 is enough for a near 1% confidence interval. Even assuming this isn't random you still get a fairly good approx. of what happens in general.
Re:Windows as a Real World State? (Score:3, Informative)
Heh. Any full blooded Croatian will tell you that Croatia is 1300 years old. Or, if you wanted to split hairs, 1100-- the first king was crowned in 925.
Re:Inside the (Corp.) Firewall no one can ... (Score:4, Informative)
I work at NASA. We got a message from the higher-ups that we are not to use IE unless absolutely necessary. It may be agency-specific for us, but all our payroll apps and stuff work in Firefox.
Re:Windows as a Real World State? (Score:3, Informative)
Yes of course it's an old country, because it's not like it popped into existence out of nowhere suddenly 20 years ago. There's a ton of history that happened to the same people living there and while governments might change and even constitutions that doesn't mean that the country ceases to exist
Or are you going to argue that Egypt is only 87 years old? Let's just not look at the Pyramids, because they didn't exist 87 years ago? I find it even more impressive that they knocked up those suckers in such a short time, didn't they?
Only Britain morphed into its current state still being a constitutional monarchy, while other constitutional monarchies in Europe (Denmark, Sweden, Spain) did what?
Got sucked into the vaults of history through a dimensional gate, just to be popping out of nowhere with a different population, and a constitution written from scratch? Total bullocks. That's just a very twisted way of making up for your inferiority complex due to lack of history as a country. Get over it. Being older doesn't make you better and being a younger nation doesn't either.
And yes there also is Switzerland, a democracy much older than yours. Just to mention.
Re:Representative? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Spyware (Score:2, Informative)
When they post it on slashdot it's a community-based monitoring tool
Maybe so. But you could think about it this way: The survey is only of Windows systems because those are the only ones insecure enough to run the software. Or Windows users are so habituated to spyware that one more such program won't make any difference.
*ducks*
Seriously, though, all TFA really tells us is that Windows users don't upgrade their software much, and mostly buy brand-name machines on a list headed by Dell. Nothing that any of us couldn't have surmised from a quick glance around any university or public library. Nothing to see here, move on...
Re:Inside the (Corp.) Firewall no one can ... (Score:2, Informative)
It's kind of funny. On NIPRNET Internet Explorer is the standard and its almost impossible to get Firefox loaded, but on SIPRNET you can use either and on JWICS Firefox is the preferred browser. The higher the classification of the network the more Firefox friendly things are. I suspect this is because non-Windows machines such as Linux, Solaris, and even VMS (almost, but not quite extinct) are much more common at higher classification levels but unheard of at unclassified levels.
Re:Legacy Software (Score:2, Informative)
10,000 PCs is a small sample size, try a few million. You might have a sampling error there if they are not randomly picked.
I think you misunderstand the details of sampling a population. If the 10,000 PCs were randomly selected then that provides a 99% confidence interval of +/- 1% for 3 billion computers (my random guess of the number of computers in the world). So if it says Vista is on 30% of computers, there's a 99% chance the true percentage is between 29-31%. Therefore, it's an excessively huge sample size.
Of course, these PCs are not randomly picked at all, so that nullifies any validity the sampling had.
Re:Windows as a Real World State? (Score:2, Informative)
Oh my, so much ignorance in one post.
- A kingdom is a country.
Just a few examples, go find a history book (or heck, abuse wikipedia) to find out more:
- France: 843
- Italy: 1861
- Luxembourg: 1815
- Netherlands: 1581/1648
- Great Britain & Ireland: difficult to answer; 1603 (real)/1707 (formal) for England & Scotland; 1801 adds Ireland
- Denmark: 8th to 10th century
- Norway: 872
- Greece: 1830
- Portugal: 868, 1095, 1139/1143
- Spain: 1516 (or 1716 if you want to be nitpicking)
- Sweden: 1523
- Finland: 1809, 1917/1918
- Austria: 1156 or 1955
- United States: (1776)/1787/1789
Or are you going to try to argue that, for instance, Croatia is an old country, even though it didn't exist only 20 years ago?
It's not an old state (or nation if you want), but it sure is an old country. The USA is a total newcomer.
"A European thinks 100 kilometres is a long distance, but only an American thinks 100 years is a long time."
You're blessed with ignorance, really. The US's situation is pretty much unique, you never had to contend with limited space and invasions.
Re:Inside the (Corp.) Firewall no one can ... (Score:1, Informative)
Gray is the new black.
Re:Windows as a Real World State? (Score:3, Informative)
Here is a map of europe in 1900 http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www1.aucegypt.edu/faculty/sedgwick/Map/EU1914.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www1.aucegypt.edu/faculty/sedgwick/Map/MapEU1900.html&usg=__I3nXzblc67kO1q7FyiGeG2wkQlY=&h=572&w=900&sz=174&hl=en&start=54&um=1&tbnid=CA8Y22lbGiNirM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=146&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmap%2Bof%2Beurope%2B1914%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26client%3Diceweasel-a%26rls%3Dorg.debian:en-GB:unofficial%26sa%3DN%26start%3D36%26um%3D1 [google.com]
The western end is very recognisable, the borders may have moved a little but the countries are in pretty much the same places as they are today.
What has mostly changed afaict is that the east end of germany and the west end of russia have been pushed back and there are now a load of small countries in the gap.
Re:Windows as a Real World State? (Score:3, Informative)
The amount of forms and signatures needed to conduct even the simplest actions is totally hallucinogenic.
Case in point: I recently flew in to Brussels, and we had a group of American tourists on board who needed to be reassured be the airline staff that they didn't need to sign any forms, or deposit any money or fingerprints to be allowed to enter the country...