This can't be right. Windows 98 has more market share?

I'd believe it. Many of my acquaintances have older machines with Win98 on them... I can't call such people my 'friends'.

We're still using Win & Office 2000 in the office — about a 150 user network.

I remember windows 98...

I need a little barfing face emoticon.

98 was HORRIBLE!

Oy, I remember 95, and that seemed better! (Yeah, I was 7 in '95. I don't care. I still knew how to use computers.)

I think a sizable swath of the computing world has no idea about upgrading an OS or even what an OS is. There are also those who see no financial reason to do so.

The only time they would upgrade is when they buy a new computer.

*Blushes nervously and thinks about unopened Tiger box sitting on bookshelf*

Blue Velvet said:

I think a sizable swath of the computing world has no idea about upgrading an OS or even what an OS is. There are also those who see no financial reason to do so.

The only time they would upgrade is when they buy a new computer.

*Blushes nervously and thinks about unopened Tiger box sitting on bookshelf*

Click to expand...

Upgrade! tiger is pretty!

and uh.. works and all that jazz.

edit:
come on, you dip your toe into the world of IM, now leap into the world of 10.4!

katie ta achoo said:

I remember windows 98...

I need a little barfing face emoticon.

98 was HORRIBLE!

Oy, I remember 95, and that seemed better! (Yeah, I was 7 in '95. I don't care. I still knew how to use computers.)

Click to expand...

2000 was worse, at least in my experiences.
Wasn't as pretty(in my opinion), and is what killed our old PC. A six year old PC, but I still blame 2000, cause 98 was cooler. A'course, OS X sweeps the both and dumps em out the window, but if I had to choose between the two, I'd reach for the good ol' 98.

katie ta achoo said:

Upgrade! tiger is pretty!

and uh.. works and all that jazz.

edit:
come on, you dip your toe into the world of IM, now leap into the world of 10.4!

Click to expand...

I second that motion for BV to upgrade to tiger

runninmac said:

According to new numbers windows 98 still has more market share then all of OS X combined. That doesnt seem right. OS X much more advanced that XP and light years ahead of 98 but people still us it more.

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=2&qpmr=15&qpct=3&qptimeframe=M&qpsp=82

Click to expand...

The report confuses market share with installed base, perhaps.

Surely it doesn't mean that 16+% of computers sold today are selling with Win 98, ME and 2000, both discontinued by MS. Unless they are counting international sales with heavily discounted cut down versions of Windows...

The flaw with adding up the installed base of course is that while many Win 98 machines may still be in operation, have they adjusted for the millions upon millions that have been junked or put in closets as inoperative and not upgradeable?

d_and_n5000 said:

2000 was worse, at least in my experiences.
Wasn't as pretty(in my opinion), and is what killed our old PC. A six year old PC, but I still blame 2000, cause 98 was cooler. A'course, OS X sweeps the both and dumps em out the window, but if I had to choose between the two, I'd reach for the good ol' 98.

Click to expand...

Oof, I never had to use 2000. We had it for a day or two before my dad got so fed up with it, he had me downgrade to NT (some early version).

where's my little barfy face??

Dear OS X,
I love you.
Love,
KT

we've all been spoiled by this OS.

i do PC support for my company, have over 1,000 users. most users with a desktop still have 2000, some have 98, but most have 2000. Windows 2000 has been the most stable and secure, so no real need to upgrade. we have started rolling out all new desktops with XP now though, finally. So yeah, i'm suprised it's not 2000 that has the most market share, but i'm not surprised it's not XP.

the Report is meaning "installed" base but they put Market Share..

if thats the case then its believeable that 98 has more than MacOS X since OS X has only been out for 5yrs or so compared to 98 is 7yrs or more.

iphil said:

I second that motion for BV to upgrade to tiger

Click to expand...

Not to drag this thread off-topic but in my case, it's not as easy as it seems. New HD, new and clean installation of OS & apps, not sure if some important apps play nice with Tiger... in short, it's not a 15min upgrade job on the same boot disk. Plan to do it over Xmas.

A lot of regular joes bought a comp back when the internet was starting to boom, they were all loaded with Win98, and you can bet your life that most of these average joes haven't botherd to upgrade since

katie ta achoo said:

I remember windows 98...

I need a little barfing face emoticon.

Click to expand...

for you

katie ta achoo said:

I need a little barfing face emoticon.

Click to expand...

Here you go:

Enjoy

Damn, just seen the post above mine. Well now you have a choice!

edesignuk said:

A lot of regular joes bought a comp back when the internet was starting to boom, they were all loaded with Win98, and you can bet your life that most of these average joes haven't botherd to upgrade since

Click to expand...

I still know of a lot of Schools & Colleges, even some Universities that run 98SE over here. For them it is much cheaper and since they often reinstall it from scratch on a daily basis and have better security externally than XP has, there aren't as many problems, security wise.

You would not believe how many ask if they can run an iPod under 98. While it is possible, the easy answer has to be no, so there are currently a lot upgrading to XP.

windows 98:
windows 2000:

I can now properly express myself! thanks!!

God .. that really makes your heart sink, doesn't it?

Slowly climbing that ladder.

Got my first computer back in the beginning of the '90's. It had DOS. As soon as I saw WIN 3.1 and the graphics interface I fell in love and immediately got rid of the old PC and bought me a new one that used 3.1. Eventually when WIN 95 came along, I moved on up.... and, yeah, back then I was one of those who would simply buy a new computer rather than buy the upgraded version of WIN and stick that into my machine! ::Shakes head:: What's weird is that I wasn't afraid to take on the challenge of installing new hardware (CD drive, RAM, etc). Skipped WIN 98, came along just in time for WIN 98SE, which I used for a long time. A VERY long time.... finances didn't permit me to get a new computer when WIN ME or WIN XP became available and my machine's motherboard would not have tolerated an upgrade. Actually, I was thankful to have avoided the whole WIN ME fiasco...

Finally, about a couple of years ago I was able to buy a new computer with XP Pro, an inexpensive laptop, and then a few months later I was able to get a new desktop as well. That old WIN 98SE machine is still sitting in the other room, fully operational and one of these days I've got to finish transferring/removing files and folders from it so I can format the drive and get rid of the darned thing altogether. I certainly found WIN XP Pro to be a vast improvement over WIN 98SE! But that was before I discovered the Mac and OS X....

Anyway, yes, I suspect that those figures are based on people who, like me, held on to their WIN 98SE machine for a long time, either using it every day as the primary computer or relegating it to the status of extra computer after going with a newer computer and XP, or like me, just having the thing sitting there until I get around to cleaning it out.

OTB

Isn't market share a share of the market being sold today? I have a hard time believing any machines are being sold with Windows 98.

First off, I know its a Mac fansite so I'll cut you all some slack, but seriously, XP is not bad at all. In fact, its good - really good. I love XP. But thats besides the point.

The MS OS ratings:
1 - Windows XP
2 - Windows 2000*
3 - Windows 98
4 - Windows ME/95
5 - Windows NT*

* - not for consumers

Since 98 is the second best MS consumer OS, it makes sense that it has higher market share than Mac OS. After all, the Mac OS is only now starting to gain more market share over MS. Before the iPod, for example, more people probibly had Windows ME than Mac OS X.

risc said:

Isn't market share a share of the market being sold today? I have a hard time believing any machines are being sold with Windows 98.

Click to expand...

Its how many of the product is being used also.

Which is how you can determine the market share of, say, Nintendo 64 vs PlayStation 1.

CanadaRAM said:

The flaw with adding up the installed base of course is that while many Win 98 machines may still be in operation, have they adjusted for the millions upon millions that have been junked or put in closets as inoperative and not upgradeable?

Click to expand...

Yeah, the IDC installed base numbers (which aren't what's in the graph -- that's only a breakdown of active Web users) do take retirements and upgrades into account.

Not suprised, there are a lot of 'outdated' machines around