• @ilinamorato
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    6 days ago

    When Windows 7 reached EOL in 2012, ChromeOS wasn’t even a year old, MacOS was too expensive, SteamOS wasn’t close on the horizon, tablets weren’t really usable, smartphones were severely underpowered, and most applications didn’t have web-based versions or replacements.

    This time around, none of those things are true, and Windows 11 lost market share last month (which is frankly unprecedented).

    Plus, even with that dearth of options, people griped and complained and refused for so long that Microsoft made a big marketing deal out of Windows 8.1. And even after that, they offered Windows 7 users free Windows 10 licenses to get them to upgrade.

    Linux probably won’t get the crown (though I’d say a bump as high as 1-2% isn’t out of the question). It’ll probably be ChromeOS, if anything, simply because of the commanding lead Google has held for the past decade or so in K12. But in any case, if Microsoft doesn’t shift their strategy, they’re unlikely to win this one; there are a lot of options.

    • @[email protected]
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      14 days ago

      windows 7 reached extended eol in 2020, for security updates only, i believe that’s what they were talking about

      • @ilinamorato
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        14 days ago

        I don’t think so. The big switchover push for 7 (like what’s happening now with 10) happened in 2012.

        • @[email protected]
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          4 days ago

          i am incredibly confused by what you mean, Microsoft’s website clearly states the extended end of supoort for 7 was jan 2020 as stated here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-7, and besides, the marketshare for windows 7 was still growing in 2012

          by any chance, do you mean a push over to windows 7 from something like xp? or are you talking about a push from 7 to 8, which never really happened as all the focus was on the impending 2014 windows xp end of support date

          • @ilinamorato
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            24 days ago

            No. I mean the push to switch away from Windows 7. Windows 8 was released in 2012, which is when Microsoft began pushing users to switch. The end of extended support is almost a footnote; it doesn’t even register as a blip for most users. It’s the release of the successor that begins the big marketing push.