Windows 7 fails to take down the Apple monster

Microsoft has failed! Or maybe its just a sign that there's room enough in the marketplace for two types of computers. While the PC market  has been enjoying an a spike in sales thanks to the release of Windows 7, Apple has also seen growth in sales ... meaning that the new Windows probably hasn't converted a lot of people to come over to the dark side...

Bangalore: The release of Windows 7 has definitely helped in increasing the sales of the PC at work, but have failed to slow the increase in adoption of Macs at the workplace, according to a study. Apple is expected to grow at the same time, while the number of companies buying Mac desktops remains flat at about seven percent, the number of those buying MacBooks has grown by 10 percent, according to Electronista.

The ChangeWave study also reports that Dell and HP should benefit from a slight increase in corporate sales with a respective 33 percent and 18 percent companies planning to buy both desktops and notebooks from the two. Also, 93 percent of those who had tried Windows 7 were either somewhat or very satisfied with the OS, that hasn't translated into significant decisions to move up upgrades at the office. But only 19 percent plan any sort of change, and only three percent plan a "significant" change to get Windows 7 into their businesses early.

Shouldn't you expect this though? Apple users drink coffee, drive Jettas and tell everyone how great their computer is. PC users have jobs. Enough said.

Users love Windows 7, things that dont crash

Windows 7 has been a big hit with software critics (who must live a rockstar-esque lifestyle) and the sales charts - but what has the average user been saying about it? Remember, Windows Vista was treated like the plague when it was released and Windows XP was a mess when it was distributed to the public.

Seven? Well, it's heaven.

Windows 7 is scarcely more than a month old. Most of the people who will eventually use it haven't gotten around to trying it yet; those that have are still settling in. And the Win 7 experience will change rapidly as remaining bugs are squashed, missing drivers arrive, and compatibility glitches are ironed out. Even so, it's not too early to start gauging what real people think of Windows Vista's replacement.

So to riff on Ronald Reagan's famous question from his 1980 debate with Jimmy Carter, Are Windows users better off today than they were a few weeks ago, back in the Vista era? We decided to ask the Technologizer community, a group of tech enthusiasts with a high propensity to acquire new operating systems quickly and push them to their limits. Starting on November 16th, we surveyed our readers (and Twitter followers) about their experiences with Windows 7.Our goal: to do a reality check on the mostly favorable initial reviews of the new OS (as well as our own survey of largely enthusiastic Windows 7 beta testers back in March).

The 550+ Windows 7 early adopters who took our survey mostly echo the positive response that the upgrade has received from professional reviewers, pundits, and users of pre-release editions. A sizable majority say they're extremely satisfied with the OS and rate it as a clear improvement on both the beloved Windows XP and the widely-panned Windows Vista. Crippling installation problems-the bane of every upgrader's existence, and always a legitimate reason to postpone switching OSes-were rare.

So everyone should go out, sell their Mac, and buy a PC with Windows 7. There, I said it.

Windows 7 continues to take over the world

It's official, Windows 7 is way better than Vista and it's selling a whole lot better than Vista. In just three weeks, the new operating system has captured an astounding four percent market share, something that took Vista six months to do. Miracles or miracles if you release something stable and people actually want to use it.

Windows 7 continues to blaze trails, both in new sales and in upgrades of existing machines. As of the second week in November, less than three weeks since the official release, Windows 7 has reportedly snagged over 4% of the global OS market. At that speed, Windows 7 is outpacing its predecessor at an alarming rate. It took Vista roughly six months after release to reach 4% share.

This momentum may continue through the end of the year, when PC sales are traditionally high. If it does, it will be interesting to see where most of the users are coming from -- be it upgrades from XP, Vista, or new machines. Regardless, the message is clear: Windows 7 is growing at an astounding rate.

Apple people might have overestimated the whole "Windows 7 will cause people to switch to Mac" because they were dead wrong. Windows 7 is gaining momentum and I think we may have found a suitable replacement for Windows XP.

Windows 7 saves the economy!

Hooray! Microsoft's new operating system is jumpstarting PC sales and causing the market to blow up by 40 percent. That means the economy will probably rebound right? Nothing to worry about we can start charging our credit cards again?

As many predicted, the debut of Windows 7 has prompted a surge in PC sales -- for now, at least. During the first week of general availability, Windows 7 boosted computer sales by some 40% year-over-year, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Katheryn Huberty.

The figure is based on NPD sales data, and is partially skewed by consumers holding off purchases. During the two weeks leading up to Windows 7's launch, sales fell 29% and 2% compared to 2008. While computer sales have rebounded (and then some) from that stint, many people -- including Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer -- don't expect Windows 7 to have a long term impact on PC sales.

Oh so this is just a bubble? Really? Who's ever built their financial stability on a bubble and failed? Oh wait that would be the economy in the early 2000s.

Windows 7 makes large leap in market share

After it's initial release to the general public, Windows 7 is already making some inrows into the operating system market - someone Windows Vista could really never do against XP.

Windows 7's market share climbed almost 40% in the week following its release, according to research outfit Net Applications. During the week after October 22, market share of Microsoft's latest operating system jumped more than 39% from 1.91% to an average of 2.66%. That growth doesn’t appear to be slowing either, rising another 82% to a peak share of 3.48% on October 31. For the entire month, Windows 7 finished with a market share of 2.15%, a 41% increase over the 1.52% for September.

Overall, Windows' share fell by .23% globally to 92.52%, while Apple's Mac OS X consumed the majority of that loss, gaining .15% and finishing the month at 5.27% -- its highest share ever. Windows XP experienced a .92% loss during October, falling to 70.6%. Meanwhile, Vista rebounded from September, when its share dropped for the first time in over two years, ending the month with 18.77% -- still less than its August record of 18.8%.

Keep in mind that many people wont make the leap until the coming months, or maybe they're waiting to upgrade to a new machine for Christmas. Sometimes people will also wait for the new Microsoft OS to be out for a while so they can work out all the kinks. One thing is for sure though, all initial responses have been positive and it looks like Windows 7 won't have the same negative connotation as Vista.

Windows 7 upgrade causes widespread pain and suffering

Usually when you upgrade an operating system you would expect things to either work or just reboot and go to the old operating system if the upgrade failed. However, Windows 7 has a fantastic little feature where it actually just keeps rebooting if your upgrade is unsuccessful. And rebooting. And rebooting.

Users remained stymied today by endless reboots after trying to upgrade their PCs to Windows 7, according to messages posted on Microsoft's support forum.

An answer has yet to be found for all users, who began reporting the problem last Friday after watching the upgrade stall two-thirds of the way through the process. Most users said that their PCs had displayed an error that claimed the upgrade had been unsuccessful and that Vista would be restored. Instead, their PCs again booted to the Windows 7 setup process, failed, then restarted the vicious cycle.

Several Microsoft engineers, including the company's senior group manager for Windows supportability, have offered advice, but on Monday users continued to publish complaints on a growing forum thread.

"I think I've gotten to the point where trying to install Windows 7 is simply not worth it," said "Chimaera717" around 1 p.m. ET today. Chimaera717 was one of the first users to gripe about reboot hell. "I'm more content with actually having a working computer. Anyone know if we can get our money back?"

Obviously this isn't everybody but there is a growing number of people - something Microsoft is going to have to take a look at unless they want another repeat of the Windows Vista hellstorm of user discontent.

Photo: Windows 7 will give you a heart attack

No really it will.