Is XP the most popular and successful OS of all time?

[Amit]

Is XP the most popular and successful OS of all time?

[operamail]

Yes, the most popular and successful OS for desktop. I do use it most of the time even if I have Windows 7 installed.

[twl845]

Yes I think so so far, but I think WIN 7 will surpass it especially since WIN 8 isn't too popular even before it's out.

[NGRhodes]

In terms of numbers, XP.
In terms of number of positive opinion votes, I speculate Win 7.

[Dark Shadow]

Some statistics say windows 7 has surpassed XP and some say otherwise.However XP and windows 7 are a success either way.Windows 7 is just as good as XP if not better.

No. Windows 7 has more users now.

(Hey, that's what you asked...)

[Page42]

From a popularity standpoint, if it is a fact that 7 has more users than XP, then that answers that portion of the poll, doesn't it?
From the other standpoint, 'successful' can be perceived as another way of expressing popularity, or not... since I suppose it is possible to be more popular but not more successful (don't ask me how that could be, I said I suppose!).
W7 is more secure, which has to be a huge plus.
I would have to say that 7 is definitely more popular and successful than XP, if in fact it is true that 7 has more users than XP.

[zooburner]

Hmm hard to say

Latest headlines has windows 7 in greater numbers, but also the number of new computers has vastly increased since then.. I suspect if you did it by percentage of computers v OS's then it may be XP, but in sheer numbers Win & perhaps ??

It really is hard to compare a 10 years old OS with a new one and in an age where many more own puters.

[Dark Shadow]

found a article on forbes but can't get the link to work. I google the words (windows 7 popular) tile is windows 7 set to over take XP to become the most popular.They cover other platforms as well.

[Page42]

Originally Posted by djohn

found a article on forbes but can't get the link to work. I google the words (windows 7 popular) tile is windows 7 set to over take XP to become the most popular.They cover other platforms as well.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adrianki...rating-system/

[Dark Shadow]

Thats it page you got.

[Noob]

The only place where i see XP being loved is either in a big company where IT costs would be too huge to switch to Windows 7 and here at WILDERS!

[Page42]

Two good observations, Noob.

[Dark Shadow]

Originally Posted by Noob

The only place where i see XP being loved is either in a big company where IT costs would be too huge to switch to Windows 7 and here at WILDERS!

Well I loved XP before joining wilders but then again I was on ME before the upgrade and had so many stababilty issues that when I upgrade to XP I was hooked,does that count.

[noone_particular]

Saying 7 will become more popular is a meaningless statement when users can't purchase XP. When there's a choice of one, popularity numbers are useless.

[Hungry Man]

Simply going by common sense it should be easy to see how wide reaching and influential XP was. So yes.

Not that I think it's the best OS or that it couldn't have been done better.

[Page42]

Originally Posted by noone_particular

Saying 7 will become more popular is a meaningless statement when users can't purchase XP. When there's a choice of one, popularity numbers are useless.

But that works both ways.
Back when XP was being offered, 7 wasn't.

[noone_particular]

Obviously something that didn't exist at the time couldn't be more popular. If both OS were supported and available on equal hardware, then the numbers would mean something. Popularity based on PC sales is just as much a joke. There's a lot more PCs now that there used to be, especially in homes, a market that XP basically created.

[Page42]

Originally Posted by noone_particular

Obviously something that didn't exist at the time couldn't be more popular.

All I'm saying is that XP built up huge numbers when 7 wasn't available.
And now 7 is now building numbers when XP isn't available.
Which does tend to take us back to, "When there's a choice of one, popularity numbers are useless."

Originally Posted by noone_particular

If both OS were supported and available on equal hardware, then the numbers would mean something.

Yep, but like the old saying goes, if a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his ~ Snipped as per TOS ~.

[Sully]

Maybe I look at it differently.

XP brought us a good OS without the need to configure drivers via .ini files, without the need for confusing boot parameters, without BSOD all the time. It brought processes under control so a bugged application did not hang the OS. It brought 64bit. It brought a firewall.

XP brought us so much over other desktop clients. It brought so much more than NT brought. It was win2000 that actually started all this, but not for the home users. It was XP that, IMO, make owning a home PC a more pleasant experience.

Win vista and win7, they are upgrades to the XP experience. They don't offer such vast improvements to XP as XP did to me/98/nt/95/win3.xx.

I agree that it is impossible to say which is best of all time because the amount of users grows exponentially, thier experiences can be based very differently depending on what OS they came with. But if one were to quantify XP forward as a very similar experience, and prior XP as a similar experience, the XP era wins hands down, over and over.

Sul.

[Page42]

Do you run 7, Sul?

[Sully]

Yes, I run win7 ultimate at home and work. My kids and all other pcs at work run XP. win7 needs a bit more horsepower to work nicely than XP does. So until all pcs get upgraded, XP will remain. There is no compelling reason to upgrade your PC just to run vista/7/8 IMO. XP still does everything just fine.

For me, I like some aspects of win7 very much over XP for productivity. It isn't the "core" of win7 that I like, but the tiny features that are not in XP. If you removed those features, it would not make a bit of difference.

Sul.

[Page42]

7 is need to run IE9, and I consider 9 a better browser then 8.
I've had many years experience with XP and very little with 7, but so far, the stability of 7 wins out over XP.
I was put off a bit by 7's UI at first, but I'm beyond that now and think it's fine.
I'm glad to read that your comparative opinions between 7 and XP are predicated upon having run them both, and that you're not just a user stuck in the past with an obsolescing OS.

[Sully]

Originally Posted by Page42

I'm glad to read that your comparative opinions between 7 and XP are predicated upon having run them both, and that you're not just a user stuck in the past with an obsolescing OS.

Unlike some (nobody particular, just some) who like the eye candy and razoo new features, I have always based it on which is faster at what I do and which offers the "easiest" tools to do what I want to do.

XP is faster than win7 on my hardware, absolutely no question about it. I had to tweak the snot out of win7 to make it even come close. I don't think I should have had to do that, but whatever.

I think a lot of people just like the shiny new stuff over the older not so exciting stuff. Applies to much of life, not just computers.

I take the tight-wad approach. If what I buy new isn't built better, then why waste money if the old still works. If it is built better, even if it costs more than I want, I will invest in quality equipment. Shiny and new isn't always better though

Sul.

[Noob]

Come on you old farts technology moves on. /sarcasm