Windows 7 – Reader Upgrade Rate

Readers responses indicate lots of multiple PC households, minimal Windows 7 upgrade intentions.

Readers responded to my survey on intentions to upgrade to Windows 7 HERE and also by emails. I found the results quite interesting.

First, the number of multiple PCs among our readers is not trivial – on average our readers own 4.5 PCs per household – naturally of varying vintages and almost all with a mix of laptops and desktops. The overwhelming OS is XP – this means an upgrade to Windows 7 will require a clean install – considering our audience to be more tech-savvy than average, I doubt this represents much of an issue (I’ll bet a fair number do this on a routine basis anyway).

There is no stampede to convert to Windows 7 – 21% indicated an intention to purchase W7, leaving a whopping 79% of this base with mostly XP for at least the next 2-3 years. I think this is understandable given that (IMHO) there is no huge leap in functionality over XP and less so over Vista with W7. Considering that it is possible to run XP with M$ support for some time, the upgrade impetus is not overwhelming.

Surprising for me to see there is not a lot of interest in moving to Linux, and then again not so surprising. No question it’s a Windows world and apps will come in that flavor for some time to come. However, also interesting to see that Linux is gathering more interest in the developing world as an alternative to M$. Ubuntu is coming on strong as the Linux distro of choice, as it’s clear that they are targeting the desktop with a Windows alternative. With a six month OS cycle, it appears to me they have a strong impetus to continually improve.

A number of folks are using Linux and a number are on the “maybe” fence – probably more than a few years ago.

Ubuntu is the closest among the Linux variants I have tried that fits my “has to work out the box” requirement. It still does require some fiddling at times but with an extensive support network in the Ubuntu Forums, fixes are well documented. I have not had to resort to using the command line all that much and don’t want to – been there, done that.

Finally, no one is trashing older PCs because W7 is coming out – bravo! Nothing wrong with running some of the older boxes doing those things that they are perfectly capable of doing.

AND the winner picked at random is SkankinRatFink – please drop me a line and I will get a Kingwin Elite external enclosure to you – sorry, no netbook or Windows 7 as a prize!