I specified RETAIL sales for a reason. I would say the majority of win 7 users are running win 7 OEM models preloaded with new PCS (or purched OEM copies either way its not retail versions).

At retail windows is always a slow seller with their pricing(not hard to figure out why when a retail copy of windows 7 isn't much cheaper than a brand new netbook  or cheap laptop with win 7 preloaded). Either way my major point was that any retail sales of windows 7 there may or may not be are likely to die off with the release of windows 8 retail copies.

It doesn't matter how you wish to qualify the stats...the reality is XP use is a dwindling % and Win7 is in growth.  Whether OEM or Retail the OS IS ACTUALLY PURCHASED.

In my case none of the systems running Win7 is either OEM OR Retail.  I've never purchased Win 7.  The 2 XP installs are OEM [though one wasn't 'technically' OEM in that it wasn't on a system at the time of purchase].

In case you're wondering...the 5 installs of Win 7 are via Technet ...

So lets see if I got this straight.

 I say win 7 retail sales were poor.

You say but look at all the people using windows 7.

And i say... yes but those were't retail sales.

and you say ya so what...

lol non sequitur much?

Anyway my major point was simply that (yes i'll say it again) any retail sales of 7 will quickly die off and be replaced by win 8 sales on release.(not only retail but new PCS will be coming loaded with win 8 instead). If win 7 users are unlikely to upgrade so soon.. and xp levels off where are the sales of win 8 gonna come from? (again horrible retail sales) pre loaded PCs.

End note: Dwindling or not 40% of users using xp is still a large chunk of the market. Even if it were to level off at 30% of users its still a large chunk of end users and ignoring support for apps/games for xp in the near future is liable to cost sales no matter how you look at it. The faster MS pushes out new OS the less often people are likely to upgrade. Here in 2 or 3 years people with vista are going to be told they are in the dinosaur days because they haven't paid MS for windows 8. lol its a never ending upgrade cycle and the more stable OS are going to continue being used longer into each cycle.  Which is why XP still holds such a sway.. and win 7 will probably hold a similar chunk in the future while MS is pushing windows 9 and directX 14.

The question as a consumer comes down to why upgrade every 2 or 3 years.. when you can wait and for the same price as that new upgrade you can just upgrade further every 10 or 12 years. (leap frogging a few of the versions for the sake of saving the cash). Which is where I'm at personally.. why would I upgrade to 7 when 8 is on the horizon?

(granted I may be abnormal since I've never really understood the whole "I need that new thing right now so I can sell it and buy the next new thing next year" mentality many people have these days. Post modern consumerism? lol)

Because 7 actually works properly.

No other MS OS ever did....

Nothing in those stats indicates that XP will level off at 30.  ALL prior OS versions simply decline in use/popularity until they're essentially irrelevant.

Fistalis, the stats are clear... the movement to 7 is coming from the dwindling XP user percentage. True, there is still a very large percentage of XP in the user population but that's also a function of businesses (still on XP because of the poor economy and lack of popular knowledge of W7 in the work force, and not wanting/affording upgrade of machines and peripherals) and of the economy - more people are trying to 'make do'... just as you state. The stats also make no mention at all of the mobile market... in which XP is zero. I agree with Jafo, as well: XP will disappear because the machines are growing older and because W7 is a much better OS.

I think that when/if the economy recovers significantly, the W7/XP balance will shift more quickly and radically. Since the mobile market isn't represented, then the stats don't reflect the 'true' market share of the OS's, as OEM will be 100% there, and the other mobile platforms aren't even mentioned. My guess is that the stats only represent PC's and laptops and they are far from the whole market: Tablets, netbooks, etc. are a significant part of OEM sales, now. I think retail sales will be dropping in the future for all OS's... and I don't like the "Buy a new one every two years" mentality, either.

This whole new OS thing every 2-3 years is absurd. They should be making patches/upgrades more frequently and cheaper. There should be more effort being put into uninstalling the 'older' parts of the OS's and making them more modern if the hardware can tolerate the change. People should also understand "futurizing" PC's, etc. at the time of purchase. 

My only disagreement here (and actually in your whole statement) is that by then the shift will be XP to win8 since 7 will be in "legacy" mode by that point.Which is the point i've been trying to put across but apparently unsuccessfully.

The question is whether or not people who recently upgraded to 7 will be willing to plop down the cash to upgrade again or if they will continue to use 7 for the next 8 - 10 years becoming the next "XP" in the cycle.

Will xp eventually be phased out totally? sure. But by that time we may be seeing windows 9 on the horizon.

Could be a 2nd chance for  DesktopX also. Think of custom apps and tiles.

I'm not sure what the key variable there will be... could be equipment related: If a person can't afford a touch screen PC of what use is W8 more than W7? If that person can afford a new Tablet/Smart Phone, then the W8 will probably come OEM. Could also be equipment life related... since people don't really understand what "futurizing" a computer really means...

If folks are like me, then on my lappy, W7 shall reside "'til death do us part.". I have a desktop which has a touch screen, so I might upgrade there... depending if the firm's x64 software gets updated... and only then, unless there's a W7 "XP" - mode (if you understand what I mean) at that time.

Who knows if I'll even be around for W9? I'll let someone else worry about that. 

oooh!  I like that!  can I change my name?

As an aside - when I bought the house, I loved one other.  It was beautiful on the internet!  I pulled up to it and it was sitting under a major power line.  Buy-bye!  I was not going to compete with the power company for my air waves!

It's still too early to known definitely what the "real" Win8 desktop is going to look like or function.  They are definitely catering towards a touch UI, but that's not going to apply to the vast majority of users.

I suspect that if MS offered a free upgrade to all VISTA users, that market would disappear over night.  But people have to replace computers, so when the old XP dies, Win 7 is the way to go.  And Vista OEM computers are still too new to replace in bulk (watch out in a couple of years though).

MS offered customers an option to keep XP even when Vista was the installed OS on OEM computers - they realized that most people did not want Vista.  I kept my customers on XP until 7 (figuring I could not hold out any longer) because of how bad Vista was.  I breathed a sigh of relief to see that Win 7 was as sturdy as XP.

I hope they do not get rid of the taskbar and start menu as they are great.

Special for Gwenio1.

From PC Magazine's "Windows 8 Walkthrough" - http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/265168/windows-8-a-walk-through

Exactly. Glad I was right about this: Good news for skinners:

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.....okay. Enough excitement for one day. We'll do some more tomorrow. I are liking this very much.

Jafo, not sure if you're aware, Technet copies are Retail Editions.