I may soon join the Win 8.1 movement. Win 8 was atrocious but the update seemed to handle most of my issues. But Win7 seems to be working fine for now.

I like XP, still have it on my laptop.  But April 2014 is coming soon.  I do like win7, on my desktop PC.  I'm someone who games, does a lot of writing (word processing) and is moving into video (low end - independent media-type). Win7 seems fine.   I'm not an under the hood gal, (as my noob questions elsewhere can attest). Is there any thing significant about win8.1 that I should seriously consider - or is 7x fine for now?

Well to be honest all statistics have one flaw, they can be manipulated by the collector of the numbers.  That being said there is no reason to believe that the numbers shown are not a representation of fact.  

I have to say this in defense of Windows 8/8.1.

I run 5 monitors with two graphics cards. 16 GB DDR3 Ram. 2 SSDs. 6 core CPU.

I have a dual boot system, so all the hardware is the same on both Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Using WindowFX ;

On Windows 7, windows dragged to the monitors attached to the second gfx card go invisible until you release. On Windows 8, that doesn't happen.

On Windows 7, running Deskscapes on 5 monitors is draggy/jumpy. On Windows 8.1, smooth as silk.

All the same hardware and drivers updated.

Windows 8 simply handles resources better. No doubt about it.

I have been using 8 or 8.1 as my main OS for nearly a year now, or at least 6 months. Very few problems, now that Stardock has "fixed" 8 to look more like 7.

I'm not surprised to see XP and 7 leading the pack. Undisputedly the best Os's that Microsoft ever developed. I think that the future will show Win 7 users clinging desperately to what they have , much like the XP users of today. My gut feeling tells me that the whole Win8 debacle will fall along the wayside , much like Vista did. Perhaps , if Microsoft is smart , a new Win9 product, building on the foundation of the oh so sucessful Win7, will finally be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for Microsoft. Who knows what tommorrow may bring.

Pull out the non-MS OS's & XP is still 30% of the user base.  Would be very interesting to know how much of that actually is China.

Well, you'd get a smaller than truthful number as so many use a pirated XP. MS could only report licensed XP sales.

"But in China, where XP remains king, 72.1% of the country's computers relied on the soon-to-retire operating system last month, or nearly three out of every four systems. In any XP doomsday scenario, that means China is in a position four times more precarious than the U.S....

China, however, is in a tougher spot because while it's been shedding Windows XP at about the same clip as the U.S., the country's much larger current share puts it at a severe disadvantage. By April 2014, XP will still be on between 65.2% and 65.7% of its personal computers.

By April 2014, XP will still be on between 65.2% and 65.7% of its personal computers. Eight months from now, China's XP problem will be six or seven times bigger than the U.S.'s." https://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241429/China_has_a_massive_Windows_XP_problem?pageNumber=1

 

As I have stated more than a few times on these forums, windows 8 has quite a few 'under the hood' improvements over all other previous MS OS iterations.  Some of which may be useful/interesting to others some not.  Certainly it is indisputable however that (as RND has already pointed out in this thread) Windows 8 handles resources better than any MS OS before and that in itself should be seen as a big 'plus'. 

That old 2005 notebook of mine (shipped with XP Pro, over the years was reformatted to Vista Business, then Windows 7 Pro and now finally Windows 8 Pro) detailed here https://forums.stardock.com/439592/page/1/#3327263 is still running better than it ever has, thanks to Windows 8.  The fact that older hardware runs better with Windows 8 than any other previous MS OS says a lot to me.

Of course I'm sure MS will make even more significant changes with future OS's but for now Windows 8 is king in my home/office etc.  

I have Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 at home.

I have no preference between the two other than Windows 7 can be customized more with WindowBlinds which matters a bit for me.

There isn't anything in Windows 8 that compels me to upgrade from Windows 7 though.

This statement made by anyone else would more than likely not carry as much weight or mean as much to community members. 

You'd get the exact same comment from me too....[other than mine's 8 not 8.1]....

A statement I have made many times as well. OEM's may force the "next big thing" on the public but since I will never buy another off the shelf desktop, I will choose what OS I will run.

This is my main reason.

I'd be back on 7 in a heartbeat if support could figure out why this happens on 7. There's a thread about it, it's not only me that sees this problem.

I fully realize most people don't run 5 monitors... 

I run 5 monitors.....

....attached to 5 computers....