Windows 10: With Windows 9 on the Horizon, Windows XP Users Are Still Unsettled

I have an old XP Tough Book. But I only utilize it when I need to use software programs to connect to equipment that requires a DB9 Serial port with legacy software. My main computer runs Windows 7 so the Tough Book is just for special purposes. The company wont let us connect any XP machines to the network which is fine, I dont need it to connect to the company network. Most people in the company are on Windows 7 with some moving to Windows 8. My only complaint with any OS is when they hide things where you need to type a command in a search function instead of having it as part the menu structure. Why make it hard to find features. Maybe they are concerned someone will accidently change a parameter that will cause performance issues.

 

Some of the Metro settings are a PITA to find. Some of that has to do with Metro specific settings being in the Metro interface and the other settings still being in the desktop interface. I've found that the more I use 8.1 the less irritating it gets and things do get easier to find.

 

The "average" computer user, for the most part, doesn't care what OS is on the computer. They buy a computer and use the OS that came with it until they buy a new one, if they don't buy a new one, they don't change OSes.

My sister, for example, has a desktop that runs XP because that's the OS that came with it when she bought it. Her laptop is newer so has Win 7. They both work so why change anything?

 

Can someone please explain to me who the average computer user is for some reason this concept escape me. Along with the average user another one is the senior user seems to always come up as another individual who has no concept of how to use a computer, yet at present it would seem that at least 80% of those on this site are seniors (me included). . .*Doh

 

The people were talking about likely aren't on this forum. The ones I'm talking about only know the very basics to get by at using their PC. They know how to turn it on, open IE, hit Facebook etc. If it won't turn on or BSOD they call me to figure it out. They don't know what a hard drive is or does, or what RAM is and how much of it they have. To them the CPU is the tower. What's in it is magic.

 

I hear that! *Biggrin

 

*Roflmao2*Roflmao2*Roflmao2 A great way to put it!

 

Think of the 2 extremes of computer user. The person who has never used a computer on one extreme and the expert capable of designing and building every part of the hardware and software that makeup a computer on the other extreme. In the center of these 2 extremes lies the average user.

 

Average perhaps, but methinks not most numerous. I truly believe the masses fall below the Mendoza Line. They know how to do a few things, and that's what they do. Without a family member or friend to rescue them regularly, their PCs would soon ground to a halt choked with malware and toolbars. I think for many this results in a new PC, soon to succumb to the same fate.

 

Average User(tm)

Hmmm, Jerry Pournelle after Bill Gates changed his private number?

Edit: Just kidding. I enjoyed those Byte Magazine columns. *Smile

 

Well I'm not the first or the last so I must be one of your average users. *Thumbs

 

You are certainly not average Joan. I believe you must fall in the extraordinary category *Wink

 

Ah! flattery will get you everywhere. *Tongue

 

There is no such thing as the "average" user "average is just a statistical construct *Wink

The are "majority" Users, the person who does not enthuse over a PC system, does not write internet blogs about PC systems, though some will use their PC or laptop or tablet to write a blog on a subject that is of interest to them, maybe it's collecting coins, stamps, autographs or whatever. to them, who are in the vast majority, a computer is a tool to get something done, not an end in itself.

another part of the "majority" are those who use a PC system of some form to assist in their work, again these users look at a computer as they would a photocopier, or a Phone.

These users will use a computer until it wears out or their company installs a new one, they will use whatever operating system is supplied, for most of them the OS is irrelevant, they probably see the desktop, or other start-up screen for a minute or so a day

These users are application centric, they care that their word processor processes words, their spreadsheet crunches numbers, or their facebook works.

This is the market that Microsoft has to satisfy to do this they sell operating systems via box shifters like Best Buy, or DSG in the US or UK respectively, or they sell volume licences to governments and multinationals

We hear figures of 1 billion PCs in use, over 99% of these still have the OS that was shipped with them and will never have anything else.

We as enthusiasts or professionals will eagerly await the release of Windows 9 and 10 and so on, but we will actually make very little impact on the future viability of companies such as Microsoft *Smile

 

Thank you, that is my point of view and the reason for asking why techies like to use the term average user. . .*Thumbs