It’s official: Windows 7 is a hit, and XP is finally in decline | ZDNet – Ed Bott

Meanwhile, Windows 7 keeps selling and XP usage is dropping. That’s certainly true at this site, where Windows 7 visitors now outnumber those using Windows XP and Vista usage has plunged in the past year. Here’s a graphic representation of how Windows 7 usage has increased among visitors to this site since its first beta release back in January 2009.

Vista users were clearly eager to upgrade, judging by these results, even to a beta release of Windows 7. But XP users are also converting at a steady clip, with XP diehards now under the 40% level here. These numbers include only Windows users, but I also found interesting results when I looked at the percentage of visitors using Mac OS X. As of this month, that number has returned to its December 2008 levels (slightly over 5%) after peaking above 8% a year ago this month, just before the launch of Windows 7.

So what’s really going on? You can summarize the entire story in one simple sentence: Windows 7 is the anti-Vista. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.

It’s official: Windows 7 is a hit, and XP is finally in decline | ZDNet

Vista – for all it’s poor reception – was a huge leap over XP. Win7 is a modest upgrade (and one nasty backstep) from Vista. Proving once again that fallacy of “the wisdom of the crowd” (they’re wrong as often as not).

From DownloadSquad:

Windows 7 overtakes Vista in StatCounter’s July figures

It was really only a question of when, but Windows 7 has finally overtaken Vista in operating system market share. Windows 7 is now closing in on 20% as Vista’s presence continues to slide. Vista’s lack of popularity aside, Windows 7′s rise is still impressive — especially when you consider the fact that widespread enterprise adoption won’t really take off until service pack one is released early next year. [http://gs.statcounter.com/#os-ww-monthly-200907-201008]

Windows 7 overtakes Vista in StatCounter’s July figures

Another interesting StatCounter graph:

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Operating System Market Share

Note XP is still the big kahuna. Hard to imagine.

Mac OS X slips in OS market share for fourth straight month

by Jay Hathaway Aug 2nd 2010 at 4:30PM

Earlier today, Lee Mathews told you how Windows 7 had passed Vista in OS market share, and how Windows XP still seems to have a little gas left in its tank. But what of Mac OS X? Things are looking okay, but not great, for Apple’s desktop operating system, which lost ground for the 4th straight month, according to the July report from Net Applications (as reported by ComputerWorld).
Apple’s 2/10ths of a percentage point drop was its largest drop in over a year and a half. OS X peaked at 5.3% in October, but then Microsoft introduced Windows 7, and was all downhill from there. Apple’s back down to 5%.

Mac OS X slips in OS market share for fourth straight month

Windows 7 has a built-in Print Pictures function that opens a dialog box full of options. One option in particular gives me pause: [x] Fit picture to frame. Fit – as in make it fit? As in: if the photo is too big for the frame (print area), squeeze it to make it fit? Well, no. See these two examples.

In the first figure, the Fit option is checked, as it is by default. The photo fills the available print space. Only the birds on the left and right hint at a problem.

The second figure shows the full picture because Fit is unchecked. In order to fit the true width of the picture, some print space is left blank above and below.

One might argue the problem is the cropping of this photo, but it is cropped just the way I want it and I think that cropping works particularly well onscreen. And what of panoramas? To me, the problem is the word “fit.”

My advice: When cropping, keep printing in mind if you intend to print the cropped photo. When printing, preview each print with and without this option checked – it makes little difference for photos whose aspect ratio (height to width) is close to the aspect ratio of the print area, but the difference may be significant.

PS: This isn’t just a problem with printing cropped photos. Most film had an aspect ratio of 3:2 (making a 6×4 print). Digital cameras picked up TV’s pre-digital aspect ratio 4:3. Some cameras shoot the HD (from movie) ratio of 16:9. So, getting a photo to look great on a computer screen, on TV, in a digital frame, and in print is, well, a challenge.

I really like the navigation bar in Word 2010 (with the yellow highlight). It’s fantastic for navigating between sections, as well as moving, deleting, and copy sections. Plus the Find command is at the top. As for Windows Live Wave4: all the products have Ribbon toolbars, like it or not (and I do, mostly). Windows Live Photo Gallery is very slow, however. I hope that gets fixed.

Three things are different from this current arrangement versus everyday. First, I have the resolution on both monitors higher than usual. Worse, I have the default screen fonts at 100% (too small), instead of the large option I usually use. I had to do this because the VM just wouldn’t fit under my normal settings, although it should have! Finally, my taskbar normally appears on the second monitor thanks to Ultramon. (Come on, Microsoft. More than 10 years after multiple monitor support came about and you still don’t put a taskbar on each?) Something about the current resolution results in that second taskbar being twice as tall as necessary, with wasted space below the small icons. Sometimes I just hate the hoops one jumps through with software.

How can I opt-in or opt-out of the new photo page preview?

During the preview you can opt-in or opt-out of the new photo page view at anytime using the links below.

Show me the future! (opt-in)

Take me back to the present! (opt-out)

If you opt-out you can continue to use the current photo page until the finalized version of the new page is released. When the new page is fully released, it will be the exclusive viewing option for all images on Flickr. If you have feedback during the preview let us know in the group.

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Compare the Nikon Coolpix P100 vs Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1 – Snapsort 

Digital Cameras Side-by-Side, 2 cameras: Digital Photography Review

Take such comparisons with a grain of salt. As just one example, the DPR site says the P100 comes with a charger – not anywhere I’ve seen, other than the in-camera charger, which may be what they mean.

These kinds of charts cannot replace actual reviews, both professional and amateur, such as on Amazon. I also saw one review on YouTube that was pretty informative.

Someone who has lived with a camera can point out things that a quick survey or chart won’t. For example, the Sony HX1 automatically switches into Macro mode; the Nikon P100, like the earlier Sony models, requires a button press – not a deal-breaker. On the other hand, the Nikon’s method of releasing the flash makes it easy to suppress the flash, as on earlier Sonys; the Sony HX1 opens the flash automatically, meaning you have to press buttons to suppress it. These are details most reviews miss but which may make affect you every day.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/

http://www.dcviews.com/cameras.htm

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/