Windows XP Still Dominant
Written by Janet Swift   
Wednesday, 04 January 2012

Despite all Microsoft's efforts to persuade us to upgrade to Windows 7, XP still dominates as the desktop operating system of choice.

Back in October we ran a news item, Windows 7 Overtakes XP Globally, reporting that, according to figures from StatCounter, Windows 7 adoption had outstripped Windows XP making Windows 7 the dominant desktop operating system.

Now we have figures from NetMarketShare which suggest we are still at least three months away from this milestone - which just goes to show that you should always be wary of statistics!

 

osyear

 

NetMarketShare's chart, like the one from StatCounter, clearly shows the extent to which Windows dominates the desktop environment. Linux is included in the ochre-colored Other line which has a steady 3% share but splitting the Mac OS into two variants has the effect of under-representing its share - if combined as Mac OS X 10.x the share would climb from 4% to 5%.

Equally the chart demonstrates that Windows XP and Vista are in decline while Windows 7 is gaining share. If the same trend continues the Windows 7 share of the desktop operating system should be greater than XP's around April 2012 - but by then will Microsoft be urging users to switch to Windows 8?

 

 

xpshare2

The fact that XP still powers over half of Windows desktops says a great deal about users reluctance to upgrade from what was the most popular operating system of all time. It is doubtful if Windows 7 can ever outdo it - and who  knows what success Windows 8 can achieve.

Meanwhile XP users still have over 800 days before they need to make the switch - and this isn't the message Microsoft want to convey with this countdown timer - which can only be installed under Windows 7.

 

xpcountdown

Related articles:

Windows 7 Overtakes XP Globally

Microsoft counts down to XP death

 

raspberry pi books

 

Comments




or email your comment to: comments@i-programmer.info

 

To be informed about new articles on I Programmer, subscribe to the RSS feed, follow us on Google+, Twitter, Linkedin or Facebook or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

 

Banner


CISA Offers More Support For Open Source
22/03/2024

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has announced a number of key actions that they hope will improve the open source ecosystem.



Open Source Key To Expansion of IoT & Edge
13/03/2024

According to the 2023 Eclipse IoT & Edge Commercial Adoption Survey Report, last year saw a surge of IoT adoption among commercial organizations across a wide range of industries. Open source [ ... ]


More News

Last Updated ( Sunday, 02 September 2012 )