Most consumers would gladly give up on Vista for Windows XP

Oct 2, 2013 14:45 GMT  ·  By

Windows XP and Windows Vista are both two operating systems that will soon go dark, as Microsoft has decided to focus all its efforts on Windows 7, 8, and the upcoming 8.1.

While the company keeps delivering updates and security patches for both of them, Microsoft warns that staying with an operating system beyond its retirement date is very risky, especially because hackers would try to exploit every single vulnerability found in an unpatched system.

Recent statistics provided by market research Net Applications revealed that Windows XP and Windows Vista are both losing users on a regular basis, even though the first one is said to be discontinued next year on April 8.

Users who posted on Softpedia’s Facebook page asked Microsoft to kill Vista whenever it wants, but instead to keep Windows XP alive, as it comes not only with a very familiar UI, but also with great stability and performance.

While many poke fun at Vista and claim that it didn’t actually survive birth, others explain that XP is still running just fine these days, even though Microsoft is so aggressively promoting Windows 8.

According to the latest market share statistics, Windows XP is now powering 31.38 percent of computers worldwide, down 2.28 from the month before. Windows Vista, on the other hand, continues its decline and lost 0.22 points from August 2013 when it had a market share of 4.11 percent.

But as far as Windows 8 is concerned, things aren’t going really well right now, with the modern platform currently holding a share of 8.02 percent. Keep in mind that Windows 8 was launched nearly one year ago and managed to improve its market share by 0.61 percent.

The good news is that Microsoft is getting ready to debut Windows 8.1, so the company again expects to see a surge in sales of its modern operating system.