14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 9 is going to be a really big release for both users and Microsoft itself, but all the rumors that have made it to the web recently are slowly making an impact on the market share of existing Windows versions.
Statistics provided by market researcher Net Applications for the month of August 2014 reveal that almost every single Windows version that’s currently available to users has either recorded very small increases or drops or maintained the July 2014 market share in the last 30 days.
Specifically, Windows 7 posted a market share of 51.21 percent last month, down from 51.22 percent in July, while Windows XP went down from 24.82 percent to 23.89 percent. Windows 8.1 increased its share by a few percentage points, growing from 6.56 percent to 7.09 percent in August 2014, while Windows 8 did the same by jumping from 5.92 percent to 6.28 percent.
While it’s pretty clear that Microsoft cannot be satisfied with these figures, the quickly approaching Windows 9 release date could be one of the reasons behind the stagnating market shares of the existing Windows versions.
According to people close to the matter, Windows 9 is projected to get its very first public beta later this month, but what’s more important is that Microsoft could actually offer the final version of the operating system free of charge to users of previous Windows versions.
Speculation shouldn’t be taken for granted, that’s for sure, but sources say that Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows 8.1 could either get Windows 9 free of charge or with a small fee, which would obviously boost adoption of the new operating system and get more users off the old versions.
This really makes sense, but we’ve also heard that in the end, Redmond might actually offer Windows 9 for free only to those running the very latest Windows 8.1 version, again in an attempt to move more computers to its modern operating system.
Of course, nothing is confirmed so far, but the future sounds good for Windows 9, as the feature lineup could include options such as a desktop version of Cortana, a new Start menu, improved Start screen settings, tools to run Modern app outside the Metro UI, multiple desktops and many more.
The final product is said debut in April 2015, so expect market shares of the existing Windows versions to grow or drop only by a few percentage points until early next year.