14 DAY TRIAL // 2014 was kind of a tough year for Microsoft, mostly because the company killed off Windows XP and tried to get people on a newer platform, and at the same time, it aggressively promoted Windows 8.1 in an attempt to boost adoption of its modern operating system.
As you can see in the chart included in this article, Windows XP went down at a fast pace this year, while Windows 8.1 indeed managed to boost its market share pretty much every single month.
Unfortunately, performance in both cases was more or less below expectations, and while Windows XP lost fewer users than Microsoft had hoped, Windows 8.1 also increased its share at a slower pace than predicted.
Right now, they're both holding a similar user base, but there's no doubt that, as time passes by, more people will step away from Windows XP, while others will embrace Windows 8.1.
Windows XP discontinued in April 2014
Microsoft pulled the plug on Windows XP in April this year, and since then, the company warned that users must upgrade to a newer Windows version every once in a while, emphasizing that risks of getting hacked increase every month.
And still, not everyone is willing to give up on Windows XP right now, even though it's pretty clear that this OS version has become rather limited and more developers are switching focus to newer platforms.
One of the reasons users prefer to stay on XP is the low system requirements, as this is more or less the only Windows flavor that still works decently well on old hardware. Moving to Windows 7 or 8.1 would also involve hardware upgrades, which makes the process more expensive and impossible for users and large companies.
Windows 10 expected to boost migration
Windows 10, on the other hand, is expected to encourage people to move off Windows XP, offering the familiar desktop environment with several modern updates, including Cortana and multiple desktops.
What's more, Windows 10 will have the same system requirements as Windows 7, so it shouldn't be too difficult for many users to upgrade to this version.
According to sources, Windows 10 is projected to see daylight in late summer or early fall 2015, so Windows XP users still have more than six months to prepare for the migration to a modern platform.