14 DAY TRIAL // During the past 12 months, Windows 7 has gained significant share on the PC market, mostly at the expense of Windows XP. However, the older operating system remained the leading platform in 2011 too.
In December 2011, Windows XP accounted for 46.52 percent of the market, while Windows 7 was present on 36.99 percent of computers, new data from netmarketshare shows.
Compared to the same month the year before, the shift in market share is significant when both platform versions are taken into consideration.
Windows Vista was another platform to lose significant market share in the time frame. It went down from 12.58 percent in December 2010 to only 8.44 percent last month.
In December 2010, Windows XP enjoyed no less than 58.92 percent market share, while Windows 7 only 21.67 percent.
From September 2011 to December 2011, XP lost no less than 4 percentage points, while Windows 7 gained over 4.5 percentage points. From December 2010 to June 2011, XP lost only 4 percentage points, though Windows 7 gained around 7 of them.
The 10 years-old Windows XP is expected to lose market share faster in the coming months/years. After all, Microsoft did say that it would discontinue support for it in less than three years.
New apps from the Redmond-based software giant have been pushed out without support for the platform. Internet Explorer 9 is one example in this direction.
Companies are moving to the newer operating system as well. Michael Silver, an analyst with Gartner Research, told Computerworld in an interview that most enterprises had already started to ditch Windows XP, or that they planned on making the move soon.
"We estimate that 10% of organizations are done [with their migration to Windows 7], 55% are well on their way, 25% have just started or are starting, and 10% are pretty much nowhere. They don't see the urgency or haven't done much of anything to prepare," he said.