14 DAY TRIAL // They say Linux is becoming a much more powerful alternative to Windows, especially because Microsoft hasn't really gotten everything right in the latest versions of its desktop operating system.
Windows 8 is living proof that the company should have done better in terms of features, usability, and stability on the desktop, so it's no surprise that more users have been looking for alternatives lately.
Redmond itself is well aware of the fact that Windows 8 more or less disappointed its users and focused on the touch-optimized UI called Modern a little bit too much, so it's now working at full speed to bring Windows to the market as soon as possible.
Luckily, Windows 10 fixes most of the annoyances in Windows 8 and brings back familiar features, such as the Start menu, while also adding new ones, including multiple desktops and a new browser.
Statistics show that, despite the growth that Linux has experienced in the last months, Microsoft still has no reason to worry about, as Windows was, is, and will most likely continue to be the top operating system on the desktop for many years from now.
Market share figures
To understand how well Windows is doing right now, we'll have a look at two of the biggest market analysis firms providing us with market share information on the biggest desktop platforms, but also at gaming figures generated by Steam.
Truth is, Linux is well behind in terms of gaming, but with Steam being more and more popular on open-source platforms, it's quickly becoming a way to determine the number of PCs running a specific operating system at any given time.
StatCounter claims that Windows is currently the top operating system and gives the following scores for March 2015:
| Windows 7 | 53.3% |
| Windows 8.1 | 15.39% |
| Windows XP | 11.12% |
| Windows 8 | 3.96% |
| Windows Vista | 2.33% |
| Linux | 1.8% |
In the case of data provided by Net Applications, market share figures are a little bit different, but they still put Windows in the leading place. Here's what the charts look like right now:
| Windows 7 | 58.47% |
| Windows XP | 16.94% |
| Windows 8.1 | 10.55% |
| Windows 8 | 3.52% |
| Windows Vista | 1.97% |
| Linux | 1.50% |
As you can see, Windows is clearly doing a lot better than Linux, no matter what critics say. Even though the 90 percent market share was often considered a critical milestone for Windows (every time the OS dropped below this threshold analysts predicted the end of Windows), Linux is still far behind from becoming a real threat on the PC.
Valve's figures for the steam platform are somewhat similar:
| Windows 7 64 bit | 46.40% |
| Windows 8.1 64 bit | 28.90% |
| Windows 7 | 10.49% |
| Windows XP 32 bit | 3.65% |
| Windows 8 64 bit | 3.46% |
| Windows 10 64 bit | 0.70% |
| Windows 8.1 | 0.64% |
| Windows Vista 32 bit | 0.53% |
| Windows Vista 64 bit | 0.29% |
| Windows 8 | 0.27% |
| Linux | 1.06% |
If we add up all Valve's figures, Windows is again the leader: Windows - 95.43% and Linux - 1.06%.
It goes without saying that Windows continues to be the preferred choice for PC users worldwide, and despite the improvements that Linux has received in the last few years, Microsoft is still on the safe side and has absolutely nothing to worry about.
But Windows 10 is definitely a critical point for Microsoft. The tech giant cannot afford to get another Windows version wrong, and in case Windows 10 fails to meet expectations once again, expect Linux to skyrocket in terms of market share among consumers.
