Windows 10 reaches new personal records across the world

Jun 2, 2016 09:57 GMT  ·  By

Windows 10 is growing, there’s no doubt about that, but as far as the last month is concerned, the new operating system actually managed to experience a significant boost in the largest markets.

May was a month full of criticism aimed at Microsoft and Windows 10, mostly because many users got upgraded to the new operating system due to what they claimed to be a nasty tactic that deployed Windows 10 without them even wanting it.

There were claims that Microsoft automatically scheduled the upgrade to Windows 10 on a large number of PCs while others complained that clicking the close buttons in the scheduled upgrade windows actually did nothing and the installer still started at a certain date.

And it turns out that this tactic is paying off, as Windows 10 managed to increase its share to a record level the last month.

Windows 10 share in the largest markets

Data provided by StatCounter for the month of May shows that, globally, Windows 10 managed to reach a share of 19.98 percent while Windows 7 is still the leader with 43.28 percent. All the other operating systems, be they Windows or non-Windows, are far behind and below 10 percent.

In Europe, Windows 10 is doing even better and is already at 24.58 percent, but it’s still behind Windows 7, which dominates the charts with 38.98 percent. Mac OS X is third with 11.21 percent. The difference between Windows 10 and Windows 7 on the Old Continent is thus smaller, which means that a switch of places could take place sooner here than in other markets.

In North America, Windows 7 is running on 36.7 percent of PCs while Windows 10 is the runner-up with 22.64 percent. OS X is once again third with 15.77 percent.

And last but not least, Asia is the only market where Windows 10 is yet to experience a major boom, as Windows 7 is powering 50.8 percent of the local computers. Microsoft’s new operating system is second with just 15.25 percent, version close to Windows XP, which is still running on 9.2 percent of PCs.

Microsoft’s free upgrade offer for Windows 10 continues until July 29, so these figures are likely to improve in the next couple of months, but it’ll be interesting to see if the new OS manages to overtake Windows 7 in any of these markets by the time Redmond ends the promo.

Asia is the only market where Windows 10 can't grow bigger faster
Asia is the only market where Windows 10 can't grow bigger faster

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Desktop OS market share in Europe - May 2016
Asia is the only market where Windows 10 can't grow bigger faster
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