14 DAY TRIAL // It's not a secret that Windows has a market share that exceeds 90 percent on the desktop, but a new survey that involved 13,000 developers comes to confirm that as far as the PC is concerned, Microsoft's operating system remains the one and only leader.
VisionMobile's research reveals that no less than 75 percent of the PCs out there are running either Windows 7 or a newer version of the operating system, while only 16 percent of the computers are currently powered by Windows 8.
Obviously, non-Windows operating systems aren't doing very well, with developers saying that Mac OS X is installed on only 7 percent of their desktops, while Linux on only 2 percent.
The Windows 10 story
As you can see, Windows 10 is not yet included in these statistics, but Microsoft hopes that most of the users running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on their computers would upgrade to its new operating system.
The reason is as simple as it could be: Microsoft has a goal of bringing Windows 10 on 1 billion devices by 2017, including PCs and phones, and upgrading systems that are running Windows 7 and 8.1 is a priority.
That's why the free Windows 10 upgrade offer is actually so important for Microsoft: if the operating system is offered at no cost, more Windows 7 and 8.1 users are likely to upgrade, but time will tell how many actually agree to do that.
“We have bigger hopes, higher aspirations for Windows. We want to move from people needing Windows to choosing Windows to loving Windows. That is our bold goal with Windows,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said earlier this year.
“This is one of the most collaborative releases of Windows and we’re looking forward do that feedback cycle. We want to make Windows 10 the most loved release of Windows.”
Windows 7 support comes to an end in 2020, so Microsoft still has some 5 years to upgrade users and avoid another Windows XP moment.