14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is pushing hard for Windows 10 to become the operating system of choice for everyone across the world, but this isn’t happening just yet, as Windows 7 keeps dominating the desktop market.
The Firefox Hardware Report published recently by Mozilla shows that Windows 7 is the number one operating system for users running the company’s browser, with a share of 44.86 percent, followed by Windows 10 with 25.67 percent.
Seeing Windows 7 dominating the desktop OS charts is not surprising, but on the other hand, it’s living proof that Microsoft will really have a hard time moving users to Windows 10 before 2020 when it reaches end of support.
Microsoft’s Windows 10, however, already improved substantially since its launch in 2015, mostly thanks to the free upgrade offer targeting Windows 7 and 8.1 users, but this still isn’t enough to become the number one choice for PC users.
Windows XP still shockingly popular
There’s also something that’s as surprising as it is worrying. Windows XP, the operating system that was launched by Microsoft in 2001, is still running on 10.36 percent of computers where Firefox is installed.
Support for Windows XP came to an end in August 2014, and Microsoft urged everyone to update to a newer version of Windows ever since, but there still are users who prefer to stick with the 15YO platform.
Since Internet Explorer itself is no longer receiving updates and security patches on Windows XP, Firefox is one of the popular choices, as it can protect users against exploits and security vulnerabilities that would expose their computers to various risks when browsing the web.
It goes without saying that upgrading to newer Windows is a much better solution for those on Windows XP, but it’s hard to believe that the switch could take place overnight since more than 2 years have already passed since end of support.