Stats put Windows 7 at over 48 percent market share

Sep 4, 2017 10:01 GMT  ·  By

Windows 7 continues to be the most used desktop operating system worldwide, despite Microsoft’s aggressive Windows 10 push and the complete rollout of the Creators Update.

Microsoft started shipping the Windows 10 Creators Update, also known as Redstone 2, in April this year as a staged release, and after several months of dealing with compatibility issues and bugs, the company finally confirmed all eligible computers can download and install the new version.

But this hasn’t generated a difference in terms of market share, with Windows 10 still growing at a rather slow pace and Windows 7 users not seeing the availability of the Creators Update as a reason compelling enough to upgrade their computers.

Market research firm NetMarketShare puts Windows 7 on the first place of desktop operating systems with 48.43 percent, while Windows 10 is the runner-up with 27.99 percent.

These figures show that while Windows 7 is indeed losing market share points, it does it rather slowly, and only last month, the OS declined from 48.91 percent to 48.43 percent.

Windows XP still third top desktop OS

Windows XP continues to be the third choice for desktop users worldwide with 6.07 percent, having the same market share as Windows 8.1, an operating system that was launched 11 years later. The good news is that Windows XP is still declining, though just like Windows 7, the whole process is taking place at a speed that can’t make Microsoft happy: XP lost only 0.03 percent market share the last month.

Windows Vista, an operating system that also reached end of support this year, is dropping too, and last month recorded a share of just 0.46 percent. Fortunately, not too many systems were running Vista when Microsoft pulled the plug on it.

As far as the future of Windows 10 is concerned, the increase in market share is expected to continue in the next months, especially because a new version is just around the corner. Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is due on October 17.