14 DAY TRIAL // Moving users from Windows XP to a newer platform remains a serious challenge for tech giant Microsoft, especially because the 11-year-old operating system will go dark in approximately 7 months.
Even though the Softies initially planned to cut down Windows XP’s market share to 10 percent by April 8, 2014, the company has now changed its mind a little bit and set its target to 13 percent.
Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer, said during the company’s financial analyst day in Redmond that Windows XP is currently powering 21 percent of computers worldwide, so the company wants to cut its market share to 13 percent by the time the OS is retired.
While Microsoft’s new figures are indeed a sign that consumers are now making the move to newer platforms, such as Windows 7 and Windows 8, they do sound a bit strange. Net Applications, the company whose market share figures are always brought in the spotlight by the tech giant, point to a larger user base for Windows XP, indicating that around 33 percent of computers are still running the ancient OS.
“We have a giant XP install base. But guess what? We've made so much progress on that XP install base. It's down to 21 percent worldwide, and we have plans to get that number to 13 percent by April when the end-of-life of XP happens. This has been a major and multi-year initiative for us, and one that we've worked very hard on to make sure we can execute towards,” Turner told the audience during his keynote.
Of course, Microsoft hopes to see Windows XP users moving to Windows 8 and 8.1, as the company continues to invest big in its modern platform.
While Windows 8 has been around for a while and its current uptake isn’t quite impressive, Windows 8.1 is projected to be launched next month and bring a lot of improvements to the market, including a brand new Start button.