Data shows adoption of Windows 10 keeps improving

Sep 3, 2018 05:02 GMT  ·  By

Windows 10 is very likely to overtake Windows 7 by the end of the year in terms of PC market share, according to new data offered by NetMarketShare.

The growth that Microsoft’s latest operating system recorded last month, coupled with the decline of Windows 7, puts Windows 10 in the position to surpass its 2009 predecessor, a switch of places that everyone expected to take place much faster.

Last month, Windows 7 dropped from 41.23% to 40.27%, while Windows 10 improved its share from 36.58% to 37.80%. This means that in just one month, the difference between the two shrunk from 4.65 percent to just 2.47 percent.

Switch of places by year-end

If the same trend is maintained, Windows 10 is very likely to become the number one operating system on the desktop in the next two to three months, overtaking Windows 7 for a historic milestone that Microsoft has dreamed about ever since it rolled out this latest version.

Windows 10 debuted in July 2015 and it was offered as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and 8.1 users in the first 12 months of availability. Microsoft has often been accused of turning to very aggressive tactics to convince users to try out Windows 10, including forced upgrades that were performed without consent.

Windows 7, however, survived this push heroically, sticking to the leading spot for more than three years after the launch of Windows 10. With the end-of-support approaching fast, it makes sense for Windows 7 to decline, though there’s no doubt it’ll take many more years until it disappears completely.

Leaving the two Windows versions aside, macOS is the next popular desktop platform in the charts with 5.86 percent share for the 10.13 build, followed by Windows 8.1 and Windows XP with 5.10 percent and 3.30 percent, respectively. Linux is far behind with just 1.51 percent.