14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 10 continues to be available free of charge as an upgrade for Windows 7 and 8.1 users and the number of users who decide to take advantage of the offer grows as we get closer to the final days of this promo.
Statistics provided by third-party market research firm Net Applications reveal that Windows 10 remained the second most-used desktop operating system in April, reaching a 15.12 percent market share. Windows 7 keeps leading the market with 47.29 percent, while Windows XP sticks with the third place with 10.45 percent.
Individually, April 2016 has been Windows 7’s worst month this year so far since it experienced a significant decline as more users move to Windows 10. Windows 7 dropped from 51.89 percent to 47.29 percent in April and this is the first time the operating system launched in 2009 drops below the 50 percent threshold.
Windows 7 dropped gradually since the debut of Windows 10 and back in July 2015 when Microsoft launched the latest version of its operating system, it was running on no less than 60.73 percent of PCs. This means that it lost 13.44 percent in nearly 10 months, and given Windows 10’s current market share, it’s very clear that most users moved to this OS version.
Windows 10 performance
Windows 10, on the other hand, keeps growing, but the trend has slowed down a little last month. Microsoft’s latest Windows version improved from 14.15 percent in March to 15.12 percent in April, a growth of only 0.97 percent, so it increased its market share by less than 1 percent.
This was one of the slowest months for Windows 10 in terms of adoption since its debut – the only months when it increased its share with less than 1 percent were December (9% to 9.96%) and February (11.85% to 14.15%).
On the other hand, Microsoft’s biggest achievement is the decline of Windows 7, as support for this version ends in 2020 and everyone expects the company to experience another hard time moving users to Windows 10.
Back in April 2014 when the software giant ended support of Windows XP, more than 25 percent of computers were still running it, so with Windows 7 still going strong these days, Microsoft could face another difficult time in 2020 when it pulls the plug on it.
The next few months should maintain the current trends – up for Windows 10 and down for Windows 7, especially as we move closer to the end of the free upgrade window, but it remains to be seen how fast users are willing to give up on Windows 7.
