14 DAY TRIAL // While Windows 10 advances in terms of consumer adoption, not the same thing can be said about businesses, where deploying a new operating system is typically a more complex process that involves application compatibility tests and possible hardware upgrades.
A research conducted by Spiceworks shows that Windows 10 adoption within organizations is still advancing more slowly than Microsoft hoped, while Windows 7 continues to be the preferred option.
Specifically, Spiceworks says Windows 7 is leading in the business sector with 69 percent, while Windows XP is the second with 14 percent. Windows 10 is only third with 9 percent, followed by Windows 8 with 5 percent and Mac OS, Vista, and others, each with 1 percent.
In other words, Windows XP has more users in the business market than Windows 10, even though it was launched in 2001 and it no longer receives updates and security patches since April 8, 2014.
Windows XP penetration rate at 52%
As far as Windows OS penetration rate is concerned, the research shows that 9 percent of the businesses are still using one instance of Windows Vista (penetration rate represents the percentage of companies running at least one install of the operating system).
In addition to that, no less than 52 percent of the businesses run Windows XP on at least one system, while Windows 7 is doing even better with 87 percent.
“Unsurprisingly, Windows 7 still has the highest penetration rate among businesses worldwide at 87%, but in the near future, there might be a new king of the OSes. As we get closer to Windows 10’s two-year anniversary on July 29, 2017, Spiceworks network data shows 54% of organizations across the globe have adopted Windows 10,” the research shows.
For what it’s worth, Windows Vista support is coming to an end on April 11 and Windows XP no longer receives updates since 2014, so Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 are the only versions that should exist within businesses committed to Windows.