Windows XP Finally Falls Below 50% Market Share
It was going to happen and some point.
Net Applications now lists Windows XP with a market share of 49.84 percent, down from 51.13 percent in June.
Windows XP was launched almost 10 years ago, on August 24, 2001 and is still the world's most popular operating system. Windows Vista failed to become a replacement for XP, but Windows 7 is apparently eating away share from XP at an accelerating pace. However, Windows 7 cannot collect all those users that XP and Windows Vista are losing every month: XP and Vista lost a combined 1.57 points of OS market share in July, while Windows 7 gained just 0.74 points and now stands at 27.87 percent. Windows overall dropped to from 88.29 percent to 87.66 percent market share, while Mac OS X climbed from 5.37 percent to 5.59 percent and iOS is now estimated to hold 2.98 percent.
StatCounter, by the way, estimates Windows XP share at 43.89 percent and Windows 7 share at 36.06 percent.
A decrease in Windows XP market share and an increase in Windows 7 is critical for Microsoft to lay the foundation for greater IE9 and IE10 adoption to promote a new HTML5 app model that will arrive with Windows 8 in 2012.
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Finally... XP had a good run, but it's way pass time to let it go. Not exactly too thrilled about DX9 still being used in games while we already have DX11 either. Also still waiting for the day where 32bit OS will be gone and x64 would be the new native.
Hell, it's about time!
Completely agree...it was a good OS for a long time. Sometimes it is tough to go back to using it after using Windows 7.
Completely agree aznguy...it'll be a good day when 64 bit is the norm.
The transition from XP to Vista/7 (aka v5 to v6.0/6.1) was more significant than the previous upgrades because it included the change from 32bit to 64bit for the main stream. It should get easier from v6 to v7 or is that v6.2?
XP was a well designed OS indeed. I only bought Win7, cause when I bought my comp, there was no win7 yet, but upgrades were promised for Vista users. So I bought a Vista Business, so I could downgrade at anytime to WinXP, and when Win7 came out, they shipped me the Pro version for free. It was a really good deal. 3 "windowses" for the price of one.
Otherwise I'd still be an XP user up to this day. Win8 looks like MS is aiming too much for the touchscreens and XBOX gaming, so I guess I'll give it a pass, and maybe give Ubuntu one more shot. Once popular games make their way on Linux, Windows is doomed.
I don't think that this data reflects situation properly because it includes non-PC OS'. Just take a look at your own household OS' and devices. For example 5 years ago I had 2 PC's with XP and one smartphone and one dumb phone. Now I have 2 PC's with Win7, 3 smartphones and one tablet. Win7 does collect all users that XP and Vista lose, but there is also considerable number of new devices which are out of reach for Win7 that are included in this data. More telling would be comparation of only desktop OS', because from these data could be drawn conclusion that people are throwing PCs away because they don't want to switch to Win7.
Finally... XP had a good run, but it's way pass time to let it go. Not exactly too thrilled about DX9 still being used in games while we already have DX11 either. Also still waiting for the day where 32bit OS will be gone and x64 would be the new native.
Because current generation consoles (PS3 and 360) have outdated graphics and because they usually port them to PC. A lot of people still have older video cards that can still pack a punch (relative to these consoles), so why not develop the games, in such a way, as to reach the broadest population as possible? Especially if it could mean more sales. Think about it.
Win7 does collect all users that XP and Vista lose, but there is also considerable number of new devices which are out of reach for Win7 that are included in this data. More telling would be comparation of only desktop OS', because from these data could be drawn conclusion that people are throwing PCs away because they don't want to switch to Win7.
I didn't. I switched from XP to Arch Linux when I first saw how the Windows 7 interface looked (like straight up KDE). Motherboard says it was designed for Windows 7 but works very well on Linux. So I don't care about 7. For the very few Windows-only programs I use (including iTunes for syncing my iPod), I use VirtualBox with TinyXP installed inside a 2 GB .vdi file. Just right for what I need.
MS forces people to buy a new unwanted product by artificially creating problems of their old OS. Is there really any technical limitation in XP that prevents it from using dx-10, dx-11 or new versions of IE or it's just a marketing decision? Also, is there any noticable benefit of new direct-x or IE over the last versions? I remember actually seeing new effects in games games for DX7, DX8 that starting surpassing glide & opengl. But these latest versions? Can you see notable difference in all the comparison videos or high-res screens trying to spot difference in Crysis running on DX9 vs DX10. Or how about the new Crysis-2 ultra comparisons which are now pushing for DX11?
MS forces people to buy a new unwanted product by artificially creating problems of their old OS. Is there really any technical limitation in XP that prevents it from using dx-10, dx-11 or new versions of IE or it's just a marketing decision? Also, is there any noticable benefit of new direct-x or IE over the last versions? I remember actually seeing new effects in games games for DX7, DX8 that starting surpassing glide & opengl. But these latest versions? Can you see notable difference in all the comparison videos or high-res screens trying to spot difference in Crysis running on DX9 vs DX10. Or how about the new Crysis-2 ultra comparisons which are now pushing for DX11?
No one forces you to buy anything, but let's put it terms of brass tacks shall we?
People invest in a PC which must cost a pretty penny because they are playing Crysis 2 in DX11, so at the very least they have lashed out hundreds on the graphics card alone and the CPU and RAM must be fairly beefy too.
So to balk at $100 on an OS over a 10 year period takes a special kind of scrooge-minded, tight-fisted, penny-pinching, mean-spiritedness that beggars belief.
If you are prepared to spend over $1000 on a PC you can at least get a new OS at least once a decade.
With MacOS at 5.5%.. its amazing that Windows / MS are threatened by Macintoshes...
Windows XP was the most porous operating system in history, a cut down, primped up version of Windows 2000 with less security and more fragile drivers due to Ring 0 protection being eliminated.
Good riddance.
More telling would be comparation of only desktop OS', because from these data could be drawn conclusion that people are throwing PCs away because they don't want to switch to Win7.
It would be great since it would be a fair comparason but why not do it the regular Toms (Steve's?) Hardware way - See what car brand is dominant but also add cycles into it especially since people usually own both to skew the results!
it's a natural course in a product''s lifecycle. eventually everything will be phased out, replaced by newer versions or just fade away. so xp market share decline is expected, not really news worthy.
Windows XP was the most porous operating system in history, a cut down, primped up version of Windows 2000 with less security and more fragile drivers due to Ring 0 protection being eliminated. Good riddance.
How quickly they forget Windows 98, or FAT. XP was a huge leap over the user unfriendly 2000, which was a pimped up NT.
R.I.P xp..
Finally - MS needs to pull the plug on support for this antique once and for all. It was an okay OS ten years ago, I hate being forced into using this POS on downgraded windows 7-licensed machines just because of incompetent IT purchasing decisions made years ago.
Good riddance. 7 is so much better than XP I don't understand why there is so much resistance to the transition. XP was great 10 years ago, but not so much anymore. Vista was better (mostly) and 7 is the clear winner.
There is absolutely no excuse for anyone to be running XP anymore. If you need XP, get Windows 7 Professional and download Windows XP Mode. Enough said.
...besides a good bunch of still great games, that won't work under Windows 7 - even in XP Mode!
Um ok... When your OS that you are running now no longer supports hardly anything you then are pretty much are forced to upgrade to a newer OS. XP is going the same way. Microsoft is slowly squeezing the life out of it, by cutting off support for it little by little. IE9. Windows Media player 12, Live Messenger 2011 Essentails are just a prime of example of software programs by Microsoft that be supported under XP, but Microsoft said nope if you want those new programs you have to upgrade either Vista or 7 to get those features. And if Vista was a huge sucess like 7 is Microsoft would have started cutting off support for XP a lot sooner.
...so I guess I'll give it a pass, and maybe give Ubuntu one more shot. Once popular games make their way on Linux, Windows is doomed.
Games are never coming to Linux because of the chicken and egg problem, and because it doesn't offer anything new or superior to other platforms.
I do not understand this fetish some people have for Linux, simply because it is not Windows. It's like they have to avoid the popular platform because all the uncool people use it.
Unless you are some kind of serious power user, Linux offers nothing that Windows doesn't. The security argument is a red herring, because anyone who is enough of a power user to warrant using Linux should have no problem securing their Windows PC.
So what else is there? Why is it so important *not* to be using Windows, other than to impress misanthropic nerds?
Games are never coming to Linux because of the chicken and egg problem, and because it doesn't offer anything new or superior to other platforms. I do not understand this fetish some people have for Linux, simply because it is not Windows. It's like they have to avoid the popular platform because all the uncool people use it. Unless you are some kind of serious power user, Linux offers nothing that Windows doesn't. The security argument is a red herring, because anyone who is enough of a power user to warrant using Linux should have no problem securing their Windows PC. So what else is there? Why is it so important *not* to be using Windows, other than to impress misanthropic nerds?
When I use it, I use it because it, and all the basic office functionality are free/hassle free. No activation. No loosing disks/license codes.
I just had a customer who deemed Vista superior to W7 because it didn't 'work' for her. It didn't work for her because she lost her Office 2007 disk/key, and couldn't reinstall it. Had MS not just switched to some kind of 'account' model, they would have a happy customer, instead of someone looking to stick to a crappy version of their OS because she can't transfer her license...
This doesn't happen with Linux. When you need it, it is there. Sure, you can try to teach a Windows User to use OpenOffice instead of MS Office on their machine, but they will never go for it. When you start with Linux, you are generally happy with Linux.
to: back_by_demand:
you beggar belief; your response is moronic, your logic is .....illogical is the kindest word I can come up with
I'd like to see the percentages for home users vs corporate/government. I have 2 windows 7 PCs at home, but at work we are still stuck with XP. And I work for a tech company so I'm guessing that most other companies are still using XP as well. Supposedly we're switching from XP to 7 in the next year or so, but I still don't believe it.
Is that 49+% market share for the US or is it worldwide?
I didn't realise Windows XP was ten years old. I think it's because I waited a couple of years before upgrading from Windows 98.
When I use it, I use it because it, and all the basic office functionality are free/hassle free. No activation. No loosing disks/license codes. I just had a customer who deemed Vista superior to W7 because it didn't 'work' for her. It didn't work for her because she lost her Office 2007 disk/key, and couldn't reinstall it. Had MS not just switched to some kind of 'account' model, they would have a happy customer, instead of someone looking to stick to a crappy version of their OS because she can't transfer her license...This doesn't happen with Linux. When you need it, it is there. Sure, you can try to teach a Windows User to use OpenOffice instead of MS Office on their machine, but they will never go for it. When you start with Linux, you are generally happy with Linux.
What are you mumbling about? You can use open office on Windows just like on Linux.
MS forces people to buy a new unwanted product by artificially creating problems of their old OS. Is there really any technical limitation in XP that prevents it from using dx-10, dx-11 or new versions of IE or it's just a marketing decision? Also, is there any noticable benefit of new direct-x or IE over the last versions? I remember actually seeing new effects in games games for DX7, DX8 that starting surpassing glide & opengl. But these latest versions? Can you see notable difference in all the comparison videos or high-res screens trying to spot difference in Crysis running on DX9 vs DX10. Or how about the new Crysis-2 ultra comparisons which are now pushing for DX11?
Yeah they purposely put bugs in their software. Go put your tin foil hat back on...
What are you mumbling about? You can use open office on Windows just like on Linux.
Sorry for double post. If you go Linux, you'll have to learn to use Open Office anyway. Ant I use open office and I am on Windows 7. (I actually have all three: & on desktop, and dual boot XP and Linux on my laptop).
When I use it, I use it because it, and all the basic office functionality are free/hassle free. No activation. No loosing disks/license codes. I just had a customer who deemed Vista superior to W7 because it didn't 'work' for her. It didn't work for her because she lost her Office 2007 disk/key, and couldn't reinstall it. Had MS not just switched to some kind of 'account' model, they would have a happy customer, instead of someone looking to stick to a crappy version of their OS because she can't transfer her license...This doesn't happen with Linux. When you need it, it is there. Sure, you can try to teach a Windows User to use OpenOffice instead of MS Office on their machine, but they will never go for it. When you start with Linux, you are generally happy with Linux.
You Linux funboys just need to stop. Linux will NEVER EVER be mainstream. I mean damn iOS has more market share than Linux. Enough... Open Office SUCKS...
Why do i still use XP? Because the $1000 it would cost me in licences(for all the pcs i own/maintain at my home/business) to sidegrade to win7 is not worth it.
Why do i need win7 when xp does everything i currently need it to? As long as that is the case i wont be upgrading.
Yes its antiquated, but i dont need new bling just for the sake of new bling. If it already works why 'replace it'.
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The gamer side of me wants games designed for modern pcs but that's not going to happen either. And its not xp/win7 stopping that. Its the last gen consoles. Games are designed for them. That will be true at least until the next round of consoles come out. Blame the consoles for games still using dx9 and 32bit code.