The February numbers are in for the desktop operating system market share fight, and they show that Windows 7 still rules the desktop world with a meaty 44.55-percent. While that should seemingly be good news, what trails behind the popular OS is not: Windows XP. This decrepit, ancient platform is still loved by many, as it still claims 38.99-percent of the market.
As shown here, Microsoft is warning users that support for both Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 will end on April 8, 2014. If you thought the current malware situation was bad, wait until businesses and consumers begin to ignore this warning so that hackers can initiate their full-scale assault on Windows XP-based systems. If you think Microsoft will make an exception for your business and keep the support flowing (and I hear this a lot), think again.
"After April 8, 2014, there will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates," the company points out. "Running Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 in your environment after their end of support date may expose your company to potential risks."
The good news about the current numbers is that Windows XP usage looks to be on a downfall. In April 2012, usage was at 46.08-percent, and then by October, the platform only controlled 40.66-percent of the market. Market share has been somewhat steady since December with 39.08-percent during Christmas, 39.51-percent in January, and 38.99-percent in February.
On the Windows 8 front, market share is slowly rising. In November, the Modern UI OS controlled a whopping 1.09-percent, not a pretty number for a company placing all bets on the biggest OS overhaul since Windows 95. In December, Windows 8 climbed up to 1.72-percent, 2.26-percent in January, and finally 2.67-percent in February. Sales isn't exactly exploding, but there's speculation that the slow growth is due to the enormous backlog of Windows 7 stock that needed to be weeded out before Windows 8 could fully bloom
On a humorous note, Windows 8 is slowly gearing up to surpass Windows Vista's current market share of 5.17-percent. Mac OS X v10.8 is currently claiming 2.61-percent, v10.6 at 1.97-percent, and v10.7 at 1.93-percent. Microsoft's current zombie OS Windows 98 still isn't going down without a fight, eating a highly impressive 0.01-percent chunk out of the desktop OS carcass… talk about the living dead!
See, numbers can be fun.
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