Windows 7 Finally Tops Windows XP in the U.S.

By Jane McEntegart
published

It’s been 18 months since Windows 7 hit retail availability and Microsoft will this week be celebrating the fact that it’s finally the most popular OS in the United States.

Thanks to low confidence in Windows Vista, many Windows users opted not to update from Windows XP, which meant the 10-year-old OS remained on top. However, according to statistics from StatCounter (via Royal Pingdom), Windows XP has finally been dethroned.

As of April, Windows XP accounts for 31.56 percent of the market, while the newer Windows 7 accounts for 31.71 percent. When Windows 7 launched, Windows XP accounted for nearly 50 percent of the market while Vista accounted for over 35 percent. Vista has since dropped to 19.07 percent. In fourth place is OS X, with 14.87 percent, while Linux comes in fifth with just .7 percent of the market.

Royal Pingdom reports that, while Windows 7 has surpassed XP in a number of countries (including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany), there’s still a ways to go when it comes to toppling XP as the worldwide King of OSes. Windows XP currently accounts for 46.87 percent of the worldwide market, while Windows 7 follows behind with 31.17 percent.

Windows 7’s success is somewhat overshadowed by this week’s leaks about the upcoming Windows 8. Recent evidence suggests we’ll see an app store integrated into the next iteration of Windows.

Jane McEntegart
49 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Marco925
    And while everyone just finally settles down and gets used to their chair, a New one comes out and everyone is told to change it, despite the first chair already having the outline of your buttocks engraved in it.
    Reply
  • acadia11
    About time, windows 7, is the isht, way better than that mistake called Vista.
    Reply
  • Stryter
    lol, poor OS X still sits below Vista.
    Reply
  • dco
    The report also stated that Windows 7 is the most used "desktop" operating system. If it took into account all other computing devices, XP still dominates by a massive margin.
    Reply
  • joex444
    Probably should point out that the Linux user population is hard to estimate. With OS X it's simple -- Mac sales divided by total computer sales. Microsoft generally admits the true Linux population is several percent of users, which is to say 5-10x higher than most reports indicate.

    Otherwise one mostly relies on web server statistics.
    Reply
  • joex444
    Also "desktop" operating system is used to distinguish between servers and desktops. Which is to say "desktops" include traditional desktop computers as well as laptops. I'm not sure what other computing devices are out there, but I'm thinking along the lines of an iPad which I don't think runs XP. Just look at the laptops for sale, they all come with Windows 7. Even the netbooks.

    My guess is the popularity of Win 7 is coming from new PC sales where customers don't have a choice to go with XP and are too lazy to downgrade themselves/start using Win 7 and find it acceptable. Fact is people are creatures of habit and if given a choice between learning something new that ostensibly doesn't do anything new we'll opt to stick with the thing we've already learned. And while we on THG consider an OS install to be beyond trivial, it's daunting for your average user.
    Reply
  • aww
    The most popular operating system for all non-PC devices is Linux. Outside the desktop, Linux dominates the mobile phone market, embedded appliance systems, robotics, and supercomputers.

    The reason OSX is so slowly making headway in the desktop market is because Apple is a far costlier computer. For instance, compatible hardware between a Mac and a PC may render similar performance results, but the Mac will invariably be twice as much in price.

    The reason Linux may not have a significant share of the PC market is because Microsoft has managed to ensure that OEM manufacturers pre-install only Windows and nothing but Windows into each machine that makes it to a shelf. Consumers have never had a choice.

    In the end, Linux desktop market share is irrelevant since open source has its own environment sustained by a dedicated community of developers that are not beholden to any single corporation. In other words, the best minds around the globe are ensuring that Linux will stay cutting-edge for desktops and all other devices.

    I will say unequivocally that OSX and Linux have proven to be far superior than Windows for desktops and laptops. Linux runs faster, more reliablly, and without the nightmarish viral maladies that have blighted Windows users for years. Which proves that popularity does not necessarily mean quality.

    Windows can continue to dominate the desktop- but who really cares? Certainly not the Mac or Linux communities.
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    I don't see Windows 8 overtaking Windows 7. A lot of people that had Windows Vista that either upgraded to it or bought a pc with it installed were chomping at the bits a short time later with vista's problems to upgrade to Windows 7. Tghe avg consumors only buys a new pc every 4 or 5 years, by the time Windows 7 rolled out most people that bought their pc's that came with Windows XP where ready to buy a new pc again. Since Windows 7 has been soo great for most pc users, most people won't bother upgrading to Windows 8 and most avg consumors won't do their anual upgrade cycle for another 3 or 4 years or even longer now considering pc's that came with Windows 7 are more then capable of doing typical work loads due to advancements in hardware which will hurt Windows 8 even more when it comes out. business are just now starting to upgrade to Windows 7 so they aren't going to upgrade again for another 6 or 7 years. MS should push Windows release date back another couple of years for those reasons.
    Reply
  • Flameout
    dcoThe report also stated that Windows 7 is the most used "desktop" operating system. If it took into account all other computing devices, XP still dominates by a massive margin.if you're using the word 'actual' including servers and smartphones as computing devices, linux is the king!
    Reply
  • adamboy64
    Sweet. Well done Microsoft.
    Reply