Windows 7 Still Holds Major Market Share Ahead Of Windows 10 Release

By Rexly Peñaflorida
published

There is less than a month left until the release of Windows 10, and now is a good time to take a look back at the playing field before it shakes up on July 29. Specifically, we're looking at market shares from last month and how much was held at the time by Windows 7, 8 and 8.1.

Despite the end of mainstream support for the Windows 7 operating system, it still had the biggest slice of the pie, holding 60.98 percent of the market. Security updates are still available, but for any other problems with the OS, you can either head to the forums or pay Microsoft for additional support.

Windows 8.1 comes in second at 13.12 percent, while Windows 8 only has a measly 2.9 percent market share. Windows 10 allows free upgrades from Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, so it remains to be seen if Windows 8 will hang on and maintain any significant usage past the end of July.

Other notable Windows operating systems on the chart include Windows XP, which has a third-place share of 11.98 percent, and Windows Vista, which has the lowest portion of Microsoft users at only 1.62 percent.

We don't know the exact number of people who are already planning to upgrade to the new operating system, but considering the hype building up to the release date, it's not hard to imagine a large group of people already saved their spot in line for an upgrade. This is Microsoft's biggest release yet, with seven editions of Windows 10 ranging from the desktop to mobile; there's even one specifically built for education.

We had a detailed look at the new system in January, which showed off new features such as Cortana, Universal Apps and integration with the Xbox One. At BUILD in April, we also learned more about Microsoft Edge, the new browser previously named "Project Spartan." Along the way, many users participated in the Technical Preview for Windows 10, with the most recent build coming out just one day after the previous version. It's all coming to a head in less than a month, so if you haven't started counting down to the arrival of Windows 10, now's a good time to start. 

Follow Rexly Peñaflorida II @Heirdeux. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

48 Comments Comment from the forums
  • agentbb007
    It will be interesting to see how this pie chart changes after Windows 10 launches. Due to the free upgrade offer I think Windows 10 will take 10% of the Windows 8.1 pie and 40% of the Windows 7 pie.
    Reply
  • TechyInAZ
    It will be interesting to see how this pie chart changes after Windows 10 launches. Due to the free upgrade offer I think Windows 10 will take 10% of the Windows 8.1 pie and 40% of the Windows 7 pie.

    Agreed, however windows 7 will still be used by many because it's reliable and familiar. I think windows 10 in around a year after it's release will reach 20% of the market share.
    Reply
  • soccerplayer88
    The vast majority of businesses will continue to use Windows 7 for at least another 3-5 years so that software companies can "catch up".

    I think Windows 10 will be more popular than 8 (purely based on that it's a free upgrade), but Win7 will stay strong for some time.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    That depends on if this chart includes business based PCs or is only consumer based PCs.

    In all honesty you cannot include most businesses as they keep older OS due to:

    1. Old software that no longer receives updates or will work on a newer version (can include Windows 98/2K/XP or even DOS)

    2. The cost to upgrade is too much and they just recently upgraded

    The majority of businesses just upgraded to 7 a bit before 8s launch so they wont be upgrading for a few more years.

    I think 10 will excel in the consumer market and business market but it will take longer on the latter due to how businesses run. IT is determined by cost effectiveness, no longer is it determined by what works and is better.
    Reply
  • soldier44
    Wasn't going near Win 8, glad I waited.
    Reply
  • uglyduckling81
    Why does your chart break up WIn8 by its service pack usage but not any of the other Windows versions? Win7 has one, XP has 3.
    Reply
  • atheus
    I hope they release it on 8 inch floppy disk so that NORAD can update the US nuclear arsenal's OS.
    Reply
  • MarkW
    Why is this news? Most people are not going to want to trust their computer to a beta test.

    Give it 6 months. Then you might have a story.
    Reply
  • quilciri
    More people use vista than linux....
    Reply
  • HeadScratcher7
    I'm a power user and I won't tolerate giving control of system updates to MS to download and install whenever and whatever they feel like. Now that they've shown they are willing to download advertisements as "patches" to your operating system and YOU, the user, will not be able to uninstall them under Win10. No thanks.
    Reply