Windows XP Drops Below 40%, Windows 8 Passes 1%
Adding to the speculation that Windows 8 may need some extra push to generate PC sales, Net Applications has released an estimate on the operating system's market share.
According to the Internet analysis firm, Windows 8 had a share of 1.09 percent of all operating systems at the end of the first full month of its availability.
It is too early to make a judgment on what that number really means, even if that 1.09 percent includes all those users who used the operating system prior to its release and simply upgraded when it became available in October 2012. However, it is unlikely that Windows 8 will reach the market share of Windows 7, which was released in October 2009. Net Applications said that Windows 7's average market share during the fourth quarter 2009 was 3.97 percent.
Windows 7 increased its market share in November from 44.60 percent to 44.71 percent, indicating that consumers are still picking the old operating system. Windows XP, however, fell below 40 percent for the first time in almost 10 years and is now estimated at 39.82 percent share.
StatCounter released vastly different market share numbers. The company estimates Windows 7 market share at 53.15 percent and Windows XP share at 26.19 percent. StatCounter did not release Windows market share numbers and listed the new OS under "other" operating systems, which landed at 3.08 percent.
Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Wolfgang Gruener is an experienced professional in digital strategy and content, specializing in web strategy, content architecture, user experience, and applying AI in content operations within the insurtech industry. His previous roles include Director, Digital Strategy and Content Experience at American Eagle, Managing Editor at TG Daily, and contributing to publications like Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware.
-
john15v16 Windows XP is hard to beat but I think Windows 7 is a better OS...Windows 8 on the other hand...I will wait for SP1 or maybe SP2...or maybe just windows 9...Reply -
drbaltazar at the pace its going they should grab about 10 to 15% of market share!no surprise really !this os was targeted at xp and again xp yelled :NO TY!and i got to say i agree!check me!i can have a lot of techno from ms,donnybrooks,dx11,remote differential compression,64 bit ,tessalation.etc etc etc and all of those are useless because they arent being used!its all nice and good to have new stuff but only if it is being used!its like having a bugati veron in a school zone!ya good for doyoulookgood.com but not used at all!Reply -
drbaltazar xp still said no to this os !so we can expect this os to grab about 12 to 14 % market share.so xp isnt going anywhere ,it will pretty much still be number 2 on the planet in 4 years!Reply -
rantoc Corps wont usually touch the OS until its at sp1 as for the consumers its not har dto predict this would happen as MS didnt listen to all the complaints about the default ui...Reply -
SteelCity1981 I doubt any OS will have as long as reign as Windows XP did staying ontop for as long. I mean it's 11 years old and it just recently dropped out of first place in pc market share. I guess by Oct 2020 we will see if Windows 7 has a reign as long as Windows XP does but with mounting competition from companies like google and it's Chrome OS it's going to be a lot harder for Windows 7 have the same large market share Windows XP had in that amount of time span. As for Windows 8 I don't see it coming close to Windows 7 in market share in the next 3 to 4 years. Windows 7 is the goldilocks of OSes right now andunless MS comes out with a great OS after Windows 8 then i don't see that changing anytime soon.Reply -
Marco925 I am only imagining a counter for windows 8, Working hard to push it to consumers only for it to bleep once.Reply