In July 2010, the number of Windows 7 users surpassed that of Windows Vista. The newest operating system from Microsoft has quickly overtaken its predecessor (in less than a year), but it will need much more time to overtake Windows XP, which is still the most popular system. Windows 7′s market share stands at 14.5% compared to Vista’s 14.3%. What I find amazing is that Windows XP, which is now 9 years old, still leads the way with 61.9%! That means that more than half of all Windows users prefer the old system, and this includes many business users.

I must admit, Windows XP is my favorite system too, because it’s so stable and it still looks good after almost 10 years. I use Windows XP on my old laptop, and Windows 7 on my new PC. I never bought or downloaded any version of Windows Vista, simply because I have seen many flaws in that operating system during client visits. Windows Vista’s market share peaked at 18.8% in 2009, shortly before Windows 7 came to the market.

The company that collected these statistics, Net Applications, based its figures by monitoring 160 million users that visited 40,000 Web sites.

It will be some time before Windows 7 is able to catch Windows XP in terms of user numbers. I guess that will happen soon after Microsoft stops supporting all Windows XP versions. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy working with my dear Win XP Pro!

Thanks Microsoft, for getting something right!

Source: CRN