Windows 7 Still as King Despite the Release of Windows 8.1

According to Net Applications / December 2, 2013, Windows 7 market share still growing despite the recently released Windows 8.1 gained users.


From the above figure, we can see that Windows 7 inched to 46.64% in November, up from 46.42% in October. It managed to grow by 0.22 percentage point. Meanwhile, Windows 8 fell 0.87% to 6.66% global market share. Windows 8.1 managed to grow by 0.92% and most of that growth came from Windows 8 users who are allowed to upgrade to the new platform for free. Therefor, the total gain of Windows 8 and 8.1 is 0.05%. Generally speaking, this is a weak figure and really disappointment for Microsoft. Moreover, the market share of Windows XP held steady. Its market share still fell 0.02 percentage point, from 31.24% to 31.22%. (with 31.2 percent of all computers)

All in all, Windows 7 and XP have remained strong while Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 adoption numbers have been slow to grow. This is not a good signs for Microsoft as it could show that many users have still not taken a liking to Microsoft's new touchscreen-centric operating system. In other words, many users do not want to pay $119.99 for the company's latest operating system.

However, Microsoft still trying to convince more users to ditch Windows 7 and Windows XP in favor of Windows 8 or 8.1. As we have already know that Microsoft would like to see Windows XP users move onto latest versions of Windows as it plans to stop supporting the 2001 operating system after April 8, 2014. Well, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 were the only operating system to gain share between October and November. Though Windows 7 is still king, Windows 8.1 is not so bad. On one hand, In October, a report released by Microsoft indicated that Windows XP and Windows 7 users were much more likely to suffer malware infections than Windows 8 users. On the other hand, while some still cling onto Windows 7, gamers by and large are moving up and ditching Windows 8, Windows Vista, and Windows XP for the latest and greatest. Microsoft should be happy as the gaming market can be very picky; if performance isn’t top notch, the operating system is shunned.

Gong forward, we expect more Windows XP user move to Windows 8.1 and don’t hate Windows 8, just as Microsoft expect. And Windows 7 will still be the king in a long time. What do you think about?