Microsoft‘s attempts to get users to move on from Windows XP appear to be failing. Despite no more support being offered for the aged operating system after 2014, statistics provided by Net Market Share show that XP comes second only to Windows 7 in terms of desktop user share.
Net Market Share reports that 31% of desktop computers are still using Windows XP, while Windows 7 leads with 46%. It’s worth noting that XP’s share of users is dropping: Windows 8 may have dented the popularity of its much older relative, but 7’s lead looks difficult to match.
Windows Vista started 2013 with only 5% of desktops, and that’s fallen below 4%. Windows 8, in contrast has jumped from 2% to 6.6%, although that’s still small for Microsoft’s flagship operating system, which is installed on all new Windows PCs. Windows 7 has the advantage of being an excellent, modern Windows OS, without the controversial ‘Modern UI’ from Windows 8.
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Support for Windows XP stops on April 8th 2014. With such a large number of people still running it, there are worries that those millions of users could become a major target for hackers, as Microsoft will no longer issue security fixes.
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[Source: Net Market Share]
