Windows 10 Now Running on Almost 1 in 4 PCs Worldwide

[Batu69]

Stats show Windows 10 is close to 25 percent market share

   Desktop OS market share for September

 

Microsoft ended the free Windows 10 upgrade offer on July 29, admitting that it could miss its goal of bringing the new operating system on 1 billion devices by FY2018. But despite this, adoption of Windows 10 is still going well, according to third-party data.

StatCounter figures for the month of September indicate that Windows 10 is close to reaching 25 percent market share, which means that it’s currently running on nearly 1 in 4 PCs worldwide.

This is an important achievement for an operating system launched one year ago, but on the other hand, when looking back at how aggressive Microsoft became at certain moments, this market share is little below expectations.

While it’s very clear that hoping to overtake Windows 7 in just one year after launch was clearly mission impossible, Microsoft should be pleased with how Windows 10 performed until now, especially because its growth continues these days.

Windows 7 still number one

At this point, however, Windows 7 continues to be the leading choice in the PC market with a share of 39.38 percent, but it experienced quite a substantial drop in the last 12 months. In the weeks prior to the launch of Windows 10, Windows 7 was running on around 60 percent of PCs worldwide, so the arrival of this new version clearly had a strong impact on its share.

And the same declining trend is likely to continue in the coming months because enterprises are also migrating to Windows 10, as they complete the piloting phase in their networks.

The good news is that Windows XP is also collapsing and is now at 5.46 percent, but there’s no doubt that it’ll continue to be around for a little longer. Windows XP is nearly 15 years old, but it remains one very popular choice for users across the world.

Windows 8.1 is down to 8.5 percent, while Windows 8 dropped even more to 2.31 percent. Mac OS X is the third desktop OS worldwide with 10.08 percent.

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[vissha]

WTF? Windows 10 Now Actually Losing Market Share

 

 

It was expected, that once Windows 10 stopped being free, upgrades would slow significantly. That turned out not to be the case last month when NetMarketShare’s usage figures showed it, rather surprisingly, to be business as usual. Growth in August was no different from growth in previous months, although I speculated it might have been buoyed by sales of new back to school PCs.

 

In September though, according to NetMarketShare, Windows 10 didn’t just show slower growth, it actually went into reverse gear and lost usage share. Yes, you read that right.

 

According to the figures, Windows 10 went from 22.99 percent globally, to 22.53 percent, a drop of 0.46 percentage points. It’s important to remember that NetMarketShare measures usage (people actually using the operating system, rather than having it installed), and that isn’t a precise science. Even so, Windows 10 losing share is a big surprise. When Windows 8.x did it two years ago, it came after months of dwindling growth. Here, NetMarketShare is showing us a healthy growing operating system coming to a dramatic and sudden stop, and then actually rolling backwards a bit. Are the figures to be believed? Well, while it wouldn’t be the first time that NetMarketShare has released usage numbers and then revised them a few days later, rival usage share monitoring firm StatCounter has similar findings.

 

While that company doesn’t have Windows 10 losing share, it does show it growing by just 0.08 percentage points for a total of 22.27 percent in September.

 

So what’s to be made of all this? Well, Windows 10 no longer being free has clearly had a major impact on its adoption rate, and it’s possible that a large number of users upgraded to Windows 10 while it was still free and then rolled back their systems to a previous OS. Enough to move the dial backwards? There’s no way to say for certain.

 

Returning to NetMarketShare’s figures, last month was a good one for Windows 7 which grew 1.02 percentage points to go from 47.25 percent to 48.27 percent.

 

Windows 8.1 dropped 0.09 percentage points, from 7.92 percent to 7.83 percent, and Windows 8 fell 0.04 percentage points from 1.82 percent to 1.78 percent. Combined, Windows 8.x dropped 0.13 percentage points and now has 9.61 percent of the market.

 

Windows XP brings up the rear and sits on 9.11 percent, having fallen 0.25 percentage points in September.

 

Of course the big story is Windows 10’s backwards shift, and it will be interesting to see how the new OS fares next month. Statistical anomaly or start of a downward trend? Place your bets…

 

Source

[Batu69]

Topic has been merged.

[pc71520]

Given all the problems associated with it,

not bad for Windows 10.

[software182]

Thanks to GWX nagware

[Karlston]

Woody's take...

Windows 10 usage plateaus while Windows 7 holds its own

Depending on whose numbers you believe, the Windows 10 adoption rate is either horrible or disastrous

Numbers based on website hits from both StatCounter and NetMarketshare, the two biggest market tracking organizations, say that Windows 10 usage share flatlined from August to September. NetMarketshare says Windows 10's slice of desktop operating system use decreased by 0.5 percent. StatCounter says it stayed the same from August to September.

 

For Windows 7 usage, StatCounter says the reigning champion went down 0.5 percent, but NetMarketshare says it increased by 1 percent from August to September.

 

I don’t trust the numbers from NetMarketshare and StatCounter, but I trust the numbers from Microsoft even less. You should, too. Microsoft reports a steady sizable increase in “monthly active devices” (is a refrigerator an active device?). Independent sources that track website tea leaves would beg to differ.

 

The browser wars continue with Chrome still, by far, the dominant force. StatCounter says September desktop browser share for IE was down to 11 percent, with Windows 10-only Edge at 5 percent. NetMarketshare pegs IE at 25 percent, Edge at 5. Yes, the numbers are that wildly divergent -- but the trend is clear. Microsoft browsers won't pull Windows 10 out of the fire.

 

Like you, I’ve seen the predictions about when Microsoft will hit its stated goal of 1 billion Windows 10 devices. The original projection from Microsoft called to hit the goal in 2017, but that mark was ditched a couple of months ago. I’ve seen projections from analysts that say the 1 billion Windows 10 mark will be reached by 2018. I say hogwash, unless Microsoft starts counting thermometers, windshield washers, vacuum cleaners, and potato peelers as “monthly active devices.” I don’t know if Win10 on PCs will ever hit 1 billion devices, and wouldn’t be too surprised if it played second fiddle to 7 and the other Wins for many more years -- conceivably the rest of this decade.

 

Microsoft tossed Win10 under the bus when it unleashed the Get Windows 10 infection. Microsoft lost much of its credibility with consumers and put a severe dent in corporate loyalty. As soon as the coerced upgrades stopped, Win10 market share drifted.

 

Microsoft’s main hope right now lies in convincing enterprises to move to Win10, spurred by demonstrated advances in security. The consumer market may be nudged forward with new machines replacing old ones: All new machines from the major WinPC manufacturers will ship with Win10 pre-installed, starting next month.

 

But there’s another force at work. Starting this month, Windows 7 and 8.1 will get the same kind of forced updating -- and, presumably, snooping -- that have become hallmarks of Windows 10. The patchopalypse may drive some to move to Windows 10, to cave in to the indominatable force. My guess is that the patchopalypse will lead most Windows 8.1 and 7 users to simply stop applying updates, or to drop Windows entirely.

 

I recall a saying about geese and golden eggs.

 

Source: Windows 10 usage plateaus while Windows 7 holds its own (InfoWorld - Woody Leonhard)

 

InfoWorld - Woody on Windows

 

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