Windows 8/8.1 is growing rapidly: XP is on the way out

According to the latest statistics from market research firm Net Applications on Microsoft's market share of new and old systems in October, Windows XP's market share has been declining at an increasingly faster rate since it was retired in April, while the new Windows 8 and 8.1 operating systems have achieved certain improvements.

On April 8 this year, Windows XP was officially declared dead, but in the following months, the share of the operating system, which Microsoft called a "relic", was still surprisingly high. Many comments believed that it would take at least a few years for it to truly die out, but the latest market share changes refuted this. In fact, even if this trend has changed, it has not brought much surprise. After all, Microsoft has been persuading people to replace old systems with new ones for a long time because they are unsafe. It was not until today that it had a certain persuasive effect. It happened a little too late for Microsoft.

Windows 8.1's market share is on the rise

Perhaps the best news for Microsoft is that its Windows 8.1 operating system, which features a "modern user interface," is performing better now than in previous months, with last month marking its biggest month since its release.

Currently, more than 10.92% of computers are running Windows 8.1, compared to only 6.67% a month ago. On the other hand, Windows 8 currently has a global share of 5.88 percentage points in personal computers. In general, the overall market share of Microsoft's current generation of operating systems has reached 16.8%, becoming the third generation desktop system platform after Windows 7 and Windows XP.

The Windows 7 operating system is still the dominant desktop system today, with a global market share of 53.05%, and the system is expected to become the new generation of "Windows XP" before its support officially ends. The life cycle table officially released by Microsoft shows that Windows 7 will be retired in January 2020, which is still 6 years away. According to Microsoft's three-year upgrade method for Windows, if the two new versions after Windows 10 cannot prove their strength, then persuading users to upgrade will become one of Microsoft's key tasks.

Windows XP users are giving up

In addition to the significant growth of Windows 8.1, another big news for Microsoft today is that Windows XP's market share has dropped significantly, a sign that a large number of Windows XP users have finally migrated to the new operating system.

Data shows that the current market share of Windows XP in all desktop computers is only 17.18%, while it was still as high as 23.87% a month ago. This is the first time that such a large drop has occurred since the end of support on April 8. As for whether it is migrated to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, it is impossible to calculate, but the large increase in the latter's market share may explain the problem. Of course, XP's market share is still larger than 8 and 8.1 combined, so Microsoft needs to make further efforts and spend more time to eliminate Windows XP.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.