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Windows 7 settles as Windows XP use finally starts to slip … a bit
And at the back of the field, Windows 8.1 is sprinting away from Windows 8
Windows XP lost nearly one per cent of global market share during August, according to both Netmarketshare and StatCounter, but there's not been a corresponding bounce in the prevalence of other Microsoft operating systems.
The Reg has been tracking the two OS-counters for 11 months now and during that time Netmarketshare has tracked Windows XP from 31.24 per cent to 23.89 per cent of detectable PCs online. Statcounter started with a lower number – 21.28 per cent – and has charted a slower decline to 14.29 per cent.
This month, both outfits show a bump in Windows 8.1 use. Netmarketshare records it going from 6.56 per cent to 7.09 per cent while Statcounter records a jump from 7.45 per cent to 8.25 per cent. At a guess, the rises could reflect business PC fleet refreshes conducted during the northern summer when staff numbers thin out, and perhaps also some back-to-school PC purchases.
Here's Netmarketshare's data from October 2013 to August 2014.
Oct 2013 | Nov 2013 | Dec 2013 | Jan 14 | Feb 14 | Mar 14 | Apr 14 | May 14 | June 14 | July 14 | August 14 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
XP | 31.24 | 31.22 | 28.98 | 29.23 | 29.53 | 27.69 | 26.29 | 25.27 | 25.31 | 24.82 | 23.89 |
Vista | 3.63 | 3.57 | 3.61 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 2.99 | 2.89 | 2.9 | 2.95 | 3.05 | 3.02 |
Win 7 | 46.42 | 46.64 | 47.52 | 47.49 | 47.31 | 48.77 | 49.27 | 50.06 | 50.55 | 51.22 | 51.21 |
Win 8 | 7.53 | 6.66 | 6.89 | 6.63 | 6.38 | 6.41 | 6.36 | 6.29 | 5.93 | 5.92 | 6.28 |
Win 8.1 | 1.72 | 2.64 | 3.6 | 3.95 | 4.1 | 4.89 | 5.88 | 6.35 | 6.61 | 6.56 | 7.09 |
And here's Statcounter over the same period.
Oct 13 | Nov 13 | Dec 13 | Jan 14 | Feb 14 | Mar 14 | Apr 14 | May 14 | Jun 14 | Jul 14 | Aug 14 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
XP | 21.28 | 20.53 | 19.79 | 19.21 | 18.57 | 18.61 | 17.16 | 16.17 | 16.3 | 15.15 | 14.29 |
Vista | 5.62 | 5.16 | 4.3 | 3.97 | 3.79 | 3.67 | 3.57 | 3.52 | 3.37 | 3.52 | 3.32 |
Win 7 | 54.89 | 55.13 | 54.8 | 54.32 | 55.2 | 54.68 | 55.11 | 55.06 | 55.03 | 55.33 | 55.67 |
Win 8 | 8.15 | 8 | 8.13 | 7.93 | 7.91 | 7.85 | 7.81 | 7.61 | 7.57 | 7.51 | 7.33 |
Win 8.1 | 0.32 | 1.18 | 2.22 | 3.19 | 3.87 | 4.48 | 5.24 | 6.17 | 6.7 | 7.45 | 8.25 |
Graphics? You say you want graphics? How about the one below, which averages the two OS-counters' data and plots it as a line graph?

Netmarketshare and Stacounter's data averaged, and plotted
Conclusions? XP has a rump of users in no hurry to move, Windows 8.1 is slowly taking market share but there are enough Windows 7 buyers out there to keep its market share more-or-less steady even though the overall pool of Windows users increases. That means there's a hard core of folks – probably businesses – that Microsoft just can't shift to Windows 8. ®