Windows 8.1 has finally passed Windows XP to become the second-most-used desktop operating system. According to Netmarketshare, Microsoft's current OS led its retired older sibling at 13.12% to XP's 11.98% for the June 2015 reporting period.
That's all small potatoes compared to Windows 7, however. Win7 still commands nearly 61% of all desktop internet traffic. In fact, its market share is still growing, rising more than three percentage points from its already dominating position a month ago. As for WinXP, its market share still continues to dwarf that of all versions of the Mac OS and Linux combined, more than a year after being put out to an (ahem) Bliss-ful pasture.
On the browser side, Internet Explorer leads the way at 54%, with half of IE users on the latest version, IE11. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox trail Microsoft's lead at 27.23% and 12.06% shares, respectively.
Microsoft has promised a free Windows 10 upgrade for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users for the first year. Based on our recent poll, it seems that many plan to upgrade to the new OS at some point. That upgrade will begin rolling out on July 29, and it may be interesting to see how these numbers look in a couple of months.
Share
Ben Funk
