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Microsoft Windows Operating Systems Software Stats IT News

Windows XP Market Share Finally Falls Below 50% 425

Posted by timothy from the why-it-seems-only-yesterday dept.
An anonymous reader writes "At the end of July 2011, Microsoft can say that Windows XP finally fell below the 50 percent mark. In other words, Redmond's decade-old operating system is now used by less than half of all Internet users."
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Windows XP Market Share Finally Falls Below 50% More

Windows XP Market Share Finally Falls Below 50%

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  • Linux (Score:2, Redundant)

    by war4peace ( 1628283 )
    ...And, of course, Linux took all the difference :)
    Now seriously though, old computers die. New computers come in, they either have no XP drivers or come with preinstalled/bundled Windows 7, or Linux flavors, or whatever, not to mention the vast array of Mobile devices which can connect to the Internet and have no room for Win XP. Windows XP use falling is expected, just like any old OS or OS version. I suspect much of the change comes simply because time passes.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Malc ( 1751 )

      I know you said it with a sense of humour, but to quantify from TFA: "Linux gained 0.03 percentage points (from 0.95 percent to 0.98 percent). Unsurprisingly, mobile operating systems gained share."

  • Yes, but... (Score:3)

    by Guspaz ( 556486 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @07:13PM (#36954420)

    Yes, WinXP has dropped below 50% of the total market. But according to TFA, WinXP still has a 57% share of Windows installations.

  • Windows 7 is the new XP (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @07:13PM (#36954428)

    Windows 7 is the new XP

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sqrt(2) ( 786011 )

      Indeed, in that it will be around for a similar length of time, probably longer. Win7 will still be with us in 2020. Think about THAT.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by yuhong ( 1378501 )

        FYI, just looked this up and assuming that Windows 8 releases next year and they decide to expand Extended Support to all editions of Windows, support for Windows 7 will end after the first Patch Tuesday in 2020.

  • Remember XP ends support in April 2014. Guess what XP's marketshare will be by them?

    • So what? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by walterbyrd ( 182728 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @07:27PM (#36954544)

      I never get any support from MS anyway. I used win2k for years after MS dropped support.

      • Re:So what? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by yuhong ( 1378501 ) <{moc.liamtoh} {ta} {683_oabgnohuy}> on Monday August 01, 2011 @07:32PM (#36954600) Homepage

        Support include security updates, which are important.

    • A friend of mine still runs windows 2000, and that only at my extreme nudging that he should drop 9X flavored kernels several years ago.

      Given how I dislike Microsoft's current move toward treating users like cattle (Really, how else can you explain the current incarnation of the control pannel?) I can't make myself push him to upgrade again.

      I'd push him to Linux, if Wine could support his "Really old graphic arts software" he runs.

      He is very much computing in a 90s timewarp, and doesnt want to leave it.

      (at

      • Re:Three years before end of support (Score:4, Interesting)

        by hazem ( 472289 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @07:56PM (#36954770) Journal

        I'd push him to Linux, if Wine could support his "Really old graphic arts software" he runs.

        I used to dual boot between Windows XP and Linux because I preferred to use Linux but there are applications that require Windows. After a recent hard-drive crash, I re-evaluated my setup and tried out VirtualBox - and it's fantastic!

        Essentially you run it as a virtual machine on your host system (Linux) where you can then have Windows run in a box. I've been using that setup since January and I love it! I even managed to copy the partition of my work laptop and got it working as a virtual computer as well.

        The biggest shortcomings are that I cannot get my Creative Zen to work in the virtual computer. Also, support for writing to DVD/CDs is not very good. I haven't found a good workaround for the Zen (gnomad2 kind of works), and for the DVD stuff, k3b works well on the native Linux side.

        I also had success in getting the same image to work on my mom's computer running Vista. She hates vista and a lot of her old games don't work on it. She's thrilled to play her old favorite card game in the virtual computer I set up for her.

        VirtualBox is now owned by Oracle, but I think it's still open source. I didn't try VMWare because VirtualBox as served my needs pretty well. You might want to look into it.

    • 48.5 percent.

  • Computers age, and brand computers (i.e. everything that wasn't hand-assembled by a small shop or a user) stopped coming with XP preinstalled since ___?
    • The problem here is that computers became "good enough" for homework and Facebook a long time ago, and even a 2 GHz P4 is fast enough for anything that's not a recent 3D game. This realization, along with the introduction of Intel's power-sipping Atom CPU whose performance is in the same ballpark as an old P4 clock for clock, led to the netbook fad and to the continued use of paid-for PCs.

    • since last year, when I bought a netbook that came with xp installed.

      its not dead yet! good for netbooks, still, and for hardware that won't ever be supported by win7.

      I have a friend who is building new hardware to replace old hardware and the ONLY reason he has to throw out the old (not that its not working; it is!) is that there are no drivers for win7 for that usb device and its 'easier' to design a new pcboard and put a chip there than to port or find old drivers to win7.

      amazing. but in a bad way, of

  • Is this for desktop market? Then what's that 5.77% non Windows/OSX/Linux. BSD?
  • Given that XP is no longer sold, it has 0% of the market share. I think they meant to say "installed base".
  • I re-installed windows on my gaming rig and tried out windows 7, I'll switch back, please don't ban me from the net!

    Serious though, I just installed 7 on my gaming rig(was XP) a few days and even earlier today as I surfed the net to download 64bit drivers/apps was realizing this would show up on peoples pages (and the fact I'm using FF 5.x rather than 3.x)

  • Would switch if it weren't stupid-expensive... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Omega Hacker ( 6676 ) <omegaNO@SPAMomegacs.net> on Monday August 01, 2011 @07:37PM (#36954652)
    We have new hardware to install in my church's office. The old computers run XP, purchased as charity licenses. The new hardware came with Vista (bleck!), and I was hoping we could install Windows 7 instead. However, it seems that Microsoft decided to do away with charity licenses. That means that we'd be stuck spending over $400 for a 3-pack of licenses for machines that totaled $750 in hardware. That's not even remotely going to happen. As a result, we're going to be shoe-horning XP back onto the *new* machines, and I'll be installing an Ubuntu dual-boot on them to see if there's any way to get the staff to consider moving to it. Go-go-gadget greed, Microsoft!

    • If it won't "shoehorn". just run XP in a (free) Virtualbox VM with a Ubuntu host.

      Take a Snapshot after a clean install, and you can promptly revert if something Bad happens.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by iprefermuffins ( 1460233 )
      $400? It looks like a 3-pack of upgrade licenses is $140 at Amazon [amazon.com]. Or is that not an option for some reason?

    • TechSoup (Score:5, Informative)

      by westlake ( 615356 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @08:32PM (#36954960)

      We have new hardware to install in my church's office. The old computers run XP, purchased as charity licenses. The new hardware came with Vista and I was hoping we could install Windows 7 instead. As a result, we're going to be shoe-horning XP back onto the *new* machines, and I'll be installing an Ubuntu dual-boot on them to see if there's any way to get the staff to consider moving to it. Go-go-gadget greed, Microsoft!

      Tech for non-profits:

      TechSoup Global, founded in 1987 as The CompuMentor Project, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides technology assistance to other nonprofit organizations in the United States and in 35 countries.
      TechSoup.Org Product Donations, originally known as DiscounTech and later as TechSoup Stock, is a technology product philanthropy service for nonprofits which was launched in January 2002. It is the exclusive U.S. distributor of Microsoft product donations, and helps to connect nonprofits and libraries to over 430 different product donations from 45 donating partners (including Cisco, Symantec, Sun and Adobe).

      TechSoup [wikipedia.org] TechSoup [techsoup.org]

      Microsoft software donations are still mainstays of the TechSoup program. And it's a good thing! Since they started the program in 1998, Microsoft has donated more than $3.9 billion worth of software to nonprofit organizations in more than 100 countries worldwide, now reaching over 40,000 nonprofits each year.

      Organizations can now request Microsoft products as needed, not just once per year. Also, there is no longer a five-seat minimum requirement, so an organization can request just one license if that is all it needs.

      Now you can request from up to 10 different Microsoft title groups in each two-year cycle

      Take our Check Program Eligibility Quiz --- see if you're eligible for Microsoft and our 44 other donation programs.

      To learn more about the updates to the Microsoft Software Donation Program and how they affect your organization, visit our Overview of the Microsoft Software Donation Program. Then, join us on August 4, 2011, for a free webinar Microsoft Donation Program: How Does It Work?

      Good News! Updates to the Microsoft Software Donation Program [techsoup.org] [July 27]

      • Wow, thanks for linking that!!! Looks like we might actually be able to "upgrade" to an OS that's not about to have a bullet put in it, without breaking our very stressed bank ;-) Of course, that doesn't hold true for Office, as there's no way I'd subject our staff to the latest version given the unanimous horrible things I've heard about it. OpenOffice FTW...

        • Wow, thanks for linking that!!!

          The picture is a little more complicated.

          For Microsoft, it's the difference between the Presbyterian Home For The Aged and The First Presbyterian Church. The food bank sponsored by Catholic Charities and The Holy Trinity R.C. Church on Tenth Street.

          Microsoft has a steeply discounted "open licensing" program for charities through its VAR sales partners. TechSoup can still be of help to you for other software.

          Of course, that doesn't hold true for Office, as there's no way I'd subject our staff to the latest version given the unanimous horrible things I've heard about it. OpenOffice FTW...

          I think you should give "The Ribbon" a try. It has been an insanely successful product at retail a

    • However, it seems that Microsoft decided to do away with charity licenses.

      The didn't do away with charity licenses. They went through a review process and our charity had to register (re-register?) with Microsoft and use a charity reseller that's on their "approved" charity reseller list.

      It was actually my reseller that warned me of this, not Microsoft. We had to submit proof we were a charity. I don't recall having to do that prior.

  • And there was much rejoicing.

  • Why do I need a newer version of XP? (Score:3)

    by TimHunter ( 174406 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @08:29PM (#36954936)

    I use Win XP to run Quicken 2008 in a VMware virtual machine on OS X. I paid $100 for an OEM version of XP a few years ago for this very purpose. I won't upgrade until there's no other alternative.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fyngyrz ( 762201 )

      Same way I run XP; VMware under Leopard; I sandbox XP away from the Intertubez, I keep a nice saved copy of the VM, and no worries at all.

      What's really fun is when I'm running XP under OSX in a VM, and under XP, I'm running my 6809 emulation [blackbeltsystems.com], and in the 6809 emulation, I'm running the debugger. It's like the "13th Floor", only better.

  • Why upgrade? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @08:39PM (#36955022)

    Yes, yes, security concerns and all... but since when does Joe Randomuser care?

    WinXP is the first Windows OS that has everything the user wants, even when the next system (actually, the two next systems) is out. When 98 came out, it was a definite upgrade to 95, not to mention that quite a few games soon required 98SE. 2k was a big leap ahead from 98 and NT, combining the versatility of the 9x line with the stability of the NT line, adding out of the box USB support to both. XP again brought new bells and whistles and WiFi support, more stability and more user friendliness.

    No, I didn't forget ME. I decided to ignore regressions in development.

    But Vista/7? What's the big benefit compared to XP?

    DirectX10? So what? Few games really require it, you can do without. Aero? Please, let's talk about something useful, shall we? Now, I am probably not an expert on Windows, but that's pretty much all where I can see Vista/7 sing "everything you do I can do better".

    There is simply no reason for people to jump onto Vista/7. I do assume that the "drop" in XP is simply due to people getting new computers with a new system, which is pretty much by default not XP but probably Win7 if they decide for a Windows OS.

    tl;dr version: Nothing to see here, move along.

    • While I agree with you completely on Vista, Win7 does have one killer feature for a lot of people - reliable 64bit support. XP64 is horribly broken, painful, and mostly unsupported by software and hardware manufacturers.

    • I'm not even Joe Randomuser; I work at a software development company and work my Windows XP PC hard every day. Then I go home and play games on my Windows XP system at home. When I'm out and about, my Windows XP laptop does the trick.

      I've never had a virus, trojan, or anything. I've followed basic rules - run Windows update, run a virus scanner, don't install foreign objects.

      My PCs are rock solid. I don't want the downtime of upgrading and the hassle of moving to a new environment. They're tools that do ex

  • So by extension... (Score:3)

    by ReallyEvilCanine ( 991886 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @08:50PM (#36955092) Homepage
    Almost half of all people on-ine (and with no consideration for off-line usage) are still using a decade-old OS. And that's bad why? My fucking Atari 800 blew the doors off of anything that came along for more than a decade and its OS was fucking hard-coded into a 10KB ROM pack (upon which we piggy-backed 4 other selectable 10KB OS .ROMs)

    .
    When an OS -- even from a company you don't like -- does the job it's supposed to do, what's the problem? Of course I like my various *nix installs as long as they do what I need them to do, but if you have to use Windows for anything, XP is the last in a (supported) line which will still more or less do what you tell it to do. You may recall that XP (like everything before it) installs with a basic version of Win3.1.

    • Exactly. While Windows 7 isn't terrible, XP still does its job, and does it very well, so why does it really matter?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jedidiah ( 1196 )

        XP is the OS that was promised when 95 was delivered. While it still has it's issues, it's successors remain less than compelling upgrades. This is in stark contrast to it's predecessors (3.11, 95, 98).

  • This is a statistic I watch. Mostly I am curious about Android usage, as well as other mobile usage, versus desktop usage. I'm also interested in desktop Linux usage.

    Alexa shows Wikipedia to be the 7th most popular site on the web. Wikipedia is unique in that it is one of the few top sites not run for profit. Consequently, they allow open traffic analysis of their web traffic to some extent, which I have found very useful. Here is what operating systems [wikimedia.org] hit Wikipedia web sites in June 2011. They hav

  • The saddest thing I've read on the Internet this week is not anything about the debt ceiling; it's the fact that Vista has twice as many users as OS X.

  • We keep hearing that Mac share is increasing, but I've yet to see any study that shows Mac usage over a few percent. They don't need to control the market to make $Zillions.

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