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Microsoft ended support for Windows XP almost a year ago… and it still has more users than Windows 8

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:58PM EST
Windows 8 Vs. Windows XP Market Share

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How much has Windows 8 bombed with PC users? So much that an obsolete operating system that had its technical support cut off nearly a full year ago still has more global users.

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Recall that it was on April 8th last year that Microsoft ended support for Windows XP, which meant that users stopped getting any more automatic updates and were no longer able to download Microsoft Security Essentials for their PCs anymore. Microsoft made a big push to get people to move away from XP for security reasons and upgrade to newer software, particularly to Windows 8 or 8.1.

Despite this push, however, the biggest gainer over the past year has been Windows 7… and it’s not even close.

According to NetMarketShare, at this time last year Windows 8 and 8.1 had a combined market share of 11.3%, Windows 7 had a market share of 48.8% and Windows XP had a market share of 27.5%. One year later, NetMarketShare’s numbers inform us that Windows 8 and 8.1 now have a combined market share of 14%, Windows 7 has a market share of 58% and XP has a market share of 16.9%.

Source: NetMarketShare

So to recap: Over the past year, Windows 8.x’s market share has gained 2.7 percentage points while Windows 7’s has gained 9.2 percentage points. Not only that but an operating system that hasn’t received technical support for nearly a year still has a higher market share than Windows 8.x.

We’ve said this before, but Windows 10 really can’t come out soon enough.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.