It may have taken awhile, but the market is finally showing Windows 10 some love. Six months after its debut, the latest Microsoft[1] operating system has climbed its way up to the number two spot among desktop environments, according to data[2] from Net Market Share. With 11.85 percent of the market, Windows 10 has finally surpassed third place Windows XP, which still holds 11.42 percent of the desktop market.
Neither Windows 10 nor XP comes close to the most popular operating system in the world, which remains Windows 7 with a whopping 52.47 percent of the desktop market. Microsoft ended support for Windows XP in April 2014.
Big Push for Windows 10 Adoption
Windows 10 appears to finally be getting some traction with users, increasing its share from just 9.96 percent of the market in December. Microsoft has been eager to get users to upgrade to the latest system, following the disastrous reception Windows 8 received when it first hit the market.
The redesigned user interface of Windows pushed many Microsoft clients to roll back to the stable and popular Windows 7. After several attempts to address the issues with Windows 8, the company finally decided to forge ahead with the next OS.
Microsoft has made it a priority to get users to adopt Windows 10, making the unprecedented choice to offer the latest OS as a free upgrade for existing Windows 7 and 8 users. While Apple routinely pushes new operating systems to its clients at no charge, this is the first time Microsoft has done so.
Redmond appears to be so eager to migrate users over to the latest operating system that it has been sending regular notifications to users of Windows 7 and 8 reminding them of the free upgrade option. Recently, the company announced that it would soon be relabeling the upgrade as "recommended" instead of "optional."
Plenty of Windows 8 Machines Out There
But despite the poor demand for Windows 8, January was the first month in which Windows 10 outperformed the latest version of its predecessor, Windows 8.1, in the market. Holiday sales[3] of new computers equipped with the latest OS likely pushed it over the top, although the combined might of Windows 8 and 8.1 still represent a larger share of the market.
Still, Microsoft's aggressive strategy to push users to upgrade their machines seems to be paying off in the form of Windows 10's steadily increasing share. Nevertheless, the new kid on the block still remains far behind the exceptionally popular Windows 7, which took the title of most popular OS from Windows XP in 2012 and has never relinquished it.
Windows 7 will likely continue to be the most popular system for some time, thanks to users' fierce loyalty to the dependable system and its widely installed base. Like XP, which still commands an enormous share even after almost 15 years after its debut, Windows 7 is expected to maintain its position for some time to come.
