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It's no easy task remaining relevant for a decade, as Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme can attest (and if you don't know who they are, it reinforces the point). Yet somehow, Windows XP is still a fan favorite 10 years after its release, at least according to its market share numbers. But is the love affair with XP finally starting to fizzle? Let's take a look.
According to Net Applications, Windows XP's share of the market finally dipped below 50 percent, if ever so slightly at 49.69 percent. That's telling, especially when you consider that XP's share hovered about 60 percent a year ago, and 51 percent this past June.
On the flip side, even though XP's share continues to decline, there are still more users rocking the decade old OS than there are Windows 7 (27.92 percent) and Windows Vista (9.27 percent) combined. You can even throw in Mac OS X 10.6 (3.76 percent), iPhone (1.57 percent), and iPad (1.25 percent) into the mixing bowl and XP still comes out ahead by almost 6 percent.
Impressive, as well as frightening, though we suspect by this time next year it will be a much closer race. After that, XP's living on borrowed time with Microsoft set to cut off support on April 8, 2014.
Image Credit: DesktopNexus
Comments are closed on this article
88keyz
August 02, 2011 at 7:44pm
<rant>I wonder how many people out there realize that Windows Vista and Windows 7 are so similar that Windows 7 could likely have been a service pack release for Vista without too much trouble. There is nothing wrong with Vista and there never has been. Its people refusing to let go of old tech that are the problem. Most of the "problems" that people had were because they were hell bent and determined to use their 8 year old scanner or their 10 year old printer with a new OS. Stop being so f'ing cheap and buy a new printer for f'sakes. 100% of the time I would recommend Vista or 7 (either or, same thing really) over Windows XP. Ask almost any computer tech what they think of Windows XP compared to Vista and 7 and almost universally they'll tell you that XP is a bug ridden, crashing, BSOD'ing POS. Get off the XP train people, that ship sailed almost 10 years ago and it hasn't been the best Windows OS in over 5 years.</rant>
gold-rush@cox.net
August 02, 2011 at 3:25pm
Vista was dead on arrival, just an R & D at the consumers expense. I learned that from the first DVD players. Will take XP over it anyday. I might get the Window8 if it also supports XP like 7 when it comes out. One computer will have XP, til it dies then one with 8 hopefully.
lunchbox73
August 02, 2011 at 10:51am
What ever happened to that wacko that used to go off about how the government is using Windows 7 to spy on us? I miss that guy. He used to comment on most Windows 7 articles when it was new.
Nimrod
August 02, 2011 at 4:04pm
There has been an NSA backdoor in Windows for a very long time already. And if you dont think the gov is tracking you on the computer then your the biggest dip shit wacko of them all.
lunchbox73
August 03, 2011 at 7:35am
...says the guy who decided to name himself Nimrod. What I think or don't think is irrelevant because I was commenting on the over the top rantings of a guy many of us enjoyed reading. I didn't make an opinion on whether or not the government is tracking us. Are you always a dick or just when you comment on the internet?
Markitzero
August 02, 2011 at 8:42am
Me not all the way I have some games that are iffy with Windows 7, My laptop is also Windows XP just because of custom Drivers for the Sound card.
Exarkun1138
August 02, 2011 at 9:20am
What games do you have that are "iffy"? I have all my games that I ran in XP that run fine in 7. I also run various emulators such as MAME, DosBox, Nostalgia Intellivision, JNES, STeem, Stella, and a few others, and all work fine. No issues. Of course, I also play high end titles like Far Cry 2, Crysis 2 and never have issues with them. Are the ones you mention older games, from say, around the early 2000's or before?
Blues22475
August 02, 2011 at 2:46pm
I was actually able to get a game designed to run on the 9x era of Windows platforms to run on Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate.
Exarkun1138
August 02, 2011 at 7:11am
I switched to Windows 7 almost 2 years ago, and have been absolutely loving the experience of having an OS that is this stable, fast, and yes, pretty as well! I have had NO issues what-so-ever in that time. I can remember back when I was running XP having many issues crop up during a weeks time and the constant issues with slow-down, malware, etc. that plagues XP. Even with all my experience and vigilance keeping XP up-to-date, it still had far far more issues than I have EVER had with 7. Is 7 perfect? No, of course not. No OS truly is. But compared to XP, 7 is a blessing of the best kind! To use the McDonald's catch phrase for Windows 7: I'm lovin' it!!!
anc51699
August 02, 2011 at 7:16am
Same here, heck, I ditched XP as soon as Vista came out. I had more problems with XP than I ever did with Vista.
Exarkun1138
August 02, 2011 at 7:27am
Vista had its share of issues when it was released, but MS got on it and now, even with 7, Vista isn't a bad OS at all, and is definitely a better OS than XP.
stinkypeepers
August 02, 2011 at 7:36am
i'd feel dirty if i was using vista. even if all of the bugs were worked out of it, just the fact that it's vista makes me...oh god..i just puked in my mouth.
Exarkun1138
August 02, 2011 at 7:46am
Vista has left a bad taste, or puke, in a lot of users mouths. But 7 kicks so much arse it's not even a contest any more! OSX, dead. XP, dead. Linux, still kicking, but needs help. Vista, dying.
