Windows 10 has finally overtaken Windows 7 in terms of worldwide market share, two and a half years since Microsoft released its current operating system.
Why did it take so long for Windows 10 to achieve this feat, and what finally pushed it over the hump?
Windows 10 vs Windows 7 Market Share
According to StatCounter, Windows 10 market share among Windows PCs is now up to 42.78 percent, edging out Windows 7 with 41.86 percent market share to be the most used version of the operating system.
Windows 10 market share increased from 32.84 percent in January 2017, and Windows 7 market share decreased from 47.46 percent since then.
There appears to be a "tick-tock" trend with Microsoft's operating systems on their success. Windows ME flopped and was followed up by the popular Windows XP, and the same goes for Windows Vista before Windows 7, and Windows 8 before Windows 10.
The lead that Windows 10 now has over Windows 7 is still pretty small, though it is unlikely that Windows 7 will again take the lead over Windows 10 next month. This is because all new machines that are being sold now come with Windows 10 preinstalled.
Then again, when you ask NetMarketShare, another analytics firm, Windows 7 leads Windows 10 in worldwide usage by 8 percent, though the difference has narrowed from 20 percent last year. The contradicting information between StatCounter and NetMarketShare is due to the way that the firms measure market share. StatCounter measures total traffic, while NetMarketShare only measures the daily unique users inside its network.
Why Is Windows 10 Adoption So Slow?
Why did it take two and a half years for Windows 10 to overtake Windows 7? The theory by Forbes' Ian Morris is that people simply do not like to upgrade their operating system due to the hassle of, say, moving up to Windows 10 from Windows 7. Microsoft, however, has made things much smoother now for Windows 10. In addition, Windows 7 security vulnerabilities are starting to become more prominent.
Most people, however, continue to stick with whatever operating system comes with their PC when they purchased it, and there are still a lot of functioning Windows 7 machines across the world.
However, as more Windows 10 computers are sold and Windows 7 computers retired, Microsoft will likely not run into the same problem. This is because Microsoft is transitioning Windows 10 into a continuing service with no more numbered Windows versions after it. This means that, instead of overhauling computers with Windows 11, Microsoft will launch things such as the Creators Update for free to add new features to the operating system.
