pulled the plug on Windows XP, the operating system that launched all the way back in 2001 is still powering a lot of computers worldwide. A lot, as in around 28 percent by some estimates. And as this chart shows, some 300 million computers across the globe are rocking this OS. That means Windows XP is powering nearly 3 in 10 computers, despite the fact that the ancient operating system has now reached end of support. Since the data is from Net Applications, it is essentially connected computers. No idea how many PCs that do not have Internet access are running Windows XP — but then again they do not pose as much of a threat as the one that are online. Besides, this data is collected from around 160 million unique visitors on 40,000 participating websites every month, so these are big numbers. Now, switching to Windows 8.1, however, is something that involves a substantial investment for most people and businesses. Investment that not everyone is ready to make at this time. Not only do they need to purchase licenses for the new operating system now, but the upgrade process usually entails necessary hardware upgrades.]]>
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This can’t change over night. Just like in so many other instances in life, most of the people still on XP waited until the very last minute to make a transition. IT will probably decrease for the rest of the year
Great point, Ray! I agree, but at the same time, it’s still amazing XP is that far ahead of Windows 8. I guess businesses skew that number.
Over time we will see 8.x go up and XP go down
Not a big deal as of now. Security stopped yesterday. I would expect XP and 8 to flop numbers relatively quickly. If not, windows 7 will rise as xp drops.
Good point. I have an inkling that 7 will rise more than 8. XP will obviously drop, but I think a lot of XP users will go to 7 instead of jumping to 8.
Many were already planning a 7 transition, but more people who have not decided would make a move to 8 if more tech media and retail workers were honest out Windows 8. Half of them just repeat what they hear everyone else say
Emily made a great point. Businesses own a lot of the XP share I would imagine. One big business with a tons of employees may have thousands of computers running on XP, which could skew things, because I don’t know many people with XP on their personal computers.
Others beating OSX! Haha I’m guessing that’s a little vista in there still. XP will drop it’s percentage soon enough, that’s for sure.
XP is a solid OS. It runs .NET 3.5 apps faster than .NET 4/4.5 on the latest hardware in Win7/8. This means XP will be my staple OS for the next 10-15 years. Show me an OS that can run .NET apps as fast as XP and I will switch right away!