Last week, data based on visitors to the websites of the United States government showed that Windows 10 has managed to overtake Windows 7. However, as we had noted the data was highly skewed to Microsoft’s US consumers. To confirm this news, we were waiting for statistics from NetMarketShare or other analytics firms. Bad news for Microsoft, because its newest desktop operating system version is still being overshadowed by Windows 7.

NetMarketShare: Windows 10 still has a long way to go; StatCounter shares more hopeful numbers

Based on the growth rate of Windows 10 in summer, it was expected that the operating system will manage to surpass Windows 7’s market share by year end. However, it appears we might have to wait another few months for that to happen. Microsoft officially put the Windows 10 users number at 600 million in November. Considering the holiday activations and a more favorable reaction to the last two Windows 10 updates, it was expected that number will continue to increase. While Windows 10 growth hasn’t stalled, it did lose some momentum last month.

According to NetMarketShare, Windows 7 only lost 0.04% share in December, now having 43.08% market share. In comparison Windows 10 gained 0.98%, now sitting at 32.93%. It should be noted that NetMarketShare’s numbers have always remained on the more conservative side. The firm also considers all the different desktop operating systems, whereas StatCounter (who had predicted Windows 10 to close the gap last year) focuses exclusively on the world of Windows. StatCounter has put Windows 10 at 41.69% and Windows 7 at 41.89% – this means by StatCounter’s numbers Windows 10 will come out on top in a month.

Unless Microsoft officially shares data, analytics firms’ stats would only give us a hint at what users are liking, but not the most accurate picture. If you are wondering about other Windows versions, Windows XP is still alive at 5.18% and Windows 8.1 at 5.71%.