Stats show that Windows 8’s market share is dropping

All eyes are at this point on Windows 10, the next big thing for Windows users across the world and very likely a game changer per se for Microsoft.

Unfortunately for the Redmond-based software giant, users still can’t get the Windows 8 disaster, even though it’s pretty clear that more of them are migrating to Windows 8.1 these days or even downgrading to Windows 7.

Market share figures provided by StatCounter for the United States indicate that in the first 15 days of this month, Windows 8 has again dropped to Vista levels and there’s no doubt that the decrease will continue in the coming months.

Windows 8 has never reached an astonishing market share, as adoption remained pretty low during the whole time, but Microsoft is also trying to get over it and bring more users on Windows 10 as soon as possible.

Windows 8 on the fifth desktop OS in the US

Windows 7 continues to be the number one operating system in the United States and there’s no doubt that this is indeed true. At this point, it has a market share of 45.73 percent, even though worldwide, it’s powering more than 50 percent of the desktops.

Mac OS X is second with a market share of 17.01 percent, obviously way behind and with zero chances to overtake Windows 7 in the next few years.

In fact, Windows continues to be the preferred OS on the desktop, and living proof is the existing market share of Windows XP, which this month reached 13.23 percent in the United States.

Windows 8.1 comes next with 11.03 percent, followed by Windows 8 with only 5.41 percent. Windows Vista is really close with 3.88 percent.
Windows 10 to the rescue

Windows 10 is expected to convince more users to update and give up on their older Windows versions, especially those on XP and Windows 7, sources say.

But at the same time, Microsoft also hopes that many would skip Windows 8 completely and thus forget about an operating system that has always performed well below expectations.

Windows 10 also comes to resolve many of the annoyances in Windows 8 and brings back a Start menu, thus restoring the full functionality of the traditional desktop.

What’s more, it will also introduce features requested by users, including multiple desktops and a PC version of Cortana, as consumer feedback is playing a much more important role for the “new Microsoft” and its revamped products.

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