Next month it's been exactly a year since Microsoft pulled the plug on Windows XP support. Â Nevertheless, users of the outdated operating system don't seem to be planning to upgrade, according to numbers released by Net Applications and StatCounter. The research companies even report a slight increase in Windows XP market share.
The numbers released by Net Applications and Statcounter are often criticized, mainly because they regularly differ a lot from each other, but in this case they both show the same trend. According to Net Applications Windows XP gained 0.2% market share in February compared to January, while also StatCounter reports the same 0.2% growth in XP computers. Net Applications reports that Windows XP is on 19.2% of all computers, while StatCounter reports that the 13 year old operating system is installed on 12.2% of the computers they measured.
Both research companies agree that Windows 7 continues to be the operating system with the largest market share, they both report the OS is on about 55% of all PCs.
On Windows 8.1 market share both companies don't agree. Net Applications reports a market share of 10.5% while StatCounter reports 14.8%. Both do seem to agree that the growth of Windows 8.1 is stagnating, likely due to the upcoming release of Windows 10, expected later this year.