Microsoft Windows 8.1 currently accounts for 12.10 per cent of the operating system market share, latest operating system statistics reveal.
According to latest statistics from metrics firm, Netmarketshare, usage of Windows 8.1 has soared to 12.1 percent in November, up from 10.9 percent in October and just 6.67 percent in September.
Meanwhile, Windows XP market share dipped to 13.5 per cent last month, from 17.1 per cent in October and 23.8 per cent in September. Windows 7 however, still dominates the OS market with a whopping 53.71 per cent market share. Windows 8 usage dropped from 5.94 per cent to 4.9 per cent in November.
Windows Vista’s market share dropped by 0.17 percent to 2.65 in November as compared to October. As per the Microsoft’s Lifecycle page, the OS will have its extended support expired by April 2017.
Last month, Redmond announced it has stopped selling Windows 7 consumer version to OEMs including the Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate versions of Windows 7. However, it will continue to offer mainstream support for Windows 7 until 13 January 2015, while extended support is being guaranteed until 14 January 2020.
According to Net Applications’ data, Windows 8.1 could easily surpass Windows XP as the second-most popular desktop OS by 2014 end if its user base grows at the same rate.
This indeed comes as great news for Microsoft as the software giant has finally managed to shift users away from the age-old OS Windows XP, which debuted in 2001. The Redmond has already ended the OS version’s extended support in April this year.
The software giant is expected to roll out Windows 10 Consumer Preview early next year, possibly as soon as January 2015.
