Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform hit a milestone in December, reaching more than 10 percent of desktop operating system market share for the first time, according to data from Net Applications. With Windows 8 at 6.89 percent and Windows 8.1 at 3.60 percent, the 10.49 percent combined share keeps the 14-month-old operating system in third place overall.
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Other data for the month: Windows 7 maintained its strong first-place lead, gaining 0.88 percent to reach 47.52 percent overall, while the elderly Windows XP slipped 2.24 percent to 28.98 percent overall. Windows Vista meanwhile holds on to 3.61 percent, narrowly beating out Windows 8.1, a fact that likely causes consternation in Redmond. The drop in Windows XP market share comes just before an April deadline that will see Microsoft discontinue support for the 12-year-old operating system.
Despite its distant third place, Windows 8’s combined 10 percent market share is still significant due to Microsoft’s dominance in the desktop operating system market. In a market of well over a billion computers, Microsoft controls more than 90 percent, compared to 7.5 percent for Mac OS X and just under 2 percent for Linux. In fact, Windows 8 (which many consider a disappointment at best, and a failure at worst) alone enjoys a greater market share than all versions of OS X currently in use combined.
That’s not to say that Microsoft is happy about Windows 8, of course. After the disappointing launch and negative customer response, Microsoft took drastic internal steps, firing then-Windows chief Steven Sinofsky in November 2012 and announcing the early retirement of longtime CEO Steve Ballmer in August 2013. As the company awaits the announcement of a new CEO, the current head of the Windows division, Terry Myerson, is reportedly already working hard to roll back the more questionable design and functionality choices of his predecessors. Big changes reportedly coming in the next major Windows update – codenamed “Threshold” – include the return of a full-fledged Start Menu and the ability to run Windows 8 Style UI (a.k.a. “Metro”) apps in separate windows on the Desktop.
Future releases and features for Windows 8 are all still in flux, but expect Microsoft to make a renewed push towards its unified operating system goal in 2014.
