Maybe people are actually starting to tire of Microsoft 's eight-year-old Windows XP.
According to Web measurement company Net Applications, which tracks the operating systems used by a pool of about 160 million unique Web site visitors, Windows XP's share of the OS usage market fell 1.1 percentage points during August, tying its November 2008 record drop.
[Get InfoWorld's 21-page hands-on look at the next version of Windows, plus deployment tips on security, Windows Server 2008 integration, and Windows XP migration, all from InfoWorld’s editors and contributors. ]
Windows XP's fall doesn't mean that the aged operating system is less than dominant: It accounted for 71.8 percent of all OSes used by the people who visited the 40,000-some sites that Net Applications monitors for clients.
But the record decline was matched by near-record, or record, increases in the usage share of Windows Vista, XP's 2007 successor, and the not-yet-officially-released Windows 7 .
Vista's share climbed 0.9 of a percentage point last month, ending August with an 18.8 percent share, an all-time high. August's jump was the largest for Vista since June 2008, when it gained a full percentage point of share.
Windows 7, meanwhile, increased by 0.3 of a percentage point to close the month at 1.2 percent, the first time the unreleased operating system has broken the 1 percent mark .
Windows 7's share has more than doubled since May, when Microsoft issued the Release Candidate (RC) , the final public preview of the OS. Since then, Microsoft has wrapped up Windows 7, and delivered a RTM (release to manufacturing) build to computer makers, volume license customers and subscribers to its TechNet and MSDN services.
The new operating system is slated to go on sale Oct. 22.
Overall, Windows gained a statistically-insignificant 0.02 of a percentage point in August compared to the month before. Together, all versions of Windows accounted for approximately 93 percent of the operating systems running machines that connected to the Internet last month.
Apple's Mac OS X, on the other hand, remained stalled -- it gained a mere 0.01 point -- to end August as it did July, with a 4.9 percent share.
Starting with July's data, Net Applications changed its counting methodology , and for the first time weighted browser share by the estimated size of each country's Internet population. That nearly halved Mac OS X's share, dumping it under the 5 percent bar, while increasing Windows XP's share as it reduced Vista's.
"That makes sense," said Vince Vizzaccaro, Net Applications executive vice president of marketing, last month in an interview. "Now we're giving more weight to countries that are behind, technology-wise."
According to Net Applications, countries such as China, Brazil, and India were underrepresented in its previous calculations, while others, like the U.S., were over-represented in its tallies.
The decline of Windows XP was also reflected in Net Applications' browser share data. Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), which remains XP's default browser, lost 2.4 percentage points of market share in August, for instance.
Net Applications' operating system data can be found on the company's site.
Get the independent advice and expertise you need to support a virtual workforce.
The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.
Download now »
Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.
Download now »
A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.
Download now »
Sign up to receive InfoWorld Resource Alerts
14 Recommendations
