Windows XP share increased to 46.86% win7 slide

According to market research firm Net Applications, Windows XP market share rebounded from 45.39% in February to 46.86% in March, while Windows 7 market share fell from 38.12% to 37.53%.

Windows XP market share has been declining over the past few years, but it is still the number one operating system. The March data does not indicate a major change in the operating system market trends. In the long run, Windows 7 market share is still growing, and Windows XP market share is still losing. Fluctuations in March indicate that Windows 7 will take a long time to surpass Windows XP as the number one operating system.

Despite Microsoft's efforts to persuade users to switch to the new Windows operating system, Windows XP still holds the status of the largest operating system. For a large number of users, Windows XP is a familiar and good enough operating system. Although more and more companies are gradually upgrading to Windows 7, many companies still use Windows XP as a standard operating system.

Of course, Windows XP users will face major obstacles in the next two years. By then, Microsoft will stop supporting Windows XP and will not release security patches and other upgrade packages for Windows XP. With this time coming, Windows XP will one day be surpassed by Windows 7.

Microsoft released the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on February 29. On the first day of release, the Windows 8 Consumer Preview downloads reached 1 million times. According to Net Applications, the Windows 8 market share rose from 0.03% in February (only developer preview at the time) to 0.11% in March.

It is an interesting question whether the Windows 8 Consumer Preview market share will rise further in April or if it is stagnant. Recently, some media reports said that the release date of the Windows 8 Candidate was earliest in early June, and the official release date was October.