With the release of Windows 8.1 to the world in October, January was the third full month of availability for Microsoft’s latest operating system version, which was just enough time for it to pass Windows Vista in market share. While Windows 8.1 is certainly growing steadily and eating into Windows 8’s share, the duo only managed to end 2013 with 10 percent market share, barely impacting Windows 7.
The latest market share data from Net Applications shows that Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 barely made progress in January 2014, gaining a combined 0.09 percentage points (from 10.49 percent to 10.58 percent). More specifically, Windows 8 fell 0.26 percentage points (from 6.89 percent to 6.63 percent), while Windows 8.1 gained 0.35 percentage points (from 3.60 percent to 3.95 percent).
Meanwhile, Windows 7 dipped 0.03 percentage points (from 47.52 percent to 47.49 percent). Unlike in November, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 combined did better than Windows 7 in both December and January.
Windows 8, which saw its biggest gain in August at 2.01 percentage points and its biggest loss in November at 0.87 percentage points, continues to slip. All Windows users are being encouraged to get the latest and greatest, and Microsoft is making the upgrade path to Windows 8.1 just a free download away for Windows 8 users.
Going back to earlier versions, Windows Vista fell 0.31 percentage points (from 3.61 percent to 3.30 percent), giving Windows 8.1 the opportunity to pass it. Windows XP meanwhile managed to regain some share after falling below the 30 percent mark at the end of 2013, increasing 0.25 percentage points (from 28.98 percent to 29.23 percent).
In 2013, Windows lost share every month except for March, July, and November. In January, Windows slipped 0.01 percentage points (from 90.73 percent to 90.72 percent). OS X gained 0.14 percentage points (to 7.68 percent), while Linux slipped 0.13 percentage points (to 1.60 percent).
Net Applications uses data captured from 160 million unique visitors each month by monitoring some 40,000 websites for its clients. StatCounter is another popular service for watching market share moves; the company looks at 15 billion page views. To us, it makes more sense to keep track of users than of page views, but if you prefer the latter, the corresponding data is available here (Windows 8 is at 7.34 percent).
See also – Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 pass 20% adoption on Steam and IE11 passes IE10 in market share, Firefox slips a bit, and Chrome gains back share
Top Image Credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images
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