FG_AUTHORS: Mike Halsey MVP

Posted on Windows 7 News & Tips

Microsoft are desperate to squash Windows XP.  The operating system is now more than 10 years old and has been replaced twice!  Yet, despite all of this, and because Vista was late and (frankly) rubbish, millions of people are still using the “comfortable old shoe” and despite their now being less than 800 days left for extended malware and security patch support, they are mostly resolutely refusing to upgrade, insisting that Microsoft will have to back down instead and continue support until their computers eventually die, or perhaps even longer.

Now figures released from NetMarketShare appear to show that Windows XP usage actually increased slightly in January of this year, up to 47.19% from 46.52%!

XP’s usage has been steadily declining since the launch of Windows 7, with a very healthy 56.78% of computers using it in March 2011 compared to just 25.23% of computers running Windows 7.  Now Windows sits at 36.4% but this still lags more than 10% behind Windows XP, which resolutely refuses to die.

Data released by other companies in the coming months may show XP still on the decline, or they may back up these figures.  It is interested to see a small jump in XP usage however which also comes in a month that saw Windows 7 usage drop slightly from 36.99% to 36.4%.

XP users are becoming a bit of an odd bunch, maintaining their unconditional love for an operating system that’s widely known to be very insecure and was a figure of fun throughout its main life.  Around the time XP was being installed on new PCs, it was generally considered that GNU/Linux users were the people who declared unconditional love for their operating system.

Now though Linux is widely considered good enough to switch to on a full-time basis and nobody would ever criticise Apple’s resolve again.  Windows 7 users can now sit safe from name-calling and fun-poking, knowing that they’re as secure as they need to be and it’s XP users who are on the receiving end of the jokes that GNU/Linux users received in the past.

So what is your view of this news?  Do you believe it or do you fully expect XP to usage to drop further?  Are you still using XP and don’t want to move to WIndows 7 or Windows 8?  Why not tell us in the comments below.

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