Report: Windows 10 Takes Over Windows 7

Windows 10 has finally taken over Windows 7 in terms of usage. The OS, first released back in 2015, now has more users than Windows 7, according to Net Market Share’s latest report.

Windows 10 was lagging behind Windows 7, arguably one of the most popular versions of Windows to date. According to Net Market Share, however, Windows 10 now has a usage share of 39.22%, beating Windows 7’s 36.90% usage share. That’s as of December 2018.

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The achievement is a big one for Redmond. Still, the software giant has a huge year ahead for itself, and that 36.90% usage share of Windows 7 is a major portion of the entire Windows userbase. Majority of Window 7 users continue to be enterprise customers, and Microsoft will have to continue pushing these businesses to slowly make the shift to Windows 10. That’s not an easy job, for sure, but considering Windows 10 is now the most popular version of Windows, the complete shift will happen eventually.

Microsoft originally hoped for Windows 10 to get a billion active devices within the first two/three years of release, and that, of course, didn’t end up happening. Although Windows 10’s usage rocketed up when the OS first launched, it’s no secret the growth has slowed down ever since the end of the free upgrade offer for older versions of Windows. We still can’t overlook the fact that Microsoft’s Windows 10 has been growingly steadily over the years, and the company’s Windows as a Service plan has worked out pretty well.

But now that Windows 10 is practically the most popular OS in the world, with macOS (as a whole) being used by 9.61% of users and Linux claiming 2.09%, Microsoft’s dominance in the desktop world will continue to make the company relevant in the consumer world.

The company has a huge year ahead of itself — with one big Windows 10 update expected in the first half of the year, and another in the second. Microsoft has focused on creativity and productivity in Windows 10 for the past feature updates, and the company’s focus will likely continue to be on productivity this year. Happy new year!

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Conversation 43 comments

  • CaedenV

    01 January, 2019 - 8:54 am

    <p>It would be a lot easier if the 'Pro' version was a bit less consumer focused and didnt come packaged with a bunch of silly games. I know they can be removed, you all know they can be removed, but my bosses are convinced that they are part of the OS and that it is not fit for a work environment… Even though I have snuck in 2 NUCs with win10 on them and the employees who use it have nothing but praise about them and keep asking when they can get those for the main cube workstations.</p>

    • Simard57

      01 January, 2019 - 3:21 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#389544">In reply to CaedenV:</a></em></blockquote><p>Games have been part of Windows since 3.1. Why is it a bigger issue with Candy Crush than Minesweeper and Solitaire?</p><p><br></p>

      • MikeGalos

        01 January, 2019 - 4:04 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#389641">In reply to Simard57:</a></em></blockquote><p>Actually since Windows 1.0 which had Reversi and Solitaire.</p>

      • Piras

        01 January, 2019 - 7:48 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#389641">In reply to Simard57:</a></em></blockquote><p>Because Minesweeper never tried to sell us coins and sh*t,</p>

        • VancouverNinja

          Premium Member
          02 January, 2019 - 12:52 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#389677">In reply to Piras:</a></em></blockquote><p>Who cares. It’s just a pretty standard part of gaming today if you play it. Having a few free basic games in an OS is not a negative.</p>

          • chiwax

            02 January, 2019 - 6:50 am

            <blockquote><a href="#389719"><em>In reply to VancouverNinja:</em></a><em> </em>How about one tile called games. When someone goes exploring on that tile, Microsoft can push all the games they want on people. There has to be a better way than making a good looking OS look like a crapware vehicle.</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • chiwax

    01 January, 2019 - 9:02 am

    <p>Two to three billion? They never said that! Ask Paul, ask Brad, ask Mary Jo, ask Rich Woods…..your entire gang of "thuds" can tell you that you aren't reporting correct information. Hilarious.</p>

    • Mehedi Hassan

      Premium Member
      01 January, 2019 - 10:37 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#389546">In reply to ChiWax:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>It was a typo and I have fixed it now. Relax.</p>

      • chiwax

        01 January, 2019 - 11:28 am

        <blockquote><a href="#389582"><em>In reply to Mehedi:</em></a> Sorry, I think I've taken the stance that the Notepad guys and gals can't. Someone's gotta do it. Devs gotta watch what they say in dem der blogs…. ;)</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • irfaanwahid

    01 January, 2019 - 9:23 am

    <p>Mehedi, Microsoft had said 1 billion in 3 years not 2-3 billion.</p>

    • Mehedi Hassan

      Premium Member
      01 January, 2019 - 10:37 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#389559">In reply to irfaanwahid:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yep, fixed now. Thank you</p>

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    01 January, 2019 - 10:13 am

    <p>The news is strange enough as it is, no need to make up news: "<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Microsoft&nbsp;</span><a style="color: rgb(0, 110, 206); background-color: transparent;" href="https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/3213/build-2015-microsofts-goal-of-over-one-billon-windows-10-devices&quot; target="_blank"><strong>originally hoped</strong></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;"> for Windows 10 to get 2-3 billion users within the first two/three years of release, …"</span></p>

    • Mehedi Hassan

      Premium Member
      01 January, 2019 - 10:37 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#389575">In reply to madthinus:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Sorry, it's fixed now. Was a typo.</p>

      • madthinus

        Premium Member
        01 January, 2019 - 11:40 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#389583">In reply to Mehedi:</a></em></blockquote><p>It is hard to accept that. You linked to a story proclaiming a fact and then three words later you exaggerated it by claiming a number 2 to 3 times greater. That one billion device story was such a big story that it is ingrained almost in everyone that covers Microsoft. It is also not the first time you have taken liberty with some facts in your reporting. As someone that values the quality of the posts on this site compared to the drivel you can read about Microsoft on sites like Forbes, this is not acceptable nor is your excuse. </p>

        • rawkfox

          01 January, 2019 - 3:28 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#389597">In reply to madthinus:</a></em></blockquote><p>Given that his latter sentence also uses the "2-3" it is entirely believable that this was a typo. Geez. Who hurt you?</p><p><br></p><p>Also, at least throw out some examples if you're going to accuse someone of something. I'd enjoy seeing other examples of where you believe he "takes liberties with the facts" in some of his other reporting. I have yet to see any.</p>

        • gabeburke

          Premium Member
          01 January, 2019 - 11:58 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#389597">In reply to madthinus:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Pump the brakes there, sunshine. A typo is a typo…</p>

        • chiwax

          02 January, 2019 - 12:19 am

          <blockquote><a href="#389597"><em>In reply to madthinus:</em></a><em> </em>I love to poke at the arrogance of this group, but I accept that the smart, young man made a mistake. We can't fight fire with more fire. :)</blockquote><p><br></p>

        • madthinus

          Premium Member
          03 January, 2019 - 10:57 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#389597">In reply to madthinus:</a></em></blockquote><p>I was wrong. </p>

  • donaselfies

    01 January, 2019 - 10:38 am

    <p>&gt; <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Microsoft’s dominance in the desktop world will continue to make the company relevant in the consumer world.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Hahahahaha. Good one.</span></p>

  • Tony Barrett

    01 January, 2019 - 12:56 pm

    <p>If Windows 10 was actually more about what corporates wanted and not what Microsoft wanted, I think many more would have made the move. In reality, Windows 10 scares many IT departments – it changes too often, patching it is a nightmare and the stability is noticeably worse than Windows 7. Imagine supporting Win10 in the enterprise for a few years, and how many completely different build versions you could end up with having to support and patch. Crazy.</p>

    • longhorn

      01 January, 2019 - 1:53 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#389600">In reply to ghostrider:</a></em></blockquote><p>Windows 10 LTSC is the spiritual successor to Windows 7 Professional/Enterprise and it's pretty good. Forget the WaaS nonsense. It doesn't make sense for business, actually it's a threat to business, because of the added downtime.</p><p><br></p><p>Having used Windows 10 LTSC for some time I almost feel like I should thank MS. I thought all hope was lost for Windows, but it's not as long as LTSC is around. Unfortunately MS hates this version with a passion. With sysadmin control over Windows updates and software installs/updates (either in a "Enterprise" setting or as an individual with the help of "tools") – there isn't a better version of Windows for productivity. It makes Windows 7 feel old. Good job, MS. You surprised me. This is real Windows – something to be proud of.</p><p><br></p>

      • hrlngrv

        Premium Member
        01 January, 2019 - 4:50 pm

        <p><a href="https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/196570/report-windows-10-takes-over-windows-7#389605&quot; target="_blank"><em>In reply to longhorn:</em></a></p><p>LTSC changes more often than older Windows versions used to. Especially when considering that MSFT used to come out with the final Service Pack 3-4 years after original release and no further feature changes during extended support from 5 years after release. That gave enterprises 6-7 years to use the same Windows version.</p><p>FWLIW, I used NT4 until 2005, then XP until 2013, and am still using Windows 7, though that should change by late summer.</p><p>I figure most enterprises definitely prefer at least <strong>5 years</strong> with the same version between upgrades. Since they're paying MSFT annually anyway for Software Assurance and volume licensing, you'd think MSFT would be more willing to comply.</p>

        • MikeGalos

          01 January, 2019 - 6:13 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#389656">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p>I figure most enterprises definitely prefer using the same hardware and software for as many years as they can and would be running on IBM PC-XTs with MS-DOS 2.0 given only support cost considerations.</p><p><br></p><p>On the other hand they'd expect that any new applications software they wanted would magically work on that nearly 40 year old hardware and system software and be speedy on it and support any communications protocols they needed to use for interaction and have the latest improvements and features with no changes in the UI or need for any training of the users.</p><p><br></p><p>Most enterprises want lots of things that don't actually make sense. The better ones keep up with change. The others spend time complaining while they lose their ability to compete in a changing world.</p>

          • skane2600

            01 January, 2019 - 11:31 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#389659">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>That's over-the-top exaggeration. Most IT folks weren't even alive when MS-DOS 2.0 was in common use. It's true that reasonable backward compatibility is more important to Enterprises than the minimal feature improvements Microsoft has made to Windows since Windows 7. </p><p><br></p><p>Had MS focused on the needs of their core Windows customers rather than emphasizing mobile, perhaps Windows 8-10 might have been adopted much faster.</p>

      • Tony Barrett

        02 January, 2019 - 6:26 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#389605">In reply to longhorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>Agreed. LTSC (or LTSB as it is now) is an obvious choice, as it's built around a more manageable 2-3 year update cycle, and strips out a lot of the rubbish. But, MS make it very clear they don't want enterprises running it as a desktop OS, and unless you have SA, you can't get it anyway. IT shops who roll out Win10 Pro, or even Win10 Enterprise on the semi-annual channel are just asking for trouble.</p>

        • JoePaulson

          02 January, 2019 - 9:12 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#389765">In reply to ghostrider:</a></em></blockquote><p>because?</p><p><br></p>

  • Winner

    01 January, 2019 - 2:42 pm

    <p>Such a compelling product. They offered a free upgrade to Win 10. After 3.5 years of attrition they only match the Windows 7 market share.</p>

  • MikeGalos

    01 January, 2019 - 4:08 pm

    <p>Based on those same numbers, the computing devices in the world are:</p><p>37.9% Windows computers</p><p>36.3% Android phones</p><p>14.8% iPhones</p><p>4.2% Macintoshes</p><p>2.6% Android tablets</p><p>2.3% iPads</p><p>0.9% Linux computers</p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      01 January, 2019 - 4:42 pm

      <p><a href="https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/196570/report-windows-10-takes-over-windows-7#389653&quot; target="_blank"><em>In reply to MikeGalos:</em></a></p><p>Does that include servers, game consoles and embedded systems?</p>

      • MikeGalos

        01 January, 2019 - 6:02 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#389655">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p>For good or bad that's using the same NetMarketShare methodology and data as Mehedi cited. </p>

      • skane2600

        01 January, 2019 - 11:21 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#389655">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p>Probably not, you've introduced new somewhat non-comparable OS categories. Of course many embedded systems don't use an OS at all. </p>

  • MikeGalos

    01 January, 2019 - 6:24 pm

    <p>As an FYI: "But now that Windows 10 is practically the most popular OS in the world, with macOS (as a whole) being used by 9.61% of users and Linux claiming 2.09%" is referring only to desktop/laptop operating systems. By factoring in that the same NetMarketShare December report says that desktop/laptop operating systems are 43% of the total OS market we get the following for the whole OS market:</p><p>Android: 38.9%</p><p>Windows: 37.9%</p><p>iOS: 17.1%</p><p>macOS: 4.2%</p><p>Linux 0.9%</p><p>Other 1.1%</p>

    • sevenacids

      01 January, 2019 - 6:39 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#389661">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Now since Android is basically Linux under the hood, you can say that Linux has "taken over the world" with 39,8%. What I mean is: It all depends on your perspective, and definition what an OS is, and what hardware you take into consideration. Just turn some knobs, and you'll get the numbers you like. There is no definite answer.</p>

      • MikeGalos

        01 January, 2019 - 7:33 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#389668">In reply to sevenacids:</a></em></blockquote><p>Or you could say that, as the article did, that only Desktop/Laptop OS are actual operating systems and that Linux is at 2% after declaring "the year of the Linux Desktop" every year since the mid 1990s.</p><p><br></p><p>Or you could argue that iOS and macOS and Android and Linux are all architecturally versions of Unix and thus there are only two commercial operating systems.</p><p><br></p><p>In reality, though, while Android is Linux based, it's not really compatible with uncustomized Linux distributions nor do the application interfaces really match. That's kind of the problem. The real thing to measure is application development compatibility and that's more complex than any one number.</p>

      • FalseAgent

        02 January, 2019 - 1:49 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#389668">In reply to sevenacids:</a></em></blockquote><p>Android uses Linux basically just as a HAL. </p>

  • todayswindow

    01 January, 2019 - 6:51 pm

    <p>It's like this yes your computer may be able to handle Windows 10 but for it to be fast it all depends on what is running your system in the first place if you got a computer with 2 cores it's not going to be as fast as a computer with 4 ,6 or 8 core computer remember your computer is as fast as it can be with the stuff that's in it so it will be slower then what you had originally on your PC your computer was designed to run a certain windows not for an upgrade it ran your windows 7 like a race driver runs a race car smooth but when you get an upgrade that is totally different then what it was disigned for it's going to have problems you want a fast windows 10 your best bet is to buy a Windows 10 computer that is made for windows 10 </p>

  • brettscoast

    Premium Member
    01 January, 2019 - 8:30 pm

    <p>Good post this really does show what a roaring success Windows 7 was after the disastrous Windows Vista release. It's taken Windows 10 a while I sincerely hope that Microsoft keeps the crapware/ads off Windows 10 with this year's updates.</p>

    • madthinus

      Premium Member
      02 January, 2019 - 5:42 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#389683">In reply to brettscoast:</a></em></blockquote><p>Windows 7 success says more of the failure of Windows 8 as the success of Windows XP was more about the failure of Windows Vista. </p>

      • brettscoast

        Premium Member
        02 January, 2019 - 6:36 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#389762">In reply to madthinus:</a></em></blockquote><p>Good point I'd almost forgotten about Windows 8 yikes!!!!!!!</p>

  • jmwoods301

    03 January, 2019 - 2:02 am

    <p>That was for the month of December, when holiday sales of new PC's likely spiked Windows 10 numbers.</p><p><br></p><p>If you run the search from January 2018 to December 2018, Windows 7 leads Windows 10.</p><p><br></p><p>One month is not exactly a trend.</p><p><br></p>

    • dontbe evil

      04 January, 2019 - 1:31 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#390153">In reply to jmwoods301:</a></em></blockquote><p>ok … keep on eye on for 2019</p>

  • dontbe evil

    04 January, 2019 - 1:31 am

    <p>but but nobody want windows 10 /s</p>

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