Windows XP’s market share is setting new record lows at a record pace.
The operating system, now more than a decade old, was still grasping a majority of the PC market last year, but the newest numbers show that as of December, its market share is now only 46.5%.
That’s still more than any other operating system, of course, but it is no longer thriving on more than half of the entire computer market.
And that number has been declining at a rate previously unseen. In 2011, Windows XP lost more than 10 market share percentage points. Consumers are finally upgrading to Windows 7 after the disaster that was Windows Vista, leaving many to cling to the known quantity of XP.
Without a doubt the most significant base that is driving this shift is the enterprise market. For companies and organizations that own hundreds, or even thousands, of computers, upgrading is not an easy or affordable process.
But Microsoft is now finally ending support for XP users, and Windows 7 is much more user-friendly and upgrade-worthy than its predecessors.
However, Windows 8 looks to be even more revolutionary and is expected to be available in 2012, so there will no doubt still be some high-volume customers who hold off on making the jump until later this year. But there’s no question about it – Windows XP is finally taking the long-awaited road to obsolescence.
