For the first time in what seems like the modern PC era, there will be a new operating system king later this month.
For the last several years, Windows XP has powered more computers than any other OS – a staggering fact considering it came out in 2001 and has been followed by two more operating systems.
But due to more problems than most people can count, Windows Vista never managed to score a significant user base.
Windows 7, though, seems to be doing the job that Vista never could. Net Applications reported that in July, Win7 had a market share of 42.21%, just barely below Windows XP’s 42.86%.
Now, the firm says, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that at the end of this month, Windows 7 will eek out just far enough to be on top.
This all comes as Microsoft has finally begun to pressure huge enterprise customers to upgrade, saying it will officially pull the plug on XP support.
As for the rest of the field, Net Applications reported Windows Vista as having a 6.60% market share in July, with OS X 10.6 and 10.7 showing a combined 5.75%, effectively flat from where Apple’s OS was last year.
There have been other sources that suggested Windows 7 already surpassed Windows XP, but Net Applications is one of the most respected names in software adoption rates.
So once it declares Windows 7 as king, we can officially bring out the crown.
