Windows XP has been around for quite a long time and will (soon) be behind by two operating systems. It was released in 2001, so this is its eighth year. Yet, it still has the highest percentage in the OS usage share.
According to Wikipedia, the usage share for desktop operating systems in July 2009 was:
- Windows 2000 – 0.92%
- Windows XP – 67.10%
- Windows Vista – 21.56%
- Mac OS X - 4.73%
- GNU/Linux - 1.15%
This means that those who are using Windows XP are three times more than those running Windows Vista. I believe that XP users can’t be blamed for using an ”old” operating system. This is because Microsoft still supports it and provides updates for it. Not to mention that some users who had tried using Windows Vista, decided to return to XP (for whatever reason). Others, including myself, found that in order for their computer to meet Windows Vista’s requirements, they had to either upgrade it or simply buy a new one! Last but not least, many where put off from what they heard about it. Windows Vista was heavily criticized for being a resource hog, annoying the user with UAC messages, being incompatible with older software/hardware, etc.
(Check the Mojave Experiment to see how some people where dissuaded from trying Windows Vista.)
The point of this article is not to argue which operating system is better, but to congratulate Windows XP for lasting for 8 years while still being supported by Microsoft and for running on about 70% of computers. Now that Windows 7 has gone gold and will hit the market after 75 days, the following question arises:
How will the OS usage share chart look like when Windows 7 gets released??
From what we’ve seen during the pre-ordering of Windows 7 (when it ran out of copies within hours in the UK and after 15 minutes in Germany and topped the Amazon sales charts), it looks promising. What do you think or is it still too early to predict?
