Net Applications data indicates that Windows 7′s marketshare has broken the 3% barrier less than two weeks after its release to consumers.
Surely, part of this quick rise is due to the lengthy beta and release candidate phases – Net Applications does not differentiate between those two pre-release versions and the RTM version now on store shelves. Still, this is an impressive feat, given that Windows Vista reached similar marketshare levels six months after it released to the public.
It’s hard not to frame Windows 7′s success in the context of Windows Vista’s shortcomings since Net Applications’ data doesn’t go back more than a couple of years, but let’s compare this number some other interesting figures (all according to Net Applications data at time of writing).
- Linux has just under 1% marketshare. That’s every Linux distribution anywhere, combined.
- All versions of Mac OS X have a little under 5% marketshare (1.17% 10.6, 2.82% 10.5, 0.93% 10.4 and 0.26% other). Windows 7 already has more marketshare than any single version of OS X.
- Windows 98 still has 0.11% marketshare. Really, you guys? How are you even using the Internet with that OS? Makes me wonder how much longer Windows XP will be around…
