NetMarketShare: Windows 10 makes a surprisingly strong showing in latest numbers

It’s a new month and another opportunity to look at the progress of Microsoft’s operating systems and browser in relation to its competitors.

Unlike last time we actually have some solid numbers as a foundation, as Microsoft recently revealed there are 600 million Windows 10 users, the overwhelming majority we assume on the desktop.

In line with the good news that Windows 10 is actually still growing, we also see an uptick in Windows 10’s browser market share, going from 29.86 to 31.95% at the end of November 2017. Interestingly the main loss appears to be from Windows XP, whose share dropped from 7.64 to 5.73%. As usual, these fluctuations may be due to actual sales of new devices or simply due to seasonal and regional usage changes, and it would require a sustained trend to decide which applied.

Looking at the numbers very naively, with Microsoft announcing 500 million Windows 10 users in May 2017, it appears each 100 million users represent around 5% desktop market share, and that it would take another 200 million Windows 10 users to overtake Windows 7.

Windows 7 remains the largest desktop operating system with 43.12%, up from 43.05% last month.There is also a small amount of good news from the Microsoft Edge browser, which grew from 4.06 to 4.21%. Chrome is now once again more than 60% of the market at 60.61%.

Despite the slow progress, it seems inevitable that Windows 10 will eventually overtake Windows 7, and reach around 800 million installations by the end of next year. The real question remains whether Microsoft can engage users with the OS, with the most recent strategy appearing to make the device a partner to iOS and Android smartphones, a strategy we have long advocated.

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