Windows 8.1 beats out Windows 8 in OS race

Windows 8 wasn't quite the disaster release that Windows Vista was back in the 00's, but it was far from great. People didn't like being forced into using a touch screen developed tab system on their desktop and laptop and the missing start button didn't help much either. Fortunately it wasn't too long until Microsoft released Windows 8.1, which people seem to like a lot more, as it's now overtaken Windows 8.0 to become the world's third most popular OS of choice.

In first place of course is  Windows 7 still, with over 50 per cent of all systems now using the five year old software. In second place though, is Windows XP, arguably Microsoft's most successful operating system ever released, with 25.27 per cent. In third is the aforementioned Windows 8.1, with 6.35 per cent and following along just behind it is Windows 8, with 6.29 per cent.

These stats are good news for Microsoft, as not only is Windows 8.1 getting some extra love, but Windows 7 is steadily increasing its market share, mostly at the expense of XP. Considering the latter of the group there has been officially discontinued, any drop in its market share is a good thing as security issues are going to continually crop up for that near 13 year old OS with no patches to fix it going forward.

Perhaps a surprising trend in NetMarketShare‘s statistics though, is that despite the last few years of Apple dominance in other tech fields, it hasn't translated to a bigger uptake in Mac OS X, which still lingers at just over four per cent of the total. While obviously mobile and tablets have been Apple's big push, you'd have thought a bit more of a cross over would have been noticed.

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KitGuru Says: Have many of you moved on to Windows 8.1 at this point? I've dabbled in it, but still prefer 7 if I'm honest. 

[Thanks TechCrunch]

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