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Windows 8 is not the most popular operating system to come out from the labs of the software giant, but it has seen some growth in the past few months. According to the latest figures released by Net Market Share, Windows 8/8.1 are still on the rise, while Windows XP is following a declining trend. On the other hand, Windows 7’s market share is almost the same as previous month.
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Coming over to the numbers, Windows 7 is still the most popular desktop operating system with a market share of 53.71 percent, rising from 53.05 percent in October. There’s a slight decrease, and Windows 7’s market share is unlikely to increase since Microsoft plans to end the mainstream support on January 13th 2015. Plus, it will also be difficult to get hold of the aging operating system.
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Windows 8 saw a slight increase of 0.67 percentage points to 6.55 percent compared to 5.88 in October. Windows 8.1 rose from 10.92 to 12.10 percent, which is much better than its predecessor. Combined, Windows 8 and 8.1 are now running on over 18 percent of desktops out in the wild. We’re hoping the operating system will continue to follow a rising trend as most OEMs are bundling their desktops and laptops with Windows 8.1, even tablets are now running the full-fledged Windows 8.1. Furthermore, there are some enticing deals being offered by retailers for the holiday season so it’s likely that Windows 8.1 will rise significantly in December. possibly crossing the 20 percent barrier.
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Once again, Windows XP is following a downward trend, declining from 17.18 percent in October to 13.57 percent in November. Microsoft has already retired the operating system, and is no longer seeding any updates to it so it’s not really the most secure one. However, it’s still running on 13.57 percent of desktop computers, making it the second most popular desktop OS. It’s likely to go down even further as people running the decade old operating system continue to switch to Windows 7 and 8.x.
\n\nFurther reading: Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8.1
