Windows XP movers are picking Windows 7 over Windows 8

Microsoft’s latest operating system gains just 0.62 percent in March

OUTGOING PC OPERATING SYSTEM Windows XP seems to have come to the end of its bizarre resurgence, however it still retains over a quarter of the PC market with just one week to go to end of life.

The latest figures from Net Applications show a slight drop in Windows XP installations to 27.69 percent, down from 29.53 percent last month.

But despite Microsoft’s recent attempt to lure upgraders with a $100 discount off a shiny new Windows 8 machine, its latest fledgling operating system continues to struggle with a combined total of 11.3 percent market share for Windows 8 and 8.1, up just 0.62 percent from last month.

So where are all the Windows XP abandoners going? It would seem as though they are opting for Windows 7, which is already the most popular desktop PC operating system on the planet and has seen a rise over over one percent from 47.31 percent to 48.77 percent market share over the last month.

These figures will further perplex Microsoft, which has continued to struggle to convince most PC users of the need for the significant changes in Windows 8.

A major update to Windows 8.1 is scheduled for this spring, which will see changes to make the unpopular Modern or Metro user interface behave more like and more in tandem with the traditional desktop.

Meanwhile Windows Vista has fallen below the three percent mark at 2.99 percent, with Mac OS X 10.9 at 3.75 percent and Linux at a reported 1.49 percent, leaving a combined 4.01 percent for other PC operating systems.

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