If you're one of the Windows 7 holdouts, you're now among the minority, as just over two and a half years since its first release, Windows 10 has now become the most popular Windows operating system, with more than 40 percent of the total share. Windows 7 isn't far behind, but its slow decline has continued over the past few months, nudging the newer Windows OS into first place.
Windows 10 received quite a quick uptake among consumers during its first year of operation -- no wonder, Microsoft gave it out as a free upgrade to those who wanted it. Since that free period ended, new Windows 10 users slowed down, but they've continued to trickle in as support for older operating systems declines and newer platforms benefit more and more from the Windows 10 ecosystem, including support for DirectX12.
At the time of writing, Statcounter (via VentureBeat claims that 42.78 percent are running Windows 10, while 41.86 percent are running Windows 7.
More niche Windows operating systems like Windows 8.1 have fallen to just under nine percent, while Windows XP still enjoys a surprising 3.3 percent of all users. Considering it lost all support years ago, that's a worrying idea, as those systems are not protected against any modern threats at all and haven't been for some time.
Windows Vista enjoys the smallest user base of all Windows operating systems at this point, with just 0.74 percent of the market. That's no real surprise though as it wasn't popular when it was current, let alone more than a decade after it debuted.
