After four years of being on the market, Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating software is now the most popular OS Microsoft has to offer, surpassing the formerly dominant Windows 7.
According to Net Marketshare (via The Verge), Microsoft faced no real competition this year in terms of market share, with Windows dominating with 87 percent. Going deeper, Windows 10 held 39.22 percent of the market share last month, surpassing Windows 7 which had 36.9 percent. Considering that Windows 7 was released nearly ten years ago, that’s quite the longevity streak for the long-running platform.
Microsoft’s goal all along has been for Windows 10 to reach 1 billion users, a tremendously difficult task. Back in 2015, its goal was to hit this number within three years, or by 2018. However, Windows’ mobile division, which was key to reaching the goal, flopped. A year later, Microsoft extended the time frame to hit a billion Windows 10 users to a later date.
This comes as Microsoft is starting to wind down on Windows 7, which became available to the general public back in October of 2009. Mainstream support ended in 2015, but Microsoft will continue to support the OS until January 14, 2020. Users that have Professional or Enterprise versions of Windows 7 will need to pay for security updates until January 2023.
The company has been riding a wave of momentum in recent months. In November it briefly surpassed Apple, who had been dominant thanks to their own line of mobile devices, to become the most valuable company in the United States. Apple has since reclaimed that title.
Microsoft has also been busy in the video game front. Current rumors indicate that two next-gen Xbox consoles are in development, one a more traditional gaming console while the other is a streaming device. The consoles, codenamed Scarlett, are rumored to be released in 2020.
The company has also ramped up its video game development, acquiring development studios Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, and Compulsion Games, among others.
