Win7 Continues Dominance, to Overtake Vista by Summer

Windows 7 launched on October 22, 2009 -- just over five months ago -- but has already gained substantial ground on Microsoft's previous operating system (OS), Windows Vista.

According to a recent report from industry analysts Net Applications, Windows 7 now accounts for an impressive 10 per cent of the total OS market share. Windows Vista, which launched over three years ago now, is slowly but surely watching its share of the pie decline. (Source: rcpmag.com)

For the record, it took Vista over a year to hit the 10 per cent plateau.

Windows 7 is expected to surpass Vista in total market share by this summer. (Source: guardian.co.uk) Recent reports suggest that Windows 7 market share is twice the size of Mac's OSX, and 10 times that of Linux. (Source: softpedia.com)

WinXP Usage Expected to Drop Significantly

The real challenger for Windows 7 remains Windows XP, which to date still accounts for about 65 per cent of the total OS market share. Still, XP's long-term dominance appears to be declining, too, says a report from Dimensional Research and PC retailer Dell.

The latter surveyed more than 900 IT professionals and found that an incredible 87 per cent are preparing their companies to make the leap to Windows 7 in the next 12 months.

Obviously, the jump is likely to be from Windows XP, a move that in another year could see that 65 per cent dominance cut in half or more.

Critics Encourage MS to Abandon "Vista Fantasy"

The sudden popularity of Windows 7 could be the result of many different factors, but what is clear is that companies have noticed its potential. After a few months beyond Vista's release, less than half (47 per cent) of companies were readying for the jump to that operating system.

For many critics, the numbers don't lie. They say it's time for Microsoft to stop pushing Vista and move all of its focus to Windows 7: "We suspect that a larger number of partners and IT folks would be more bullish about Windows 7 if Microsoft would just put the Vista fantasy aside and let folks upgrade easily from XP," said IT blogger Mike Schuster.

"Maybe if we keep saying this, somebody in Redmond will pay attention." (Source: minyanville.com)