Windows 10 fails to hit a 25 per cent market share as Windows 7 has another rebound

WINDOWS 7 still remains more popular than it was in the summer, though it is considerably down year on year as we dive into the last Netmarketshare figures of 2016.
 
Windows 7 stood at 48.34 per cent market share during December 2016, suggesting that its take up in the enterprise market continues to be a lot slower than Microsoft would have hoped.
 
However, it's not all bad news, as Windows 10 ends the year at 24.36. It's slightly short of the quarter market share we might have seen, but we'd expect that the Christmas gifts and January sales purchases will probably see it cross that bridge by this time next month. All this in spite of a quiet admission that Updategate has been a bit of a mistake.
 
The next big milestone for Windows 10 will be the 'Creators Update', which looks set to drop in April. Windows 8.x is the biggest casualty of all this, with a drop to 8.56  and Windows 8.1 making up the lion's share, suggesting that people are migrating off Windows 8.x altogether. This last 8.56 per cent is going to take a lot of shifting now that Windows 10 isn't free anymore, as most people who won't want Windows 10 on principal will already be on Windows 7 (or XP) anyway. Shaking off the Windows 7 domination will be the biggest challenge.
 
Speaking of Windows XP, it now sits at 9.07 per cent up slightly month on month and more shockingly, down less than two per cent year on year. But then when you consider that in the UK alone, a lot of the public sector hasn’t migrated yet, you can sort of see why.
 
Linux desktop use has gone up to 2.21. It doesn't sound a lot but let's not forget that while Windows 10 figures include everything from IoT sensors to Xboxes, Linux figures don't include servers, Android phones, Chromebooks, or the myriad of other Windows-based devices.
 
Mac use has dropped quite considerably this year. The final tally for December is 3.34  down over three and a half per cent year on year. With macOS Sierra 10.12 out of Beta, the rise was only marginal over those who weren't already using the Beta. People often ask us what the point in upgrading their macOS version is, and it's beginning to be reflected in the figures.
 
Finally, a note to poor little Vista, the operating system nobody loves. It's reaching End of Life this year. It has stayed at a pretty steady 1.06 suggested those last few million users are, like your Christmas weight, going to be hard to shift. 

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