Windows users love them some XP and version 7, but 8.1 is now making a bid for their affection.
In worldwide usage, Windows 8.1 has finally squeaked by its older relative, version 8, according to August stats from web analytics firm StatCounter. The younger version is now showing a 7.5 percent share, inching past version Windows 8’s 6.6 percent. The two of them, representing the 8 family, now have a combined total of just over 14 percent.
“8.1 is a [marginal] improvement over 8,” Endpoint Technologies Associates analyst Roger Kay told VentureBeat. “I still find 8 nearly unusable.”
For 8, he pointed to “some things you can only do” in either the desktop view or the tile view. “I feel like I’m conforming to the software.”
With 8.1, Kay told us, “there are fewer steps to find things, like the control panel.” But both, he said, are still touchscreen-oriented, and he’s keyboard-focused.
Windows 8’s touch-centric interface startled more than a few users, including businesses that weren’t looking to restock their hardware and retrain their personnel.
“Following a mixed reaction to Windows 8, perhaps because of its radical new look, Windows 8.1 appears to be winning over users,” StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen said in a statement.
While that 14 percent may seem meager for an OS that came out two years ago — Windows 7 hit that mark within one year of its release — at least 8 and 8.1 are jointly trumping the pair’s ancient cousin, XP. Microsoft won’t even talk about that 13-year-old offspring, having ended virtually all support in April.
Like a stubborn sick relative left to die on a windy mountaintop, XP refuses to expire. It still maintains a worldwide user base of nearly 13 percent, but that’s down from about 21 percent at this time last year.
The steady horse in this race remains five-year-old Windows 7. Without fanfare, that warhorse is still being used on 50.3 percent of all Windows computers, only slightly less than a year ago.
“For businesses, 7 is still the most sensible thing,” Kay said. It’s “stable, familiar, and efficient.”
But this upside-down adoption pattern for Windows may change soon, with a preview of Windows 9 expected this fall and a release in the spring.
Then all bets are off.
