Windows 7 adoption has been very strong. Below you can see how quickly the OS has been gaining share in its first few months compared to Windows Vista’s first few months according to Net Applications, a sales intelligence provider. Net Application compiles data from numerous different sources including people who visit their website as well statistics from their customers. According to their website, they track 160 million computer users per month. But with still almost 68 percent of us using XP, that’s 108,000,000 PCs, if you’re counting.
Operating System Market Share
December, 2009
| Operating System | Total Market Share |
| Windows | 92.21% |
| Mac | 5.11% |
| Linux | 1.02% |
| Java ME | 0.53% |
| iPhone | 0.44% |
| Symbian | 0.23% |
| iPod Touch | 0.09% |
| Windows Mobile | 0.06% |
| Android | 0.05% |
| Playstation | 0.04% |
| BlackBerry | 0.03% |
| FreeBSD | 0.01% |
| Palm | 0.01% |
| Nintendo Wii | 0.01% |
| SunOS | 0.01% |
While Vista was at 0.93 percent after a month, Windows 7 was at 4.00 percent; when Vista jumped to 2.04 percent after two months, Windows 7 hit 5.71 percent.
So why is this happening? Here’s what I think. Although Vista gained a lot of market share, Vista was still competing directly with XP. Fast forward four years and Windows 7 is still competing with XP but has a lot more differentiators. XP was released in 2001 and a lot has happened since then so Microsoft has been able add a lot more functionality.
Mainly though I think it comes down to customer experience. Windows 7 had a very successful beta program, with both public and private involvement. Microsoft has received mostly good reviews from the media thus far, something Vista lacked. There is a lot more momentum and confidence in Windows 7 than Vista.
Now the question is, when you get your new Windows 7 PC, how to you get everything from you old PC to your new one?