Windows 8 Climbs to 7% Marketshare, Windows 7 Remains Dominant with 45%

It goes without saying that Microsoft’s forecast for Windows 8 success had been a little off-the-mark, but marketshare of the OS does continue to grow. In Net Applications’ latest report, 7.41% of Web traffic was derived from Windows 8 clients, while Windows 7 remained the top dog with 45.63%. The OS-that-refuses-to-die, also known as Windows XP, encapsulates 33% of the total market. Where overall OSes are concerned, OS X hit 7.3%, and Linux, 1.5%.

With Microsoft’s forthcoming release of Windows 8.1, a free update to those who own Windows 8, it’ll be interesting to see if these usage share numbers will begin to increase at a more rapid rate. While the much-loathed Start screen isn’t being removed in 8.1, this release does fix or add a bunch of things that overall does make the OS a lot better.

While I’ve been called insane for being a firm believer that Windows 8 is a solid OS, I still believe that if you look past the Start screen, or better yet – replace it – then those who truly hate the OS will begin to understand why it’s better. I’m at the point where I couldn’t imagine going back to Windows 7. The polish of 8 is <meme>too damn high!</meme> for that to happen.