Dead OS walking, yes! surprisingly Microsoft Windows XP still powers an estimated 181 million PCs around the world, even after Microsoft end its support two years ago, according to data from a web metrics vendor.
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Windows XP still powers 181 million PCs
Microsoft ended their support of Windows XP back on April 8, 2014. So consumers were completely cut off from patches, with no alternatives other than to switch to a newer operating system or continue running an insecure machine.
But report after two years shows that nearly 11% of all personal computers continue to run the OS, data for March from U.S.-based analytics vendor Net Applications showed. Meanwhile, Windows XP accounted for about 12% of all Windows-powered PCs.
The 12% represented approximately 181 million PCs when compared against the 1.5 billion Windows personal computers worldwide, a number that Microsoft has regularly cited.
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That number put XP as No. 4 among Microsoft’s editions, behind Windows 7, which powered an estimated 861 million systems, Windows 10 (235 million), and Windows 8/8.1 (199 million).
And the interesting fact is Windows XP users share also exceeds all versions of Apple’s OS X by 40%.
At XP’s current 12-month rate (image above) of decline as tracked by Net Applications, the operating system will drop into the single digits in May, but will remain above 5% until March 2017, nearly three years after its expiration.
Part of the difficulty in leaving XP is that there is no direct migration between it and Windows 10, Microsoft’s latest edition. Instead, users must first upgrade to Windows 7, then next to 10. Or more likely, dump the system and purchase a new PC with Windows 10 pre-installed.
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