14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft recently presented the new Windows 10 Preview and there's no doubt that this is quite an eagerly-anticipated product, pretty much because it comes right after the heavily-criticized Windows 8.
Market share statistics indicate that the highly-awaited launch of Microsoft's next operating system made many people running an older version of Windows to simply wait and see what's new for the platform and thus delay the transition to a newer release.
Windows XP is obviously living proof that people have absolutely no problem waiting for a newer release of the operating system and, according to Net Applications, 23.87 percent of the desktop computers across the world were still running it last month.
This shows that only a handful of users actually upgraded from Windows XP to a newer release, as XP lost only 0.02 percent from 23.89 percent in August.
Windows 7 still performing really well
Despite the imminent launch of Windows 10, Windows 7 continues to be the preferred operating system on the desktop and currently holds a market share of 52.71 percent. Windows XP comes second with its 23.87 percent share, followed by Windows 8.1 with 6.67 percent and Windows 8 with 5.59 percent.
The Windows domination on the desktop comes to an end on the fifth place due to Mac OS X 10.9, which is at this point powering 4.05 percent of the computers worldwide, slightly more than Windows Vista which holds on to its 3.07 percent share.
Overall, Microsoft's modern operating system is still performing below expectations, as Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 currently have a combined share of 12.26 percent, two years after the launch of the core platform.
Windows 10 expected to kill XP completely
Microsoft's big hopes are on Windows 10, as the new operating system improves the desktop in a way that could convince many of those still on Windows XP and Windows 7 to finally upgrade and give the modern platform a chance.
Windows 10 brings back the Start menu, but packs a modern design that also includes live tiles borrowed from the Start screen which was initially available in Windows 8.
At the same time, it also comes with some new features for the Windows operating system, including multiple desktops to better manage the apps running on your computer, as well as a search option integrated into the taskbar that makes it really easy to look for information online without first launching a browser.