Windows XP is still the world’s third-most popular OS

[froggyboy604]

Despite being abandoned by Microsoft over three years ago, Windows XP is still the world’s third-most popular operating system. According to the latest statistics, it is still installed on 7.04 percent of computers around the world, eclipsed only by Windows 7 and Windows 10.

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Windows XP is still more popular than Windows Vista, and 8, and all Apple, UNIX and Linux operating systems.

I wonder would XP ever rise to the second most popular operating system as people upgrade to Windows 10, ditch Windows 10 because of privacy, reliability and security concerns, and switch to Chrome OS, Android based OS, Linux, and less popular operating systems like UNIX/FreeBSD.

A lot of older software, games, hardware/computers, and accessories like printers may not work on Windows 7, and 10, so a lot of people still need to use XP, or spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on new software, similar games which work on 7 and 10, accessories, and hardware which work on Windows 7 and 10.

Plus, many people want to continue playing older games which may not work on Windows 7, 8, and 10 because the maker of the game is retired, or the company is not supporting the game anymore.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I still don't get why MS doesn't simply update XP to modern usage.

 

[froggyboy604]

I still don't get why MS doesn't simply update XP to modern usage.

People maybe less likely to pay for new Windows OS if MS still support their older OS like XP and Vista.

MS wants Windows users to spend $100-200 to buy as many versions of its Windows OS when they are released until the user or company is dead, or can't use a PC anymore because of Health reasons, or money problems where they can't afford to use a Windows computer.

Big schools, and companies can spend thousands of dollars on Windows software licenses to upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7 and other Windows OS on their computers.

I think companies and schools also need to pay a yearly licensing fee to use Windows, get tech support, and get Windows updates according to a teacher that said the school spends a lot on licensing fees to use Windows, and Microsoft software like MS Office. If the school offers free Windows installer downloads to students, they will most likely need to pay for each student Windows installer download file.

 

[Zoey]

The main reason why I left WinXP was purely because all the new game releases required Win7. So I upgraded. Currently using Win10 and I am happy with it.

I still think XP was extremely good and it is a shame Microsoft abandoned it instead of building and upgrading it. If you already have something really good why not make it even better? Makes no sense.

My old laptop still runs XP but I very rarely use it. Overall, I am not shocked by these results. Good products always keep a large base of users.

 

[froggyboy604]

The main reason why I left WinXP was purely because all the new game releases required Win7. So I upgraded. Currently using Win10 and I am happy with it.

I still think XP was extremely good and it is a shame Microsoft abandoned it instead of building and upgrading it. If you already have something really good why not make it even better? Makes no sense.

My old laptop still runs XP but I very rarely use it. Overall, I am not shocked by these results. Good products always keep a large base of users.

I thought XP was one of the best Windows operating systems. I upgraded to Windows Vista because most PCs at stores only had Windows Vista computers.

I like Windows XP user interfaces. Windows XP Taskbar and windows are blue with round 3D top edge effects on the top of the Taskbar and windows. I think Windows XP user interface looks nicer than Windows 8 and 10 flat user interface. XP user interface did not slow down slower computers with a slower video card unlike Vista and 7 which sometimes slowdown a computer with Aeroglass/glass-like user interface.

It is too bad that MS does not continue to support Windows XP.

 

[Ash]

I can't believe people still use Windows XP to be honest. I understand why companies may use it as it may be too expensive to upgrade all their computers. But I guess people like the nostalgic look of XP. Personally, I could never use it again. After getting used to Windows 10, it would be a struggle to go back

 

[froggyboy604]

I can't believe people still use Windows XP to be honest. I understand why companies may use it as it may be too expensive to upgrade all their computers. But I guess people like the nostalgic look of XP. Personally, I could never use it again. After getting used to Windows 10, it would be a struggle to go back

There are some older PC games and software which work best in Windows XP, or may of never been updated to work in newer versions Windows. A lot of older hardware like printers, scanners, and webcams don't have hardware drivers which work in Windows 10. Windows XP is pretty reliable in my experience. But, XP is no longer safe to use because there are new security updates for it which fixes security problems.

Some XP users may of read bad user review sof Windows 10, so they rather stick with Windows XP because of bad user reviews which convince them that 10 is bad.

A lot of users mainly use the Startmenu and Taskbar to launch programs like web browsers, office suites, and media players, and rarely use Windows more advance programs like Control Panel, firewall, and Windows Settings.

For XP users who want their PC to look like Windows 7 and 10, There are Windows Appearance theme customization software which can change the appearance of Windows XP to look like newer versions of Windows like Vista, 7, and 8, and replace the XP Startmenu with a Startmenu which looks like the Windows 7 startmenu.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

Well to be fair, Windows Vista and 8 both suck. Given the choice between the three I'll stick with XP as well. But Windows 7 is still amazingly similar and efficient compared to it, and I myself got a free Windows 10 upgrade a few weeks back. That's even better. It's like Microsoft has a good-bad OS pattern with their release. I bet the next one (Windows 11 probably) would suck as well, only to be fixed by the one following it.

 

[Danielx64]

I still don't get why MS doesn't simply update XP to modern usage.

Sadly it doesn't work like that. If a new CPU come out Microsoft would need to change 1/2 the OS in order to support the new features of the CPU. Same with graphic cards (directx stuff). Then there SSD as well - I don't think that xp even support that.

 

[froggyboy604]

Sadly it doesn't work like that. If a new CPU come out Microsoft would need to change 1/2 the OS in order to support the new features of the CPU. Same with graphic cards (directx stuff). Then there SSD as well - I don't think that xp even support that.

There was also Windows XP 64bit version of Windows XP for newer 64bit Intel and AMD CPUs in the past for users who needed to use more than 4GB of RAM.

Windows XP may of not supported all the features in newer CPUs, but XP was more reliable, and ran faster than Windows Vista which had many performance and reliability problems in my experience compared to XP which ran better even on newer CPUs in 2009.

But, I think it maybe less worth it for Microsoft to continue to update DirectX for Windows XP. Many users use their XP computers for watching video, and basic tasks like word processing, so the older DirectX 9 software may work better on aging Windows XP computers with a slower video card, less than 1GB RAM, and a slower CPU. DirectX 10 needs a 1GHz CPU, and 1GB of RAM to run smoothly.

In the year 2010, Windows XP was installed on many cheap netbook laptops which used a cheaper SSD with low storage drives which were 4GB in size, and larger which was barely enough space to install Windows XP, and a few third-party/bundled software.

The 4GB and larger SSD drives was cheaper to buy than most laptop hard drive which made the laptop heavier, so they cost more to ship to stores and homes because they weighed more, and some shipping companies make users pay more when the shipment is heavier.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Sadly it doesn't work like that. If a new CPU come out Microsoft would need to change 1/2 the OS in order to support the new features of the CPU. Same with graphic cards (directx stuff). Then there SSD as well - I don't think that xp even support that.

that's why they have to go in and rework it for modern PCs yet still keeping what I assume is the interface that keeps driving sales.

 

[froggyboy604]

that's why they have to go in and rework it for modern PCs yet still keeping what I assume is the interface that keeps driving sales.

Windows XP also can run on computers with 512MB of RAM, and a 1 GHz and slower CPU, and there are still a lot of people around the world which use older and slower computers.

I agree, the user interface is what is keeping many people using XP because it is simple to use, and the interface runs quickly even on slower computers with a slow video card.