Windows 10 is now the second most popular desktop operating system

But it's not as straightforward as you think

MICROSOFT'S WINDOWS 10 adware receptacle continues its climb this month as we delve into the operating system market share analysis from Net Applications' Netmarketshare service.

The big news is that we have a new second place OS and there's no prize for guessing what it is.

Windows 7 suffered only a tiny drop in popularity to 52.37 percent (-0.13), which is likely to be a worry for Microsoft whose increasingly aggressive attempts to foist Windows 10 onto the public aren't working as quickly as it would like.

Windows 10 is now technically in second place with 12.82 percent (+0.97) and is the only Windows operating system to gain ground. Even if you add Windows 8 at 2.43 percent (-0.25) and Windows 8.1 at 9.83 percent (-0.57) that's still only 12.03 percent.

So it's happened. Windows 10 has hit second place, unarguably this time. But do remember that Windows 10 is the one true operating system now, and that this figure includes every tablet, ultraportable, IoT device etc that runs Windows 10. This skews it against other figures in the list.

Windows XP is now in fourth place, without really losing much ground. It stands at 11.24 percent (-0.18) proving that the faithful really are faithful. Microsoft has started moving the goalposts for hardware support in another attempt to bolster Windows 10 uptake, but the diehard Windows XP fans seem set to stay on as long as possible.

Away from Windows, there is a nominal rise in Linux use to 1.78 percent (+0.07) and Mac OS X claims 3.72 percent (+0.28) for 10.11 El Capitan and a slight drop for 10.10 at 2.2 percent (-0.13).

Add in stragglers on previous versions and Mac OS totals 7.76 percent, but this is just for desktop and laptop machines. Tablets and phones use iOS.

Netmarketshare will have to reconsider the way these figures are compiled at some point as the form factors continue to merge into one another. But for now, we shall keep reporting them as they are given to us. Just don't believe all the hype around Windows 10. µ

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