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Windows 7 Overtakes XP in U.S., Catching Up Globally
For the first time since its release in October 2009, Windows 7 has surpassed XP in U.S. market share, according to one source.
According to the Dublin, Ireland-based aggregate data collection company, StatCounter's analysis from March 2010 to April 2011 showed thatWindows 7 increased its usage rate to 31.98 percent, surpassing XP's 31.2 percent for the same time frame.
As for the rest of the top five, Vista still holds a 19.23 percent usage rate, while the MacOSX has 14.79 percent of the market. Holding in the rear is Linux and its .7 percent of the U.S. market share, which has been relatively unchanged in the past year.
Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Operating System Market Share
StatCounter said it receives its results by analyzing the usage rate of more than 3 million global sites, with an average of 15 billion hits per month. It then can determine which browser and operating system each individual is using. It's worth noting that only desktops are included in the company's figures, which excludes laptops netbooks and other mobile devices.
Concerning worldwide usage numbers for the same time period (March 2010 to April 2011), XP is still in the lead with 47.7 percent of the market, while Windows 7 is sitting at 31.17 percent.
While StatCounter's figures are good news for the newest Windows OS, they contradict that of rival Ariz.-based online data analytic company Stat Owl. According to the company's tracking system, Windows XP still has a commanding lead in the U.S. marketwith 51.56 percent of usage, while Windows 7 is actually in third (behind Vista's 23.45 percent share) with 23.21 percent.
The contradicting figures can stem from the fact that Stat Owl says it predominately tracks U.S.-centric Web sites and has a user tracking base of 28 million -- 25 million more than StatCounter.