Stats show that Windows 8 and 8.1 continue growth on the Old Continent

Sep 2, 2014 09:37 GMT  ·  By

While more than 23 percent of the users worldwide are still running Windows XP, Europeans are among the pioneers of the transition from this operating system, and new stats show that the migration is going really well on the Old Continent.

At this point, Windows XP has a market share of 11.91 percent in Europe, according to data provided by StatCounter, while Windows 8 is powering 6.3 percent of the continent’s desktop computers. Windows 8.1 also holds a share of 10.16 percent, which pushes Microsoft’s modern operating system to 16.46 percent and makes it the world’s second most used platform.

This is clearly good news for Microsoft, but there’s no doubt that the company would have wanted this moment to come a lot sooner, as Windows 8 has already been on the market for nearly two years.

Adoption of Windows 8 went really slow at the beginning and it’s still below expectations, as both Windows 7 and Windows XP are going strong these days despite the release of a new operating system.

Windows 9 is expected to change these charts once and for all, as the company is preparing not only a very appealing feature lineup, but also more affordable licenses for those already running Windows. Word is that Windows 9 could be free for Windows 8.1 users, while XP and Windows 7 customers could get the license at a smaller price.