Windows 7 Early Adoption Rate Doubles Vista

Windows 7 has been available to the wider public since October 22, 2009, a period of five months. According to a new report, in that time it has accumulated twice as many users as its predecessor, Windows Vista, over the same amount of time following its release in late January, 2007.

The findings are provided by California-based web analysts NetApplications.com. They found that Windows 7, as of this past Sunday, accounted for about 9 per cent of all operating systems (OS) being used online. By contrast, Windows Vista had just a 4.5 per cent share of the OS market five months after its release in late January, three years ago.

Positive Reviews Accelerate Windows 7 Growth

Given Windows 7's growth over the previous five months -- along with its stellar reviews -- this is not particularly surprising news. Windows 7 hit the 4 per cent market share mark months before Vista ever did, and by the end of this past January, just four months after the OS' release, Win7 had already hit the 7.5 per cent plateau.

By comparison, Vista was at just 3.75 per cent after four months in availability.

NetApplications executive vice president Vince Vizzaccaro notes that this recent achievement is an indication of Windows 7's consistent growth to this point. "Looking at the trends, the [Windows 7] growth rate seems to be strong and consistent, with no visible decline," Vizzaccaro said.

Windows 7 On Track to Overtake Predecessor

Such a growth rate reinforces earlier predictions that Windows 7 will overtake Windows Vista as the second-most popular OS on the market by June 2010.

Right now, Microsoft owns a 92 per cent market share across all of its Windows operating systems, with Windows XP at 66.3 per cent, followed by Vista at 17.4 per cent and Win7 at 9 per cent. (Source: computerworld.com)

Rival Apple Inc's Mac OS X operating system continues to languish far behind at just 5.1 per cent. Its growth has not in any way been helped by Windows 7's early success.

The news of Windows 7's continued growth comes shortly after a recent report suggested that the Windows platform represents about 32 per cent of Microsoft's total stock. The same analysts responsible for that report also noted a 1 per cent increase in Microsoft's market share of the OS market, and predicted the Redmond-based firm's stock will climb from $30.53 to $32.33 per share. (Source: trefis.com)