UPDATED 23:48 EDT / JANUARY 03 2016

NEWS

Windows 10 is rapidly gaining on Windows XP

Microsoft will be quietly pleased to learn that Windows 10 is inching closer to surpassing the venerable Windows XP operating system in terms of desktop market share.

End of year stats from Internet analytics firm Net Applications reveal that Windows 10 has now accumulated a 9.96 percent share of the desktop operating system market, landing it in fourth place behind three older versions of the OS it hopes to displace – Windows 7 (56.1 percent market share), Windows 8.1 (11.2 percent), and Windows XP (10.6 percent).

Operating system market share

Unfortunately for Microsoft, it’s not seeing the same success for its new Web browser Edge, which is eventually planned to succeed Internet Explorer. Net Applications’ data shows that most Windows users seem to dislike Edge, which has actually lose market share in the last month.

In December, Internet Explorer 11 once again proved to be the most dominant browser, commanding a 25.57 percent share of the market. Version 47.0 of Google’s Chrome browser came in a distant second at 15.68 percent, followed by IE 8 and IE 9 with 8.95 percent and 6.67 percent respectively.

But the real news is that Microsoft Edge’s market share actually declined in December, falling half a percentage point to just 2.84 percent of the overall browser market. The data seems to suggest that most of Windows 10’s early adopters were prepared to at least give Edge a go, only to dump it in favor of their old favorites.

browser market share

Microsoft will be hoping for a better performance in 2016. It’s already known that the Redmond firm is planning to step up its aggressive push to get Windows 7 and Windows 8 users to update to Windows 10 and that will likely see the OS further boost its market share. As for Edge, one reason why people may be holding off is the lack of browser extensions, something that Microsoft has hinted at addressing in the coming months.

Image Credits: proZesa via Compfight cc; pie charts via Net Applications

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