Tuesday 4th February 2014
XP still world's second most popular operating system despite Microsoft's notice to end support
San Francisco, CA & Dublin, Ireland; 4th February 2014: Despite news that Microsoft will discontinue support in April this year for Windows XP, it remains the second most popular operating system worldwide in terms of internet usage, according to StatCounter, the independent website analytics company.
The company's research arm, StatCounter Global Stats, finds that in January 2014 Windows 7 was the global leader on 54.3% while XP took 19.2% on a worldwide basis.
"Even in mature markets like North America and the UK, XP remains ahead of Windows 8, 8.1 and Vista," commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. "This has serious implications for users, especially businesses, as lack of support may leave their data and systems at risk of exposure to security and virus issues."
Microsoft has long advised that it will end support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014. In April 2013 it said: "This means that XP customers and partners will no longer receive security updates or be able to take advantage of tech support from Microsoft."1 Updates for Microsoft Security Essentials, however, will be available until July 2015.2
Despite the risks, XP remains the second most popular OS in terms of internet usage in Europe (16.9%); South America (18.6%); Asia (26.4%) and Africa (32.0%). It is the third most popular in North America (12.5%); US (12.4%) and UK (9.5%). Individual country stats may be accessed at: https://gs.statcounter.com/#desktop-os-ww-monthly-201301-201401
StatCounter (www.statcounter.com), an independent web analytics specialist, is used by companies, bloggers, self-employed people, charities and anyone who wants to measure activity on their website, blog or forum. Key features include ease of use, independence and ability to view website data in real time.
StatCounter members can learn about visitors to their site with essential statistics such as keywords (i.e. search terms used to find the site), downloads (e.g. which brochures are being accessed) and exit links (i.e. which links people click as they leave the site).
StatCounter Global Stats data is based on over 15 billion page views per month to the StatCounter network of more than three million websites.
Ends
For interview with Aodhan Cullen, photo or press queries:
Ronnie Simpson, Simpson Financial & Technology PR
E:ronnie@simpsonftpr.ie T:+353 1 260 5300
1 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/2013/apr13/04-08oemwindowsxp.aspx
2 http://blogs.technet.com/b/mmpc/archive/2014/01/15/microsoft-antimalware-support-for-windows-xp.aspx