Windows 7 overtakes Vista

Windows 7 is already being used on more computers than Vista, only ten months after it was released by Microsoft.

Microsoft’s latest operating system now holds 14.46% of global market share, with Vista on 14.34%, according to statistics from Net Applications.

Windows XP is still the leading operating system by far, with double the share of Vista and 7 combined

While XP’s share is sliding more quickly than Vista’s, it has further to fall. The nine-year-old OS still commands 61.87%, while Vista never topped a fifth of the market.

TechMarketView analyst Philip Carnelly said Windows 7’s progress was faster than expected. “I am surprised it’s happening so quickly, I must say,” he told PC Pro.

“After this, it’s going to be a much slower burn… a lot of people are still happy with XP,” he said. Carnelly noted that the consumer market is moving over more quickly to 7, but many governments and businesses are sticking with the ageing OS. “There is still a lot of life in XP,” he said. “Vista is very much history now.”

Apple’s Mac OS X stayed flat at about 5% and Linux is keeping about 1% of the market, while iOS – Apple’s system for the iPhone and iPad – hit a record 0.7%.

Browser wars

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer also had a good month, with Internet Explorer adding 0.42% to 60.74% of the global market. Rival Firefox dropped 0.9% to 22.91% while Google’s Chrome slipped 0.08% to 7.16%.

“Most interesting is the fact that Internet Explorer 8 continues to be the fastest growing browser with a 0.98% increase worldwide in July – and now represents more than 30% of browser usage worldwide,” crowed Ryan Gavin, senior director for IE business and marketing, in a post on the Windows blog.

IE wasn’t the only browser to gain users, as Apple’s Safari jumped from 4.85% to 5.09%, following an update to Safari 5 last month.