NetMarketShare’s monthly Desktop OS sampling shows that Windows 8.1 still had some stiff competition from Windows 7. Windows XP lost a chunk of users, with its share falling 1.43 per cent - from 27.69 per cent in March to 26.26 per cent in April. The downwards trend is set to continue now that Microsoft is no longer providing security updates for XP.

Windows 8 lost 0.07 per cent market share and its replacement gained nearly a whole percentage point going from 4.89 per cent to 5.86 per cent. Combined, Windows 8.x grew by 0.9 per cent, its biggest market share gain since December 2013. Windows 7 has grown from 48.77 per cent to 49.42 per cent, for a gain of 0.65 per cent -roughly two thirds of what Windows 8.x managed. At this rate, it will take three and a half years to reach the same level as Windows 7.