It appears November 2017 might be the month finally putting an end to the dominance of Windows 7. According to latest stats from StatCounter, the user-favorite operating system from Redmond has seen a drop of 1.32 percentage points last month, now sitting at the market share of 42.67 percent. In comparison, Windows 10 got an additional 1.65 percent of Windows market share, helping it narrow the gap with Windows 7. The newest operating system is now at 40.95 percent.
Holiday sales, steady growth, and new security features could result in Windows 10 finally taking over Windows 7
Since this growth/decline rate has been going on for the past several months, it is highly likely that the next stats that arrive in December will see Windows 10 finally topping the charts. Add in the latest push that reports of Microsoft ending its free upgrade offer may have caused, the growth rate of Windows 10 might even be faster than it has been lately.
These numbers, however, are in contrast with NetMarketShare - another firm that provides operating system and browser market share data. The analyst firm reported that October was the slowest month for Windows 10 growth as it only added 0.17 percentage points to its market share. The firm has put the operating system at 29.26 percent in comparison to Windows 7's 46.63 percent.
We should remember that these aren't official numbers and both these firms calculate their figures by focusing on unique visitors to their networks of websites. It should also be added that NetMarketShare considers all the different desktop operating systems, whereas StatCounter focuses exclusively on the world of Windows. So when NetMarketShare says Windows 10 is at 29.26 percent, it means that's Windows 10's market share among all desktop operating systems, including macOS and Linux.
None of these are official numbers but mere estimates based on available data (of online users only). However, considering the holiday sales that will only bring Windows 10 numbers up a little bit and again the fact that many believe December will be the end of Microsoft's free upgrade offer, Windows 10 is highly expected to finally surpass Windows 7's numbers.
