Windows 7 overtakes XP in the UAE

Microsoft's operating system Windows 7 overtook its 10-year-old sibling Windows XP in the UAE and globally for the first time in October. According to StatCounter, a web analytics firm, despite Windows 7 overtaking XP, XP still retains a clear lead at 55 per cent in Asia compared to 36 per cent for Windows 7 and Vista at 5 per cent. "Despite Microsoft trying to keep it back in the kitchen, XP has retained tremendous loyalty over the last decade. However, it looks like the younger Windows 7 is now emerging in the Cinderella role," Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter, said. Windows 7 overtook XP in the US in April this year and in Europe in July. Article continues below In the UAE, he said that Windows 7 leads with 46 per cent, followed by XP with 34.59 per cent, Vista with 11.45 per cent and Mac iOSX with 5.22 per cent. "Windows 7 has been a huge success for Microsoft is an understatement, where it managed to win back naysayers who were burnt by the Vista experience. It seems that Microsoft has sold around 450 million copies of Windows 7," he said. Shot in the arm Windows 7 has got a shot in arm due to the rising usage of Internet Explorer 9 browser on the operating system. Internet Explorer 9 appears set to beat the aggregated market shares of Chrome and Firefox on Windows 7. Support for XP users will end on April 8, 2014. Many organisations around the world still use Windows XP as their platform, and a Gartner report had said that migrating from XP to Windows 7 costs around $1,035 (Dh3,798) to $1,930 per user. According to Annette Jump, Gartner research director, around 635 million new PCs worldwide are expected to be shipped with Windows 7 this year as many enterprises are now moving rapidly to Windows 7. The analyst firm expects Windows 7 will be on 42 per cent of PCs "in use" by the end of the year and that the operating system will ship on 94 per cent of personal computers. A Gartner forecast sees Mac OS shipping 4.5 per cent of new PCs worldwide in 2011 and 5.2 per cent in 2015, and expects Linux operating systems to remain at less than 2 per cent share over the next several years.