For Microsoft's leading spokespeople, Windows XP is a closed topic. Next April 8 marks three years without official support, yet a striking percentage of users still resist the change. Last January we reported an increase in its adoption (which apparently was lost during February), but an internal report from Avast and the people at StatCounter confirm that XP still adds more users than Vista and Windows 8 combined..
The user base that refuses to move
The difference between agencies measuring operating system adoption in the market can be up to ten points. One of the most notable examples is Windows 10, which according to NetMarketShare sits at 25 percent, while StatCounter gives it an additional 8 percent. Beyond that gap, one thing is certain: Microsoft expected a meteoric rise from its latest operating system, and after 19 months we see it fighting tooth and nail in every category. The saddest part is that it isn't due to a widespread user whim, but to a number of highly questionable decisions by Redmond, driven more by internal politics than by technical merit. One consequence is that hard core of users who refuse to update out of principle, or because their budget won't allow hardware upgrades. Among them, the preferred operating system remains Windows XP.
Avast and StatCounter agree
According to a "Trend Report" published by Avast for the first quarter of the year, there are six and a half million users (out of a base of 116 million Avast users on Windows) keeping XP on their computers, equivalent to 5.64 percent. StatCounter's numbers are very similar, suggesting a 5.53 percent adoption for February. In both cases, the percentage of Windows XP exceeds that of Windows Vista and Windows 8 combined. Why are those two versions used as reference? Mainly because of support status. The original edition of Windows 8 stopped receiving hotfixes in January 2016, and Vista's extended support ends in two weeks.
The Avast report also presents other very interesting aspects, such as the most common number of cores in processors, the most used amount of memory, and adoption of solid-state drives. We'll leave the link below, straight from Avast's servers, in PDF format.
