What next for Windows 10 after it hits big UK milestone?

OS takes more than 50 per cent market share in the UK, claims StatCounter

Windows 10 now officially accounts for the majority of the operating system market share in the UK, according to March figures from market tracker StatCounter.

The OS, which was released in the summer of 2015, has grown from nothing to now accounting for a 50.68 per cent of the UK market - marking the first time it has had a majority in the region. Its share is much higher than nearest rival Windows 7, whose share stands at 35.4 per cent.

The figures are hardly surprising, in that it is perhaps expected that the newest and most up-to-date OS will be the most popular, and will gradually gain more share as time goes on - especially as Windows 10 was the last "traditional" OS release, which will be superseded by a number of updates, rather than entire new operating systems.

But there are a couple of interesting things about Windows 10's big milestone.

Firstly, according to the figures, Windows 10's entrance to the market has been significantly more successful than that of its predecessor Windows 8. Many considered the OS to be beset with issues - not having a Start button to begin with, and the layout being much different to the popular Windows 7 design. Windows 8's market share peaked at nearly 29 per cent in July 2015 - almost three years after its autumn 2012 launch. Windows 10 has managed to snag a majority of the market in less than two years on the market.

This is clearly great news for the channel, and many IT suppliers have said Windows 10 has been a winner for business - securing their customers, and allowing them to best take advantage of Microsoft's cloud services, on which partners can then enjoy richer margins.

There's more good news for partners too, in that there is still a huge amount of customers who have not migrated - offering them migration services opportunities and the chance to sell new PCs.

One such example of a sector which has yet to embrace Windows 10 is the public sector. Recent CRN research showed that Windows 7 has an 80 per cent-plus market share of PCs in NHS Trusts, based on 102 Freedom of Information request replies we received. Further, Windows XP actually had a higher share of PCs in those Trusts than Windows 8 and Windows 10 combined.

Windows 10's popularity might be soaring, but there are still huge opportunities for partners to spread the word into new customers.