XP refuses to die as share creeps up

13-year-old operating system still gaining share despite last year's end of support

Windows XP's market share has grown sequentially for the second month in a row, despite the OS approaching its 14th birthday and support for it ending almost a year ago.

According to figures from NetMarketShare, in February, Windows XP's market share stood at 29.53 per cent, up from 29.30 per cent in January. In December, its share stood at 28.98 per cent, meaning it has nibbled out more market share for two months in a row.

The operating system's market share has only slumped about 10 percentage points in a year, despite Microsoft ending support for it during that period at the end of a year-long Windows 8 migration campaign.

This month, the share of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 combined increased to 10.68 per cent, up from 10.56 per cent last month. Windows 7's share fell fractionally from 47.46 per cent to 47.31 per cent over the same period, while Apple's OS X grew from 3.19 per cent in January to 3.48 per cent this month.

Earlier this month, Microsoft's UK partner boss Linda Rendleman said channel partners are excited about the imminent arrival of Windows 10. The positivity was based on the opportunities to sell services around the new product and not because of a comparison to its predecessor, she claimed.