Windows 7 to Become World's Leading OS by the End of the Year, Says Gartner

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 10 Aug 2011

As Redmond-based software giant Microsoft has said on several occasions, Windows 7 is the fastest selling operating system (OS) in history. Even if you don’t believe Microsoft when it says something like that, there’s no arguing with the numbers. These numbers:

January 2010 – 60 million licenses sold.
March 2010 – 90 million licenses sold.
April 2010 – 100 million licenses sold.
June 2010 – 150 million licenses sold.
October 2010 – 240 million licenses sold.

January 2011 – 300 million licenses sold.
April 2011 – 350 million licenses sold.
July 2011 – 400 million licenses sold.

Considering that Windows 7 hit GA (General Availability) on October 22, 2009 and that by July, 2011, more than 400 million licenses were sold, it means that 1 Windows 7 license was sold every second.

According to Gartner, information technology research and advisory firm headquartered in Stamford that delivers technology research to global technology business leaders to make informed decisions on key initiatives, Windows 7 sales will continue to go strong and it will become the world’s leading OS by the end of the year. Gartner said that Windows 7 will be powering 42% of PCs around the world and 94% of new PCs. Around 635 million new PCs will be shipped with Windows 7 on them by the end of the year.

"Steady improvements in IT budgets in 2010 and 2011 are helping to accelerate the deployment of Windows 7 in enterprise markets in the U.S. and Asia/Pacific, where Windows 7 migrations started in large volume from 4Q10," said Annette Jump, research director at Gartner. "However, the economic uncertainties in Western Europe, political instability in selected Middle East and Africa (MEA) countries and the economic slowdown in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 will likely lead to slightly late and slow deployment for Windows 7 across those regions."


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