

The follow-up to Windows 8 kept the the tile-based appearance but focused on a desktop-oriented interface with quality of life updates. However the dramatic differences between the desktop and tablet versions made for a steep learning curve, with the 8.1 release reintroducing the Start button. The beloved Start menu was replaced (an unpopular decision) and tile-based visual style introduced. In 2011, Windows 7 passed XP to become the most popular desktop OS.Ĭreated for tablet-desktop integration, just as Microsoft released the companion Surface tablet. Released as the successor to the poorly received Windows Vista, it kept the same visual style (“Aero”) but greatly improved performance and stability from Vista’s benchmarks.

Microsoft doubled down on their next releases from the end of the 2000s to 2020, with some misses (Windows Vista) and some hits (Windows 10). Windows XP gained market share steadily upon release in 2001, quickly becoming the most popular desktop OS with a peak of 76% market share in 2007. XP quickly became a fan-favorite because of its stability, and a hit with both commercial and personal computer clients. The version also would launch Internet Explorer, once the world’s most popular browser.Īn upgrade to ‘95 which supported more hardware like USBs and connecting more than one monitor. The now famous toolbar and Start menu made their debut here. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw different versions of Windows capture the market: And its release of Windows-a more visual interface than DOS-helped them grab hold of the PC market.

Those royalties boosted Microsoft’s coffers. Microsoft would supply IBM with an operating system for its computers, MS-DOS, and receive a royalty for every computer sold. In the 1980s, the fledgling company signed a partnership with personal computer behemoth IBM. The story of the desktop OS market is a story of Microsoft’s explosive growth and market dominance. Microsoft’s Monopoly on the Most Popular Desktop OS Sjoerd Tilmans has created an animated chart showing the rise and fall in market share of popular desktop operating systems over the period of May 2003 to June 2022, using data from W3Schools and GS Stat Counter. Mobile phones might be the most common way of getting online today, but the digital and internet era started for most people with the humble desktop computer.Īnd over the past 20 years, a long list of operating systems (OS) have been used to run the most popular desktop computers. The Most Popular Desktop Operating Systems Since 2003
