With Windows 8 due out in late October this year, I thought I’d summarise some stats on existing OS usage.

As the picture below shows the most, Microsoft operating systems still dominate the desktop market in the UK with OS X being the main Mac OS in use at 11% of the market. I’ve also included iOS (iPad) for comparison. A good proportion of the people we encounter using OS X also run Windows (usually Windows 7) under some kind of virtualisation software such as Parallels or VMWare which tends to weaken the figure for OS X a little. Showing stats for the mobile market would give a total reverse of course, with Apple OSes dominating while Microsoft OSes take the minority share.

The real success story in these figures for Microsoft is Windows 7 which has grown to half the market share in little more than 2 1/2 years where its predecessor Vista crept up to about 19% of the market in roughly the same time.

The latest news from Microsoft is that Windows 8 will be available as an upgrade for only £24.99 in the UK. What’s even more surprising is that the upgrade will be available to owners of Windows XP and Vista as well as Windows 7. This means that people who haven’t bought a Microsoft OS for nearly 12 years will be able to upgrade for a very small fee.

It’s exciting times for Microsoft OSes and developers over the next few months with Windows 8 and the new Microsoft Surface tablet being released. Personally, although my wife wanted an iPad for her birthday, I can’t wait to get my hands on a Surface tablet. There has been quite a lot of negative press about Windows 8, with a lot of complaints about the loss of the Start menu that has been a feature of every Microsoft Windows OS since Windows 95. As time has gone on though, I’ve now begun to think of the Windows Metro interface as the Start menu replacement and Windows 8 has begun to feel even quicker and more fluid than Windows 7.