Windows 8.1 overtakes Windows XP on Steam

[Reefa]

Valve today updated its Hardware & Software Survey for December 2013, and the news is once again very good for Microsoft. Apple and Canonical have less reason to celebrate Steam usage for their respective platforms, but Windows 8.1 is doing great, having now overtaken Windows XP.

Here is the December 2013 operating system list for Steam, in order of biggest to smallest share:

Windows 8.1: 8.83 percent

Windows 8: 11.14 percent

Windows 7: 63.35 percent

Windows XP: 6.35 percent

Windows Vista: 4.89 percent

Mac OS X: 3.68 percent

Linux: 1.07 percent

Breaking down the numbers even more, here is how each operating system version fared:

It’s worth noting that it took Windows 8 much longer to hit the same milestone Windows 8.1 did today. It passed Windows XP in March 2013, six months after release. While this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, it’s still great to see Windows 8.1 pass XP just two months after release.

In fact, Windows 8.1 was the only Windows version to gain share between November and December. Gamers are by and large moving to Windows 8.1, though Windows 7 will of course continue to lead the way for at least the rest of the year.

Over the last month, Windows 8.1 gained 2.34 percentage points (from 6.34 percent to 8.83) while Windows 8 slipped 0.97 points (from 12.11 percent to 11.14 percent). Windows 7 dropped 1.03 points (from 64.38 percent to 63.35 percent), Windows Vista slipped 0.64 points (from 5.53 percent to 4.89 percent), and Windows XP dipped 0.16 points (from 6.51 percent to 6.35 percent).

Microsoft aside, OS X managed to gain 0.20 percentage points to 3.68 percent. Linux, which includes Ubuntu, grew 0.09 points to 1.07 percent.

Last month, we predicted Windows 8.1 would pass Windows XP this month, and said it would pass Windows 8 “a few months later.” Now that the difference is only 3 percentage points, we’re betting it will happen as soon as January or February.

Source:http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/01/02/windows-8-1-overtakes-windows-xp-steam/#!ra1gC

[Avitar]

Well it's sad to say I've accepted that this is where the "future" of technology will lead.. and I've installed WIN 8.1 x64 ENT. Better learn how to use it. But make no mistake: WIN 7 ULT x64 was the BEST OS I've used so far. Hence the reason why it's still on a partition with my important data ;) This 8.1 thing is just an experiment.. for speed. My hardcore programs like Visual Studio and Auto CAD and DreamWeaver are still on 7.

[MidnightDistortions]

I'm not that surprised really, don't think many gamers would still want to be using a 12 year old OS.