According to the data released by Netmarketshare.com, the global market share of Windows 7 operating system in July exceeded the market share of its predecessor, Windows Vista. 

With the last-September-unveiled Windows 7 clearly overtaking the Vista a year after it hit RTM and nine months after it was officially launched, it is evident that the new OS is surging ahead. While the Windows 7 OS notched up to the 10 percent market share mark four months back, Microsoft’s last-week announcement disclosed that nearly 175 million licenses for the OS have been sold thus far. 

However, as per the statistics forwarded by Web analytics firm NetApplications, it is the 2001-reelased Vista predecessor, Windows XP, that still rules the roost in terms of market share in the US as well as round the world.

Specifically speaking, NetApplications’ data indicates that Windows XP dominates the global market with a whopping 61.87 percent share; while Vista has a 14.34 percent share, Windows 7 is marginally ahead with 14.46 percent. In the US alone, XP has a 44.26 percent share; as against Vista’s 23.31 percent, and Windows 7’s 16.09 percent.

A much broader analysis reveals that, over the last one year, Windows Vista has lost a nearly 4.5 percent share; while Windows XP has lost about 10 percent. Meanwhile, Mac OS has gained almost a fifth of a percent; and Linux lost its recent gains last month.