Tip UsOn October 25th, 2001, an operating system by the name of Windows XP went on sale. Little did Microsoft know that it would take the world by storm. At first, however, early adoption was pretty much non-existent since it competed with the still slightly new Windows 2000 and hardware requirements for XP were greater than most users’ machines.
However, computer performance eventually caught up and Windows XP really started to take off. Windows XP was the operating system for years on end. It was to the point where if you had a Windows PC and weren’t running Windows XP, people would look at you funny. At its peak, XP was installed on 80% of all computers.
Windows XP brought a completely new look to computer OSes. From Windows 95 to 2000, the graphical user interface mainly stayed the same. However, Windows XP raised the bar and then some with its all new look and feel.
Even though it seems that Windows XP is now long and gone thanks to Vista and Windows 7, you might be surprised that 50% of computer users are still using the 10-year-old operating system. We don’t blame them — it’s still a great piece of software to have. Users even got upset when Microsoft wanted to stop OEM pre-installations back in 2007.
In any case, I don’t think we’ll ever see another operating system still garner 50% of computer users after 10 years of being on the market. It’s very possible, but with the way Microsoft and Apple are outing new OSes every 2-3 years, it doesn’t seem likely.
via [Ars Technica]
