Windows 8.1 users have been half again as likely to upgrade to Windows 10 as their compatriots running Windows 7, data from a Web metrics vendor showed today, confirming expectations about who would upgrade first to Microsoft's new operating system.
The ascension of
Windows 10's usage share has largely come at the expense of Windows 8.1, according to measurements by Irish analytics company
StatCounter. Of the combined usage share losses posted by Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 since the last full week before Windows 10's July 29 launch, 57% has been attributed to Windows 8.1 deserters.
Windows 7, meanwhile, contributed 37% of the losses by the last three editions, and Windows 8, 6%.
The disparity was not unexpected: Most pundits and analysts figured that users of Windows 8.1 -- like Windows 7, eligible for a free upgrade -- would be first in line to dump their existing OS and migrate to the new. The changes in Windows 10, including the restoration of the Start menu and windowed apps, were most attractive to Windows 8 and 8.1 users, experts believed, because their removal had been widely panned.
