Bad news for Microsoft as Windows 10's growth slows

When Microsoft started the roll out of Windows 10 Creators Update on April 11, it seemed likely the new OS would see a boost in its market share as a result. Indeed, April’s usage figures from NetMarketShare suggested that was the case, with Windows 10’s share growing by a decent amount for the first time in months.

But the Creators Update roll out has been more of a dribble out so far, with only 15.2 percent of US Windows 10 users running it, and the boost that the operating system enjoyed in April hasn’t continued in May.

SEE ALSO: Windows 10 now on 500 million active devices, but growth has slowed dramatically

NetMarketShare’s usage figures for last month show Windows 10 share climbing from 26.28 percent to 26.78 percent, a gain of 0.5 percentage points. It’s not bad -- at least it’s a move in the right direction -- but in the same time period Windows 7 went from 48.50 percent to 49.46 percent, an increase of 0.96 percentage points. That’s despite the news that most of WannaCry victims were running Windows 7.

Windows 8’s share didn’t change in May, it still has 1.59 percent, while Windows 8.1 went from 6.96 percent to 6.74 percent, a fall of 0.22 percentage points. Windows 8.x has a total 8.33 percent share.

Windows XP continues to decline, falling 1.38 percentage points. It currently stands on 5.66 percent.

Will Windows 10 pick up the pace in June, or will it start to shed users again? We’ll find out in a month’s time.

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