Russ Grover's Blog SBS-MVP, July 2009 – July 2011

Windows 7 just overtook XP in the United States

It’s finally happened. After a long reign at the top, Microsoft’s Windows XP is no longer the most widely used desktop operating system in the United States, instead turning the crown over to Windows 7.

As of April, Windows 7 has 31.71% of the desktop operating system market, compared to 31.56% for Windows XP.

Here is the current distribution of desktop operating systems in the United States, based on the first seven days of April:

The data is from StatCounter and consists of aggregated visitor stats from more than three million websites. In other words, this reflects the market share distribution of computers used to access the Web.

The rapid rise of Windows 7 has been a massive success after Microsoft’s relative failure with Windows Vista (which never got the upper hand on XP). Since its launch in October 2009, the rise of Windows 7 has been straight as an arrow.

Windows XP is still a big presence, especially in the corporate space where many have resisted upgrading, but Windows 7 seems to finally have set the upgrade train rolling.

What about the rest of the world?

Worldwide, Windows 7 has a market share of 31.17%, while Windows XP still holds a significant 46.87% (now in April).

However, this doesn’t mean the United States is the only country where Windows 7 has overtaken Windows XP. There are actually a number of countries where this has already happened, sometimes several months ago. A few examples:

• United Kingdom
• Canada
• Australia
• France
• Germany
• Belgium
• Denmark
• Finland
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Sweden

So in this sense, the United States actually turns out to be a bit behind the curve.

Today, we are proud to announce that Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2011 Standard and Premium Add-On are now fully available through all channels - from Volume Licensing to our largest OEM partners.

Microsoft has always been committed to supporting you and your business success. Our goal is to help you maximize the value of IT, even when your IT resources are stretched very thin—as is the case in organizations that have few IT professionals managing IT needs.

In keeping with this commitment, we’re introducing Windows SBS 2011 Standard, which is one of the latest editions of our SBS family of products. This all-in-one solution is designed to address key customer pain points: SBS takes the benefits of enterprise-class technology and makes them accessible, affordable and less complex for small and medium businesses (SMBs).

With this latest edition we have completely refreshed SBS Standard’s technologies and components. As a result, SBS 2011 Standard offers new, exciting features and technology solutions that will help SMBs reduce costs and increase productivity.

Features like mobile device security that makes sure Security policies are enforced by default in SBS 2011; like the easier migration to the new platform with enhanced migration tools, extensive pre-migration checks, and prescriptive guidance, or like the streamlined Outlook Web Access interface included in Exchange Server 2010, are just few examples that explain how, over the long term, Windows SBS 2011 Standard will help you grow your business.

Early adopters have seen the ease-of-use and value of SBS 2011 Standard. Take Scott Starr, Marketing Director of Firetrace International, for example. He says, “With Windows Small Business Server 2011, it’s a lot easier for me as a non-technical person to understand how the server is doing and take care of daily administrative tasks without involving our Microsoft partner or chasing down my coworker. I’d say that it’s given me back about two hours a week that I can use to do more important things than manage servers.”

To learn more about this product and how it can help your business, please visit the SBS 2011 Standard website. If you are interested in a trial version of the software, sign up here and discover why many customers and analysts are so passionate about it.

Microsoft’s partners are also excited about SBS 2011. This week HP announced full availability of SBS 2011 Standard on the HP server platform. You can hear more about how SBS 2011 Standard and HP can be an important asset in increasing your business’s productivity. Just tune in to one of our recent launch webcasts.

Dell is another partner supporting SBS 2011. Make sure you don’t miss out on the live webcast next week, where you can learn how SBS 2011 and Dell can help you maximize return on your IT investment, improve employee productivity and ensure your data is protected. Register now!

Act now and get SBS 2011 Standard to give your business all the advantages that come with it.

Curtis Lee, Director, Server and Cloud Platform Marketing.