MS's stats have always been rather... generous, shall we say? to Windows 10, but their latest pronouncement has at least one tech blogger just straight up calling them bullshit.
From Wayne Williams at betanews:
While NetMarketShare’s OS usage share figures show the new operating system doing fine, but lagging some distance behind Windows 7 (as you'd expect), Microsoft’s figures paint an entirely different picture.
Five months ago, the software giant showed Windows 10 hitting 50 percent in the US, and two months ago, it had the new OS overtaking Windows 7 globally. Today’s update though stretches the believability just a little too far.
[...]
So why do I say the numbers are fake?
Well, the growth of Windows 10 and the decline of Windows 7 is just way too neat to be real. According to the Windows Trends figures, Microsoft grew by exactly one percentage point a month, every month from July to November (42 percent, 43 percent, 44 percent, 45 percent, 46 percent). At the same time, Windows 7 declined by exactly the same amount.
And if that doesn’t sound unlikely enough, Windows 8.1’s share went up one percentage point in August (to 13 percent) and hasn’t changed since. Windows 8’s share (2 percent) hasn’t wavered either. And that's ridiculous. Windows 8.x is an OS in decline.
It’s possible the new numbers are just placeholders, and Microsoft has dropped them in while awaiting the real figures (although why it would do that I have no idea). But if that's not the case, then I call BS. Microsoft’s Windows share numbers have been raising eyebrows for a while, but this latest lot smacks of just being made up.
You tell 'em, Wayne. It's great to see that some folks in the professional tech media are starting to tire of Microsoft's PR BS. Suddenly, I can't wait to see the reaction to the actual numbers, when they come out on Wednesday.