If you own a PC or laptop there is a high chance you are running either Windows 11 or Windows 10 on your PC. You may even find that all the manufacturers when you were searching for a new PC or laptop only had the Windows operating system on leaving you no other choice for any other operating system to choose.
Below we will cover just why is Windows operating system so popular and more.
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Why Is Windows Operating System So Popular?
The main reason why the Windows operating system is so popular among manufacturers and end users is due to the ease of use for the end user as Windows is very easy to navigate and also is a commercial product so always stays up to date with the latest updates and security patches.
Not only is Windows one of the most easiest and straightforward operating systems for PCs/Laptops it is also very affordable for the manufacturers to add it to their PCs and laptops while also being the most supported operating system for their software and drivers giving you a pain-free experience when using your Windows installation.
We will be covering reasons why Windows is one of the leading operating systems around.
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Pricing
When you pick up a new PC or laptop you will find Windows already pre-installed whether that’s currently Windows 11 or Windows 10 at the time of this article.
If you do not happen to have a Windows license which is tied down to your PC or laptop then you can pick up the latest versions of Windows for under $50 from a range of different online and high street stores.
You will find with most laptops and even PCs that it already has Windows license tied to the machine which you can find on the back of your laptop or the bottom of your PC tower.
This helps if you happen to freshly reformat the Windows machine and it asks for the Windows license key you can easily find it and re-enter the key. Sometimes the key is tied to the motherboard and will be automatically applied should you happen to need to reformat your PC or laptop.
You will mostly find yourself paying for a new Windows license only if you are custom-building a PC which you will need to add to your own operating system on which more than likely will be the latest Windows operating system.
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Hardware Compatability
The main thing which sits Windows higher up the pecking order than the likes of Apples MacOS and Linux OS such as Ubuntu and Fedora is the number of developers that are actively developing software and drivers for the Windows OS.
So this leads to Windows having the best-supported drivers and software for your laptops or PCs hardware where most of the time as soon as you plug a peripheral in or need to update a driver Windows can automatically find the correct updated driver for you.
With the likes of a Linux operating system such as Ubuntu, Fedora, Zorin OS, and Debian you can sometimes struggle when it comes to finding the correct drivers for your hardware or running the latest PC games on your PC or laptop.
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Better Built-In Software
This goes back to the sheer number of developers that the Windows platform has and this helps Windows come pre-packed with many great built-in software packages over other operating systems such as:
- Microsoft Edge
- Notepad
- Microsoft Power Toys
- Paint 3D
- Notepad
- Movies
- Video Editor
- Games
- Maps
- Calendar
- Plus More…
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Better Applications And Games
If you have ever tried MacOS such as Catalina or Mojave you may have found that a lot of the latest high-end games won’t work on this operating system where as they worked perfectly on a Windows setup.
This is the same when it comes to Linux OS, so you definitely want to use a Windows OS such as Windows 10 or 11 when it comes to gaming or having support for the latest apps.
Here at Tech Spec Dude, we have found that sometimes we may need to use a lesser-known app that can be built for a specific job and unfortunately, they only have built an application for Windows due to the majority of laptops and PC user base using this operating system.
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Market Timing
Yes, this might seem an odd reason to list but just as computers were becoming more mainstream around the 1980s – 1990s there was only Unix-based OS such as the Macintosh and it was very expensive back then as well as the machines which ran this.
So in steps Windows with its nicely designed user interface and user experience and was an affordable alternative that many people went for and gave Windows an edge in the market and its timing was never better.
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General Popularity
With all the reasons mentioned above the last one we will mention is just the overall popularity of the Windows operating system in general. Whether you are watching YouTube videos on PCs or seeing adverts for laptops and PCs on TV they will all be based around the Windows OS.
Windows is everywhere and you cant avoid it even right down to any offices and businesses you come across 99.9% of the time they will all be running Windows on their machines.
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The Market Share Of The Windows Operating System
When it comes to the global market share of operating systems windows is right up there in second place right after Android.
Android tops the chart but this is only because many smartphones, tablets, and Smart TVs are running the operating system. When you take these devices out then Windows OS will firmly be number 1 with a lion’s share of the percent.
Current Market Share Of Operating Systems
Source: StatCounter Global Stats – OS Market Share
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What Other Operating Systems Is There?
With Windows being the most popular used and liked operating system we have named the others below that other PC and laptop users could be running on their machines.
MacOS
MacOS is the only operating system that Apple use, so if you happen to own a MacBook, iPad, iPhone, etc this is what operating system you will have running on your PC or device.
Some people may prefer MacOS over Windows as it tends to be more fluid and less crashing so this is definitely the go-to operating system for creative work such as photo editing, making music, videography etc.
MacOS was released back in March 2001 and is a Unix-based OS with nice aesthetics, ease of use, and security.
Different MacOS Versions
- MacOS 14 (Sonoma)
- MacOS 13 (Ventura)
- MacOS 12 (Monterey)
- MacOS 11 (Big Sur)
You can check out The Full List Of MacOS to see all the versions of MacOS since the operating system was released.
Linux
Linux is a popular operating system for PC and laptop power users due to its open-source operating system meaning it’s also free to download and install on your machine and has a large group of developers openly developing the operating system and other features based around the OS.
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You are also free to make any modifications to any of the Linux-based OS with it being an open-source OS.
Linux comes in many different flavors called Linux Distros such as:
- Ubuntu
- Fedora
- Debian
- ZorinOS
- Linux Mint
- ElementoryOS
- Arch Linux
- And hundreds more
Linux is one of the most used operating systems when it comes to servers due to its robustness, fewer crashes, and just the overall reliability of Linux in general.
You can also find Linux powering most of the smartphone market too with Android running right on top of the Linux kernel.
Most of the servers we run here at Tech Spec Dude are running Linux from Debian to Ubuntu plus some laptops we have here.
If you would like to test out a popular Linux distro such as Ubuntu then we would recommend downloading VirtualBox which is a virtual PC emulator for your Windows OS and will allow you to test different operating systems without the need to install them or for them to cause issues with your Windows OS.
See How To Fix Windows Audio Device Graph Isolation High CPU Usage.
Conclusion
We have covered all the reasons that makes Windows operating system so popular today and some other operating systems you can test out on your PC rig or laptop should you want to.
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