Windows 7 overtakes Vista

Microsoft's latest operating system has managed to overtake its forerunner, when it comes to the number of computers running it, in less than a year.

Figures released today by Net Applications have shown Windows 7 to be used on 14.46 per cent of computers, just ten months after it was released.

However, it's much maligned older brother, Windows Vista, sits with 14.34 per cent market share, meaning Windows 7 has taken it over for the first time.

"Microsoft has had to accept that Vista was a failure - it will not let the success of Windows 7 cast any shadow over its history," said Clive Longbottom, business process analyst at Quocirca.

He added that Microsoft will always publically defend the OS, despite its limited success coming from pre-installations and the lack of choice for consumers.

However, Longbottom concluded: "In private, Microsoft wishes to expunge Vista from its memory banks - it never existed: Windows 7 is the natural successor to XP and that is where people are going."

Despite the close competition in figures between Windows 7 and Vista, both are still being outstripped by the dominance of Windows XP.

Even with its ninth birthday coming up later this month, the OS still holds 61.87 per cent of market share.

Alternative OS options stayed in the single figures, with Apple's Mac OS X commanding five per cent share and Linux hovering around the one per cent mark.