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After only 6 months, Windows 10 tops 8, XP in market share

Windows 10 is now gaining one percent of the PC user base each month, allowing it to edge out Windows 8 for market share just six months after release. But Windows 7 is far away yet.

Windows 10 is installed on 12.82 percent of computers just six months after release. That means there are already more Windows 10 computers out there than there are Windows 8 ones.

That’s according to Net Market Share, which tracks the operating systems reported to 40,000 popular sites in order to work out market share. The stats for February 2016 show Windows 10 growing around one percent from its 11.85 percent share in January, which in turn was a 1 percent climb from the December share of 9.96 percent.

Windows 10 only passed Windows XP for market share back in Janurary: in December of 2015 XP was still more popular. This month Windows 10 beat out its immediate predecessor: 9.83 percent of computer users use Windows 8.1, and 2.43 percent use Windows 8. Windows 10’s 12.82 percent means it already has a larger user share than those two versions combined.

Windows 10 has a long way to go before it is the most popular operating system, or even most popular version of Windows.

Windows 7 is by far the most popular desktop operating system out there, with 52.34 percent of the market. That means there are more Windows 7 computers out there than there are computers running OS X, Linux, and other versions of Windows combined.

But that should soon change: it seems like a good chunk of Windows 10’s growth comes at the expense of Windows 7. Back in July, Windows 7 made up 60 percent of desktop users, meaning that version of Windows is already losing ground quickly.

Considering that Windows 10 is a free update for Windows 7 and 8 users, and that basically all new devices being made right now are coming with Windows 10, expect to see this growth keep up for a while.

The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.

The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.

Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.

"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.

I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.

However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.