Microsoft was hit with a double whammy last month as it made scant progress in either boosting the usage share of Windows 8 or depressing the share of Windows XP, new data published showed.

The easy upgrades from Windows XP are done, migration experts said, predicting that a sizeable number of large enterprises will still be running the aged OS even after Microsoft stops supporting it.

The trend toward browsing from phones and tablets has helped some browser makers, dramatically in one case, but hurt others in the battle for usage share, data from a metrics firm showed.

Mobile-based browsing has tripled in the last two years, and is making significant inroads on traditional Internet access from personal computers, according to statistics from a Web metrics company.

Windows 8's uptake pace slowed in February for the third straight month, according to Net Applications.

Six years after its long-delayed but well-publicized release, Windows Vista now accounts for less than 6% of all Windows machines, according to Net Applications.

Apple's OS X Snow Leopard, which shipped in August 2009, continued to resist retirement last month, new data from Web analytics vendor Net Applications showed.

Windows 8 fell further behind the pace of Windows Vista's uptake last month, a metric company said, even as usage share of the new operating system continued to slowly climb.

Windows 8 last month fell even further behind the historical adoption pace of Windows Vista, Microsoft's 2007 flop, new statistics showed today.