Microsoft has surpassed Amazon to become the largest Windows hosting company, according to a report by Netcraft released on Wednesday. According to Netcraft, Microsoft and Amazon have been hovering around the same number of web-facing Windows computers for nine months. Microsoft has squeaked ahead with 23,400 computers versus Amazon’s 22,600. The Windows hosting market is extremely fragmented and Amazon and Microsoft have just over one percent of the market each, respectively.
SourceMicrosoft’s Azure is narrowly ahead of Amazon as the biggest host as measured by the number of web-facing Windows computers, according to Netcraft, which runs regular site surveys. As the graph below shows, the companies have been neck-and-neck over the past year. “Microsoft now has 23,400 web-facing Windows computers against Amazon’s 22,600,” says Netcraft, adding that each has “just over 1% of the market”. So, it’s not exactly world domination, and we don’t know how many of these Azure machines are running Microsoft services such as Office 365, Xbox Live, Skype, and OneDrive, rather than jobs for customers. These include, says Netcraft, the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, Aston Martin, BenQ, and McDonald’s Happy Studio.
