Net Applications

Windows 8 appears to be picking up the pace in the desktop OS market.

The latest data from Net Applications, which tracks usage share of desktop and mobile operating systems and browsers, shows Window 8 with 7.4 percent of all desktop OS Web traffic in August. That's a big step up from the 5.4 percent share Windows 8 had in July.

While Windows 8 usage jumped, usage of Windows XP fell just as sharply. Windows XP's share of desktop OS Web traffic dropped from 37.2 percent to 33.7 percent in August, according to Net Applications.

Windows 7 retained its position on top with 45.6 percent of Web traffic in August, a slight increase from 44.5 percent in July. The preview edition of Windows 8.1, which first popped up with a 0.02 percent share in July, saw a slight increase to 0.24 percent in August.

Overall, Windows continued to dominate the desktop OS market in August with 91.2 percent. The Mac OS came in second with 7.3 percent, followed by Linux with 1.5 percent.

The next iteration of Microsoft's OS, Windows 8.1, is set to arrive October 18, a year after the debut of Windows 8.