New data has emerged that reveals consumers have little or no interest in upgrading to a Windows 8 PC or tablet.During the past week Microsoft has spent millions in the US trying to lure Black Friday shoppers into buying a Windows 8 based product.
Now a new survey has revealed that Microsoft and Windows 8 are struggling to make the same progress that its predecessors Windows 7 did.
The survey of internet users has found that only 39% are likely to upgrade to Windows 8 – amid other signs that the new operating system from Microsoft is making slower inroads than the previous version launched exactly three years ago, the Guardian newspaper reported.
The online survey by Toluna Quick Surveys found Windows 7 is a clear favourite among Windows users, with 28% saying it was their preferred choice – double the 14% who chose the newly launched Windows 8. Also revealed was that Microsoft has not captured the interest of many potential tablet buyers with only 2% of voters saying they are interested in a Windows 8 tablet.
Toluna suggested the low interest in Windows 8 may partly be due to the success of Windows 7 in satisfying existing customers – who are very likely to have upgraded from XP or Vista in the past three years and may not see any reason to change.
Net Applications, which records desktop OS use, says that Windows 8 made up just 1.01% of users visiting the sites it monitors – half that for any of the last three versions of Apple’s Mac OS X, for which the smallest share is 1.96%, and far behind the 45.56% of Windows 7 and the 39.50% of Windows XP.
Historic research reveals that the take up of Windows 7 after its launch in October 2009 was extremely rapid. On 2 November that year, Tom’s Hardware reported “Windows 7 has officially been a part of the worldwide mass market for more than a week and a half and now makes up more than 3.6% of all PCs tracked by research firm Net Applications.”
Interest in Windows 7 was already high, the site noted then: “On October 21, the day before the official launch, Windows 7 usage was at 1.89%, according to Channel Register. By launch day, the number hit 1.99%, constantly rising to [the] 3.67% it hit on November 1.”
Net Applications said in November 2009 that Windows 7 reached a 4% share in just three weeks.
The survey was conducted in the UK.
