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Windows 8 Market Share: Just 2.3 Percent By Barry Levine February 1, 2013 11:30AM     Since its release in late October, Windows 8 has not exactly been a stellar success, although the rate of increase for Windows 8 adoption appears to be steady, rising about 0.6 percent each month. In comparison, three months after its release, Windows 7 had reached a 7.7 percent market share. Is negative user feedback to blame for Win 8's slower adoption?   Related Topics Windows 8 Windows 7 Vista OS X Surface Pro Latest News What's in Store for Apple's iOS 7? Reality TV's New Stars: Small Biz Soundbars Up the Ante on TV Sound Google Glass Raises Privacy Concerns Pentagon Gives iOS 6 Security OK The bad news for Windows 8: its market share of the desktop operating system market is only 2.3 percent. The good news: That's still about 60 million licenses. The market share is reported in new figures by industry research firm Net Applications, which finds Windows 7 with 44.5 percent, Windows Vista at 5.2 percent, and even the venerable XP still at 39.5 percent. Mac OS X is about 6.4 percent. Microsoft has not issued a breakdown of the 60 million licenses, such as how many are to distribution channels and how many to consumers or businesses. Of course, Windows 7 has been out for about four years. By comparison, three months after its release, Win 7 had reached a 7.7 percent market share. Windows 8 was released for general availability in late October. Chromebooks Rising? The rate of increase for Windows 8 adoption appears to be steady, rising about 0.6 percent each month since October. But the promotional period is now over for users who had purchased Windows 7 after June 2012 to buy Windows 8 for $14.99. Upgrading to the standard Windows 8 is now $120, and $200 for Windows Pro. PC sales have been down, in part due to the rise in tablets. There have also been public grumblings that raise questions about Win 8's overall success. Acer President Jim Wong, for instance, has told news media that Win 8 "is still not successful," and added that "a simple way to judge if it is successful or not" is to look at whether the whole PC market came back after the Windows 8 launch. It has not. One of the most interesting developments in the PC market is the apparent rise of Chromebooks, those cloud -based laptops using Google's Chrome operating system. When first released, many observers predicted they might have some limited uses, such as real estate agents picking up any Chromebook to view and manage that day's listings. As prices on tablets and more full-featured laptops come down, the thinking was that Chromebooks were not necessarily a bargain. But Chromebooks' ease of management is proving to be a big selling point. Last weekend, for example, Acer's Wong told news media that Chromebooks have accounted for 5 to 10 percent of his company's shipments in the U.S. since those models' release in November. (continued...) 1  |  2  |  Next Page >   Tell Us What You Think Comment: Name: ileana: Posted: 2013-02-06 @ 1:51am PT I HATE windows 8!! I am only commenting in hopes that some Microsoft employee might see 1 more disgruntled consumer. I do not need/want the touch stuff. It is not intuitive or user friendly in any way. Even the people who are supposed to be the tech support don't know what to do. You can't run chrome or firefox without it crashing. And that's just a few of the bad things. Yuck! Chester Tan: Posted: 2013-02-03 @ 5:30pm PT I must be one of the few who enjoyed using Windows 8, which I shared in my blog article. http://musicphotolife.blogspot.sg/2013/01/enjoying-windows-8.html The only major complaint from consumer is the missing Start Menu, but it's just a matter of spending $4.99 on a third party app to bring it back. Therein lies the beauty of Windows: loads of apps to personalise the OS. Dennis Latimer: Posted: 2013-02-02 @ 1:00am PT Microsoft could have been clever with this and released 2 versions of windows 8, one for PC (desktop) and 1 for "touch". Everyone happy. MS placed in the markest correctly. Instead they released something that causes confusion to most people I know with it. MS could actually be helping its competitors. Before I get the usual comments, I have windows XP, 7 and 8 at home In addition I have Ubuntu Mac and Mageia on machines at home, as well as an android tablet. Of all these, the one that I find most aggravating is 8. It is not intuitive, takes time to learn and in the end, I stay away from the modern UI for most of the time. For friends, I have had to install classic shell for them to be happy. I am hoping that MS will release an update to give people what they want: a simple on/off selection for touch/desktop. Also Visit: iPad Info Center Billions of Bytes Mobile Device Now Apple Info Center TopTechWire.com

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Network Security Spotlight

Syrian Electronic Army Hacks Financial Times The Financial Times is the latest victim of the Syrian Electronic Army, a group that supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The U.K.-based newspaper said a blog and its Twitter accounts were hacked.   Patch Tuesday Hyper Focuses on IE 8 Microsoft on Tuesday issued 10 security bulletins that fix 33 vulnerabilities. These updates include MS13-038, which will address the Internet Explorer 8 issue described in Security Advisory 2847140.   Surge of Venture Capital Buoys Tech Security Sector With companies and governments spending billions to repel cyberthreats, a surge of venture capital is pouring into companies developing cybersecurity technologies, the front line of the conflict.

Enterprise Hardware Spotlight

U.S. Defense Department Gives iOS 6 Security OK In a vote of confidence for Apple's iOS devices, the Defense Department has given the all-clear for employees to use iPads and iPhones for work. But only those running iOS 6, and only if issued by the government.   Cisco Surges After Profit Exceeds Analysts' Estimates Networking equipment giant Cisco's net income jumped 14 percent in the latest quarter as revenue at all four of its divisions rose for the first time in a year and a half, as tech spending increases.   HP and SAP Team To Advance HANA Database Technology The two tech leaders are working on a system that SAP says could fundamentally change the database market. HANA is SAP's technology that keeps data in-memory, for super fast processing.

Mobile Enterprise Spotlight

What's in Store for Apple's iOS 7? There's been talk recently that Apple's products are beginning to coast on their glorious past. So, with Apple's big Worldwide Developers Conference opening next month, speculation about iOS 7 is heating up.   Google Glass Raises Congressional Privacy Concerns The buzz around Google Glass continues, but it's not all good. Some in Congress have questions. "We are curious whether this new technology could infringe on the privacy of average Americans," their letter to Google says.   Windows Phone Now No. 3 in Market, BlackBerry No. 4 Has Microsoft Phone moved into a coveted though distant third place for smartphone platforms behind Google's Android and Apple's iOS? A new report says yes, while BlackBerry has slipped to No. 4.

Enterprise Technology Spotlight

U.S. Could Use Cyberattack on Syrian Air Defenses The Pentagon has cyberattack capabilities that allow the U.S. military to help blind Syrian air defenses without firing a shot -- abilities central to a debate over whether to intervene in the 2-year-old civil war.   HP and SAP Team To Advance HANA Database Technology The two tech leaders are working on a system that SAP says could fundamentally change the database market. HANA is SAP's technology that keeps data in-memory, for super fast processing.   Cloud Computing Gains Another Competitor with Google Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure now have a full-on rival in Google, with its I/O announcement that it is opening its hosted Compute Engine environment for virtual machines to all comers.

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