Windows 8 struggling to take off: Survey - TODAYonline

LONDON - A survey of Britons and new web user data suggest that Windows 8 is struggling to make the same progress that its predecessors - especially Windows 7 - did.

A broad online survey of British Internet users has found that only 39 per cent 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 three years ago.

The online survey by Toluna QuickSurveys, carried out last month, got responses from 2,000 United Kingdom-based adults (aged 18 and over). Besides the upgrade findings, it found Windows 7 a clear favourite among Windows users, with 28 per cent saying it was their preferred choice - double the 14 per cent who chose Windows 8.

The results said initial consumer reactions indicated that Microsoft has not captured the interest of potential tablet buyers: The proportion of respondents planning to buy a tablet with Windows 8 is on par with other systems including Apple iOS and Android (13 per cent, 13 per cent and 14 per cent respectively). The tablet-specific Windows RT received only 2 per cent of the votes and was voted the least favourite Windows operating system all round.

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 and may not see any reason to change.

Other figures from web browsing suggest that Windows 8 is making comparatively slow progress among PC owners. Net Applications, which notes desktop OS use, says this week Windows 8 made up just 1.01 per cent 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 per cent, and behind the 45.56 per cent of Windows 7 and 39.50 per cent of Windows XP.

Nor is the small figure typical of new Windows releases. The take-up of Windows 7 after its October 2009 launch was extremely rapid. On Nov 2 that year, Tom's Hardware reported that "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 per cent of all PCs tracked by Net Applications". THE GUARDIAN