14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8 is no longer an operating system that manages to increase its market share and statistics provided by analysis firm Net Applications confirm this.
Microsoft’s core modern operating system is so quickly losing users that it’s dropping market share points faster than Windows Vista, which was often referred to as the biggest fail in Redmond’s history.
In a little surprising turn of events, Windows 8, the operating system that’s fairly new on the market, is losing more users than Vista, stats show, becoming the only operating system that’s actually going down these days.
The table you’re seeing below and put together by The Register confirms that in the last 9 months Windows 8 lost no more than 1.6 percent of its users. Windows Vista, on the other hand, dropped only 0.68 market share points during the same timeframe.
The reasons why Windows 8 is losing users are many, and one of them isn’t necessarily pointing to a dark side of the operating system that dumped the Start menu for a touch-optimized Start screen.
Many of the users who actually gave up on Windows 8 moved to Windows 8.1 Update, which actually recorded a pretty decent growth since it first hit the market in October 2013. For example, Windows 8.1 increased its share from 1.72 percent in October 2013 to 6.61 percent in June 2014, thus posting a rise of 4.89 points in just 9 month.
And still, the software giant has poured millions in Windows 8 marketing, with the company trying to boost its adoption from the very beginning. That didn’t happen, however, and Windows 8 has become an operating system that’s often compared to Windows Vista, even though the combined share of Microsoft’s modern platforms now surpasses 12 percent.
In the meantime, Microsoft is said to be working on something really exciting for Windows users, including the launch of Windows 9, which could completely revamp the modern platform and thus convince adopters to upgrade once again.
Still, it remains to be seen if those who have already switched from Windows XP or Windows 7 to Windows 8 are willing to do it one more time when Windows 9 gets to see daylight sometime next year.