Windows 8 beats Vista's adoption rate in its first year

[bill]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048006/windows-8-beats-vistas-adoption-rate-in-its-first-year.html#tk.rss_all [pcworld.com]

Windows 8 beats Vista's adoption rate in its first year

Windows 8's user share of all PCs running Windows, a tally that included Windows 8.1, the update slated to ship next month, jumped to 8.4 percent in August 2013, Net Applications said Sunday. The 2.5-point gain was a single-month record for the struggling operating system, and more than double the previous record set in June.

Ten months after its January 2007 retail debut, Windows Vista—the operating system widely dubbed a flub and a flop—accounted for 7.3 percent of all Windows PCs.

[piatkow]

When all new machines come with the latest version pre-loaded the proportion of people who upgrade would be more indicative of popularity.

[moTi]

all new machines come with the latest version pre-loaded

well, isn't that the difference to 2007ff, when hardware sales consisted for a big part of the popular netbooks who were all distributed with xp instead of vista (because of a licensing issue iirc)?

[mack]

Also need to take into account a lot of vendors where offering late windows 7 customers an upgrade option to windows 8 when it became available.

Vista did terrible in the corporate sector. To this day a lot of large companies still run machined with XP.

Mack.

[IanCP]

Vista did terrible in the corporate sector. To this day a lot of large companies still run machined with XP

A lot of friends and relatives in the Australian corporate sector say the same thing.

[incrediBILL]

I smell crooked numbers being crunched.

This all garbage unless we get a breakdown by device because Win XP, Vista and Win 7 didn't come on tablets and phones.

The only reason Win 8 is rolling out faster is people have it preloaded on ALL devices for the first time. They don't tell you if Win 8 is on their tablets, phones or desktops so this number is meaningless and my gut tells me if you break out the desktop adoption rate it's probably way lower than Vista.

If it's not a combined total, my apologies, but I think it is.

[Solution1]

In the same article:

Ten months after Windows 7's October 2009 launch, the OS had accumulated a 17.3 percent share of all Windows PCs—more than double Windows 8's.

[IanCP]

I have to say when I recently built my new custom PC I grudgingly included an upgrade to Win 8 Pro from Win XP Pro.

I'm very glad I did, I'm well chuffed with the result, and I was particularly amazed that all my old software works seamlessly with it.

Would I go back to Win XP? Not on your Nelly.

[I can't believe I've actually said that about a Microsoft product. A first in 20+ years.]

[bill]

I smell crooked numbers being crunched.

This all garbage unless we get a breakdown by device because Win XP, Vista and Win 7 didn't come on tablets and phones.

You think the Microsoft Surface numbers are skewing this data? That's doubtful. Windows 8 on tablets is mainly limited to Surface devices and a few experimental models made by various manufacturers that never sold well. Microsoft really disincentivized manufacturers from making Windows 8 tablet products apparently with their Surface line.

Phones? That's a different OS altogether. Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 are completely different products despite the similar Metro design and naming. Windows Phone 8 is not included in this number.

Due to sagging overall PC sales and the up-tick in tablet devices, very few of which run Windows, I'd say they are at more of a disadvantage with Windows 8 compared to previous versions.

[atlrus]

When Win8 first came out the update was like what $20 or less? I remember picking up a copy to try on an old laptop. That and MS flexing their muscle with manufacturers to offer Win8 only on most laptops is really skewing the numbers.

It's an awful OS which would've died a quick and quiet death if it wasn't forced down people's throats...

[IanCP]

When Win8 first came out the update was like what $20 or less?

Slightly more expensive in Australia at the time. I missed out by about four weeks, but quite happily paid $54.00 for Win8 Pro including delivery of CD's for 32 and 64bit versions.

A few weeks later I was also able to download and install the latest Windows Media Centre for $9.99. I had a few hiccups with that. Microsoft spent an absolute fortune on support in getting it right for me. Credit to them.

It's an awful OS which would've died a quick

That in no way is representative of my personal experience. Going back to Win XP on my wife's Laptop is a painful experience.

How much my experience is as a consequence of a new custom built desk top I don't know. Certainly that heavily influenced my download speeds to the max with a vastly improved Intel motherboard LAN.

I wouldn't revert to Win XP Pro in a fit.

[atlrus]

I was actually comparing 8 to 7, not XP, which is a bit dated :)