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Microsoft has been in the news over the past few months since the release date for Windows 8 was announced. Though the operating system... Windows 8 Adoption Slower Than Windows 7

Microsoft has been in the news over the past few months since the release date for Windows 8 was announced. Though the operating system has not received harsh criticism or bad press, people and organizations are showing reluctance upgrading from Windows 7 to 8. According to the statistics available, at present the adoption rate for Windows 8 is 0.45%. This means that only 45 out of every 10,000 PCs are running on Windows 8 at the end of the month of release.

Comparing this performance with the release of Windows 7 could be a cause of concern for Microsoft. Windows 7 was launched three years ago in October 2009, the same month as Windows 8. The major difference is that Windows 7 was adopted and accepted quicker by the users as compared to the new version of the operating system. By the end of the month, 2.33% of users were using Windows 7, which is significantly higher than the estimated acceptance rate for Windows 8.

Windows 8 Adoption Slower Than Windows 7

To be fair, Windows 7 had more time to find acceptance. Microsoft launched it in 22nd October while Windows 8 has been released on 26th October. Hence, the older operating system had a four-day head start over the new one. Even after taking this into account, the disparity between the percentages is quite significant. It shows that users aren’t warming up to Windows 8 as quickly as they did to Windows 7.

The difference between the initial adoption rates of the two versions of the operating system is five times in favor of Windows 7. One thing Microsoft can take heart from is that the high acceptance for Windows 7 was also a result of the backlash faced by Windows Vista. Still, it cannot be denied that people like using Windows 7 and have become accustomed to the way it works. Making the transition to the new operating system could be tricky.

The thing holding users back from adopting Windows 8 could be its ‘newness’. Microsoft has made a number of wholesale changes to their operating system, adding and removing a lot of features. There is also the new user interface to deal with. It could take some time for users to familiarize themselves with Windows 8 so Microsoft should avoid pressing the panic button. A clearer picture would emerge when November ends and they obtain data regarding the percentage of users who have adopted Windows 8.

 

[Image via libn]