In contrast to Microsoft’s hopes that Windows 8 market share would improve by 2014 fall, the latest report by Net Applications indicates that the market share has actually fallen. According to the latest figures, the combined market share of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 (this includes all Windows 8 versions) is just 12.5 percent. This latest figure has included Windows 8 users of desktops, laptops, notebook systems, tablets and smartphones. According to Net Applications, this is the first time that Win 8 market share has fallen this low.
In early months of 2014, Windows 8 had about 13.6 percent market share. This was the highest market share that Windows 8 versions could make. Since then, the market share has been declining.
Windows 8 performs worse than Windows Vista
Vista has been considered as the worst Windows operating system ever. It was released at a time when Windows XP was at its peak. To make Vista look better than XP, Microsoft had included a number of features in it, for instance the Aero. However, those features didn’t really impress many users. Most users compared Windows XP with Windows Vista and found the former to be more user-friendly, feature rich, affordable and compatible.
Windows 8 Help Desk
By the time Vista was released, majority of the users had ditched their unsupported Windows operating systems like Windows 98 and Windows ME. Apparently, the only operating system that Vista had to compete with was Windows XP. On the contrary, Windows 8 has three predecessor Windows versions to compete with; Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. According to Windows 8 supporters, Windows 8 has made an impressive growth by securing about 13 percent of the market share from nowhere. But this is not a good reason to justify the low Windows 8 adoption.
Nevertheless, taking a look at customer’s approach to Windows 8, it becomes quite clear to one that Windows 8 was a total failure. It comes nowhere close to its predecessor Windows 7. Windows 7 has a whopping market share of about 51.1 percent. According to Net Applications report, the Windows 7 market share has been improving since Windows 8 release. The rise in the demand for Windows 7 is due to the termination of Windows XP support. Many XP users are migrating now to Windows 7.
According to experts, the Win 8 market share will decline further in the coming days as Microsoft is going to release Windows 10 shortly. No doubt, Windows 8 will soon replace Windows Vista as the worst Windows operating system.
