Hi there.
You can't use these statistics in any meaningful way whatsoever when comparing with takeup of previous Os'es.
1) The whole PC market is totally different now -- many more people use MOBILE and tablet type devices rather than PC's -- When VISTA and XP were current these devices barely existed.
2) Those that DO have computers --well the hardware is so much better now that a lot of people really do not see any need to go out and buy a new computer.
3) The computers running W7 (and even XP) run these as far as their users are concerned very satisfactorily so there isn't a reason to change.
4) In the present economic climate where people are really worried about their jobs they have more important things to spend their money on in case the jobs and hence their incomes stop,
In this situation computers are a luxury item that come way behind important stuff like paying the mortgage off, clearing credit card debts and even paying day to day basic bills.
People can make whatever use they like with the figures - but Ms is in this for the long haul --rare for a US corporation who usually can't see beyond three days in the future before taking some - usually badly considered -- action. Short termism is often a downfall of corporations.
W8 gets a bad press in the computer literature because the journalists who write the articles usually haven't had time to try the thing out properly -- and it's far easier to rubbish something --especially when you've only used it for about 20 seconds rather than attempt to give a proper review.
Looking at stock prices I'd rather be dealing with MSFT than AAPL (who really are going NOWHERE currently).
There ARE flaws with W8 -- these will I'm sure be dealt with but some of the reviews I've read seem to be written by people who probably have never even LOGGED on to W8 but probably hobbled some copy from poorly produced You Tube demos.
Cheers
jimbo
This is true.
If I can add, if you bought a PC back in 2009 or 2010, chances are that it's still running 7 just fine unlike vista. If you bought a vista PC, ESPECIALLY a laptop, by the third month it was like dragging a dead dog. Most people aren't actively looking to upgrade to 8 over 7 just yet.
Then there is the fact that when vista and even 7 came out, economic crisis wasn't a weekly used term. People don't look into buying new PCs every two or three years like they do with smartphones or even tablets. They last for a good five years if it has 4 gigs of RAM and a 64 bit processor. I have a friend that has a laptop from like 2007 or 2008 that has gone through vista, 7, and now 8. Why? Four gigs of RAM and a 64 bit processor. If I should say, I'd MUCH rather see OEMs focus on really good build quality versus pumping out fifteen models per year. It's like what Nokia is doing with their Lumia Windows Phones, they're focusing on lower end very nicely built Windows Phones, and tiering them into different price ranges and hardware features. That's just ONE series of Windows Phone they have, unlike HTC where they have the One, One X, 8X, 8S, Titan, and many many others they have.
And yes, Windows 8 does get a bad rap by some, usually those that really haven't taken time to thoroughly explore the OS to have a valid opinion about it. And, yes there are flaws in it. I want 50/50 app snap versus 33/66. Thankfully though, Windows 8 is making Microsoft change their ways and update their products quicker, probably like they would had when xp came out, they would had released vista two years after it after xp came out a year past 2000/ME. But this is a long haul OS, a pretty big UI change doesn't get adopted overnight and it's rather foolish to think that happens. It doesn't. At all.
By the way, I'd look at Nokia's stock as well. That really has nowhere to go but up.