Microsoft has been praising its Windows 8 operating system lately and using the fact it has sold 100 million licenses to justify this self-praise. However, analysts aren’t so supportive of Microsoft’s evidence. Patrick Moorhead, a principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, suggests that out of those 100 million sold Windows 8 licenses only 59 million are being used.
This is according to the most recent data by Net Applications that shows Windows 8 is only being used 59 million, that is still less than Windows Vista. For reference those same figures also showed Windows 7 runs on 682.2 million PC systems and Windows XP on 584.4 million.
These unused operating systems probably represent people who have purchased pre-built systems and notebooks yet have chosen not to use the pre-installed Windows 8 OS. I know I have seen a lot of reviewers do the trophic “this PC has Windows 8 installed, but we aren’t going to use that” before wiping the OS drive and installing Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate.
Either way this figures are potentially worrying if only 59% of users that acquire Windows 8 actually choose to install it and use it.
What are your thoughts on this? Have you got an unused Windows 8 key laying around somewhere that you have chosen not to use? If the statistics are right then quite a lot of you will have.
How about people who like me who had to go “dual boot” with Win7 & Win8. I use Win8 sometimes but found so many of my games wouold not work. And I’m talking games from 2011. I’d understand it if the games were “old” as in five years or so but a new OS should be able to run software from ‘recent’ years. Should not have to buy all new software for your new OS.
you’d show up on both. They measure active OS licenses by those which have connected to the internet or validated with microsoft.
At the moment I have 4 unused keys. I hope to use them by the end of the month.
wanna give me one ;P
Sure. No probs. You wanna buy a PC from me?