Windows 8 Loses Nearly Half The User Base In 12 Months

May 18, 2015
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Amid all the Windows 10 hype and the Windows 7 market share news, it’s worth keeping an eye on how Windows 8 is doing. More so, how many users are still on that platform.

And why.

Statistics reveal that Windows 8 users are steadily jumping ship.

Microsoft launched this modern version of Windows to much fanfare (almost comparable to the launch party of Windows 95 back in the days) in October 2012, but only a few users upgraded from Windows XP and Windows 7 to Windows 8.

Things picked up pace until the debut of Windows 8.1 in October 2013, after which the market share of the core Windows 8 fell down — to Windows Vista levels.

And market share data provided by StatCounter reveals that the platform has lost almost half its users in the past 12 months, while Windows 8.1 has pretty much tripled its user base in this timeframe:

StatCounter Windows 8 May 2015

Windows 8 had a market share of 7.81% in April 2014, but the operating system gradually started losing users and ended up with 5.42% in November 2014.

Of course, many upgraded to Windows 8.1.

As a result the platform is now powering only 3.99% of PCs across the globe, resulting in a decline of around 3.82% in the past year.

This decline is set to continue in the coming months, judging by the trend, as Microsoft continues work on Windows 10, which is set to be offered free of charge to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users once the new operating system debuts later this summer.

Will be interesting how many users keep running Windows 8 after that.

And why.

Article Categories:
Microsoft · Windows 8

Fahad Ali is a professional freelancer, specializing in technology, web design and development and enterprise applications. He is the primary contributor to this website. When he is not typing away on his keyboard, he is relaxing to some soft jazz.

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