Windows 8 has been available for about three weeks, and there are no official sales figures, but you can see the intentions of purchase by the consumer, as did Avast when it had asked its customers if they had planned to transition to the new operating system.
More than 70% of Microsoft Windows users will not upgrade to Windows 8 in the near future, according to a survey recently released by the Avast security software. The survey was carried out with 350,000 people using Avast and more than 135,000 of them from the United States; the survey found that only 9% of Americans polled said that Windows 8 could entice them to buy a new computer.
The survey published in USA Today said, out of 350,000 people, 65% use Windows 7, 22% use Windows XP, and 8% use Windows Vista. Of the 16% of U.S. users who said they intend to buy a new computer, 68% said they would choose to buy a computer running Windows 8, while 12% said they intend to buy a Macintosh computer. In addition, 30% of Windows users who intend to buy a new computer said they intend to buy an iPad.
“Many households already have multiple PCs, and people are keeping their computers longer,” says Jonathan Penn, Avast’s director of strategy. “More people are going to the iPad as their second or third computing device.”
This survey appears just days after the head of Microsoft’s Windows division, Steven Sinofsky, suddenly resigned. The reason for his departure is a topic of interest, some theorize that boss Steve Ballmer was not satisfied with the number of applications for Windows 8.
The response shows a lack of enthusiasm for Microsoft’s new operating system since it was officially launched last month, which may be the reason why Sinofsky decided to go.
What, then, is the reason why few consumers say they want to wait before making the move to Windows 8? The most obvious answer is related to the new ways of interacting with the operating system. It is designed for the touch interface that is not easily transposed for users who have never used a mouse and keyboard. The absence of the Start button will be a difficult obstacle to overcome for many people. Still others are also concerned that existing applications are not compatible with Windows 8. Given that Windows 7 is a great operating system and it works fine, why they need to change to Windows 8?
“It doesn’t surprise me that people wouldn’t be in a rush to buy a new PC just because it has a new operating system,” says Steve Kleynhans, Gartner’s mobile and client-computing analyst. “If Microsoft somehow demonstrates through its marketing that users can do new things in new ways, that might start to get people interested.”
For large companies, the switch is even more complicated. Some of them have recently made the move to Windows 7, and it’s not a major priority for them to make a change again, especially if there might be apprehensions about bugs.