Windows 8 Marketshare Overtakes Mac OS 10.8


While market growth for Windows 8 might be a little slow, there is no denying that it is moving forward. According to new information from Net Application’s web site, the week of January 20th now sees Windows 8 installed on 2.45 percent of PCs worldwide.

Sure, this isn’t a huge amount, but that’s not bad for a new OS that is a radical departure from the familiar. It is also worth noting that that’s equal to Mac OS 10.8′s market share. For those that don’t follow the Apple world, 10.8 is the most recent version of Mac’s OS. It’s also worth noting that Windows RT (or as they call Windows 8 touch?) has .08% of the market, bringing total Windows 8 market share to 2.53%.

This is encouraging news for many reasons. First, like I mentioned Windows 8 is a big change that some will avoid at first. The second is simply that we live in an age where PCs last longer and upgrades are less important.

I know many people who wouldn’t mind eventually buying a new PC, but their 4+ year-old Core 2 machines are still holding up OK and with the economy the way it is– there are other things that are at the top of the “purchasing” list long before a new PC.

In a few years, Windows 8 will probably see a dramatic jump up as users finally ditch their aging XP, Vista and even Windows 7 machines. For the time being, Windows 7 will continue to be King. For now that means 45.77% of PCs run on the OS, 5.01% run Vista, and 38.18% run Windows XP.

Windows 8 continues to jump up in installed share with each of these releases, so that means not everyone feels Windows 8 is such a bad choice I’d wager. What do you think of Windows 8, will it eventually catch on when it comes to mainstream success or will most users not move to the new Start UI until Windows 9?

[ source ]



  • Ben Richardson

    OK, but how many of these sales are OEM ‘sales’ that are for PCs still sitting in warehouses. We’ll get a clearer picture in another 3 months or so…

  • siva


  • B. Jefferson Le Blanc

    The only comparisons that mean anything are the adoption rates, over the same timespan after their release, for Vista and Windows 7. Unfortunately for the credibility of your analysis, those are about the only comparisons you didn’t offer. If Windows 8 is closer to Vista than to Windows 7, then your optimism is misplaced. It it compares favorably with Windows 7 then it can be said to be a success. You try to take the sting out of potential bad news by pointing out how different Windows 8 is. But that difference could as easily be the source of Win 8′s difficulties as of its eventual success. To borrow a popular political metaphor, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig for all that.

    The most striking evidence that Windows 8 faces an uphill battle is the market share that Windows XP still enjoys. Over 38% for a twelve year old operating system is remarkable by any measure. Anyone who remembers the Vista disaster is likely to resist Windows 8. If they want a reliable, easy to use Windows experience, they will go no further than Windows 7.

    You can get an idea how concerned Microsoft is about Windows 8 by the unprecedented amounts they are spending on advertising and product placement. Microsoft may still be a hugely profitable business, but little of that comes from Windows 8 sales. Fortunately for Microsoft their product portfolio is diversified so that poor results for a version of Windows won’t sink the company. Certainly Vista didn’t. So Windows 8 may “do no harm” to Microsoft’s bottom line. Yet it may do no good, either. It’s worth noting that Microsoft is already promoting the next version of Windows, Blue, about which little is actually known – except that it may be worth waiting for, as was Windows 7.

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