Windows 8 falls further behind Windows 7 in pre-launch stats

08.07.2012
Users remain significantly less enthused about Windows 8 than they were three years ago about the then-unfinished Windows 7, according to data from an analytics firm.

The new numbers from California-based Net Applications hint at a lukewarm reception for Windows 8.

Just 0.18% of all the computers that went online during June ran one of the previews of Windows 8, statistics Net Applications showed last week. Of those PCs running Windows, 0.2% -- or 20 out of 10,000 -- were powered by Windows 8.

As in April, when Computerworld last used Net Applications' data to , the new OS' June numbers were dramatically lower than Windows 7's at the same point in its development.

In June 2009, four months before its launch, Windows 7 accounted for 0.75% of all computers and 0.80% of all Windows machines. In other words, Windows 7's share was four times that of Windows 8.

Even when the different release dates of the previews for each operating system are taken into account, Windows 8 still comes up short, although the disparity is not as pronounced. In the first full month after each sneak peek's release, Windows 7's share of all Windows PCs was two to three times greater than Windows 8's.