(Windows 7's beta reached users seven weeks earlier in 2009 than Windows 8 Consumer Preview did this year, while Windows 7's release candidate preceded Windows 8's Release Preview on the calendar by nearly four weeks.)

Four months after its Consumer Preview's debut, Windows 8's share of all Windows machines was lower than Windows 7's just seven weeks after the launch of its beta.

Other comparison also put Windows 8 in a poor light.

Windows 8's June 2012 share of 0.18%, for example, represents about 2.9 million machines of last year's estimated global installed base of 1.6 billion PCs. Windows 7's 0.75% from June 2009, meanwhile, translates into about 9.4 million systems of that year's smaller installed base of approximately 1.25 billion.

The bottom line: More than three times the number of people ran Windows 7 at the T-minus-four-month mark than ran Windows 8 at the same point in its development.