Andre Yoskowitz
16 Nov 2012 16:23
According to a survey from anti-virus company Avast, most Windows users in the U.S. know what Windows 8 is, but only a few are looking to upgrade to it.
Worse for Microsoft, is the fact that almost one third of those surveyed said they would look to Apple when it came time to upgrade from their Windows XP, Vista or 7 machine.
The survey comes on the heels of Microsoft firing Steve Sinofsky, the longtime head of the Windows division. It remains unclear whether the move was a personality clash between Sinofsky and Ballmer or because of the lukewarm reception to Windows 8.
Avast polled 1.6 million users of its software and received 135,329 responses from U.S. Windows users.
65 percent used Windows 7, 22 percent still used Windows XP and 8 percent used Vista. 60 percent were aware of Windows 8 but just 9 percent "said they would accelerate a decision to buy a new computer just to have Windows 8, while more than 70 percent said they planned to stick with what they have."
Microsoft has not released official sales figures for Windows 8 but they are said to be strong, or at least on par with Windows 7 during the same launch period.