Poor Windows 8 Prelaunch Showing Suggests It’s Going to Bomb

The launch of Windows 8 is now just under four weeks away, on October 26, yet all the signs are there that this is a product that’s going to bomb. Californian analytics firm Net Applications have been measuring the take-up of prelaunch versions of Windows 8 and they make for depressing news for Microsoft.

At a month before the launch of Windows 7, it was receiving a warm reception and overall usage was sitting at a healthy 1.64% of all Windows installs. However, Windows 8 is sitting at a mere 0.33%, just a fifth of what Windows 7 had achieved – and the operating system is mired in controversy over its new interface previously known as Metro, plus its closed ecosystem that is the Windows Store, too. It’s also not unreasonable to believe that Microsoft could extend the Windows Store to the desktop as well in time, giving them total control over what software their customers can run on Windows – while taking a big cut from sales, of the order of 30% and perhaps even more. A totally unacceptable situation we think you’ll agree.

Even gaming companies such as Valve aren’t keen on the new OS, saying it will stifle gaming and calling Windows 8 a “catastrophe”. Interestingly, Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson has slammed Windows 8, refusing an offer from Microsoft to certify his game for it, which would allow it to run under the new “Metro” interface, Tweeting, “I’d rather have minecraft not run on win 8 at all than to play along. Maybe we can convince a few people not to switch to win 8 that way..” Ouch. It’s not looking good for Windows 8, is it? It’s also far from certain that with this much backlash against Windows 8 already, the $40 heavily discounted introductory price will help much. If people don’t like something, then they just won’t buy it at any price.