Microsoft Windows 9 Free For Windows 8 Users; Preview On Oct. 1, End To Windows 8 Era

According to published reports, Microsoft's new OS, Windows 9 is about to unveil its magical OS with a preview on October 3, Tuesday. However, no formal release dates have been announced. Nonetheless, the software giant has been trying hard to appease customers after they were disappointed with the botched OS, Windows 8.

So, the odds say that Microsoft will be a huge success with Windows 9 since it will take care of Windows 8 problems. By the end of last year, Microsoft installed 715 million copies of Windows across the world. Windows 7 users accounted for 361.2 million, the IDC estimates. And additional 224 million used Windows XP, and approximately 40 million used Windows Vista. About 16 million were Windows 8 users:

"Windows 8 was obviously not for enterprise use. It didn't give information workers an experience that let them be efficient at work. So Microsoft has to make sure that Windows 9 is good for that very important enterprise segment," Gillen said.

In the consumer market, Windows 8 did slightly better with 117.2 million copies by the end of last year. However, Windows 8 trailed Windows 7, which had 322 million, according to estimates by IDC.

"With Windows 8, Microsoft was aiming at having a product with a good touch-first experience for consumers, and Microsoft didn't think about what would happen with enterprises," an analyst at IDC, Al Gillen said in a report by PCWorld.com.

NetMarketShare reported, "U.S. consumer retail PC sales grew almost 3 percent during the 10 week Back-to-School period (week of July 4th through Labor Day week) after declining by 2.5 percent in the previous year," writes NPD. "Apple and Chrome OS led the sales drive with Chrome OS unit sales increasing 37 percent over 2013 and Mac OS-based products up 14 percent. Windows devices declined 3 percent."

The general tone of complaints from the public about Windows 8 can be found on Amazon.com's reviews:

"I am still in disbelief that Microsoft thought 'tiles' and 'swiping' was a good idea on a desktop," wrote Dave.

"What makes Windows 8 such a disaster? Simple -- it's an interface designed for a smartphone, not for a PC," according to Badger25.

"It is totally non user friendly, extremely difficult and frustrating. I feel like Microsoft was striving to impress us with their self-perceived intelligence and they delivered a product that is time consuming, quirky and makes the most simple task difficult," said another review.

August Market Share

Source: NetMarketShare.