Wow, those Windows 8 usage numbers are terrible!! I knew it was bad, but I didn't think it was that bad!! The usage is considerably worse than when Vista was released and Vista cost 5X-10X more than Win8 -- 1.77 percent ... up 60%, but 60% of nothing is still nothing.
I realize this article was trying to make a positive "spin" for Microsoft (they do NEED all the help they can get), but it has sadly only made the grim picture of Windows 8 usage even worse.
As far as Apple's OSX numbers going down ... so what? Apple couldn't care less about OSX when they have iOS.
And finally, overall Windows market share (usage) is NOT 91.74% - not even close -- it's around 78-79%
http/www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomb=*1 and out of all versions of Windows, Windows 8 is 1.87% and Windows 8 Touch 0.06%. Global market share of Windows 8 and Touch is 1.45%. As has been pointed out 1.87% is most likely all from NEW computer sales with pre-installed Windows 8. There can be no bigger failure of adoption in the history of Microsoft than Windows 8.
The real important Question Tom's "should be" asking, but doesn't "so what's next?" Will Ballmer be voted out of Microsoft? Will Microsoft admit failure and get back on track? Will all those supporting vendors/partners of Microsoft leave or seek some type of legal action (a LOT of companies have spent a fortune ramping up production which Microsoft promised was going to be a win for them)? Why isn't Tom's asking the hard questions and/or trying to find out what's really going on internally at Microsoft ... is there going to be an executive shuffle? Some execs have already left/fired, so who's next? And finally, get some information on how Microsoft plan to proceed with Windows 9? Isn't that what Journalists are supposed to do? Or has your integrity been compromised by conflicts of interest from advertising dollars from Microsoft and it's supporting vendors/partners?
Microsoft has successfully pissed off just about everyone from consumers, to software developers, to vendors/partners.