Windows 8 sees scant demand, poll says

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

Microsoft bills Windows 8 as a “re-imagining” of the personal-computer market’s dominant operating system, but the company still has a lot of work to do before the makeover captures the imagination of most consumers, based on the results of a recent poll by The Associated Press and GfK.

The phone survey of nearly 1,200 adults in the U.S. found 52 percent hadn’t even heard of Windows 8 leading up to Friday’s release of the redesigned software.

Among the people who knew something about the new operating system, 61 percent had little or no interest in buying a new laptop or desktop computer running on Windows 8, according to the poll. And only 35 percent who’ve heard about the new system believe it will be an improvement.

Microsoft usually releases a new version of Windows every two or three years, but it’s different this time around. Windows 8 is the most radical redesign of the operating system since 1995, and some analysts consider the software to be Microsoft’s most important product since co-founder Bill Gates won the contract to build an operating system for IBM Corp.’s first personal computer in 1981.

Microsoft is hoping the way Windows 8 looks and operates will appeal to the growing number of people embracing the convenience of smartphones and tablets.

Consumer ambivalence was more pronounced when it came to Microsoft’s new tablet computer, Surface, which was built to show off Windows 8’s versatility. Sixty-nine percent of the poll’s respondents had little or no interest in buying a Surface, which Microsoft is hoping will siphon sales from Apple Inc.’s pioneering iPad and other popular tablets.