Microsoft Windows 8 notches small gain in February
Windows 8 adoption is increasing at a snail’s pace as PC users hold on to their old Windows XP and Windows 7 machines. The percentage of PCs on the Internet using Windows 8 reached 14% in February, up from 13.8% in January, Net Applications reported Sunday. Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows 8 remains the third most popular PC operating system in use, behind Windows 7 with 56% market share and Windows XP with 19.2% share. In February 2014, Windows 8 had 10.7% market share. Windows 8 was released in October 2012 and has been slow to gain acceptance because of its radically redesigned user interface, which favors touchscreens. Microsoft plans to replace Windows 8 with Windows 10 later this year. (It skipped Windows 9 in its naming system.) It will be available to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users as a free upgrade for the first year of availability. Microsoft’s Windows family…