Available on both desktops and tablets, Windows 8 is Microsoft’s first major attempt to develop an operating system (OS) which integrates many features of the mobile experience. These range from user interface (UI) elements, to taking advantage of new hardware, and technologies such as USB 3.0 and near field communications (NFC).

Four days after its release, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that the company had sold 4 million copies of Windows 8 since the OS debuted.

On November 27th, Microsoft announced the sale of 40 Million Windows 8 licenses just one month after the release of the OS. These sales figures put Windows 8 on par with Windows 7’s one month sales estimates, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

However, while Windows 7 was widely adopted for commercial use, following the legacy of Windows XP, the touch-friendly, split UI nature of Windows 8 represents a challenge for businesses whose employees are very familiar with the traditional Windows UI.

In order to provide a clear picture into the level of success seen by Windows 8, Chitika Insights conducted a research study analyzing the new OS’ share of Windows-based Web traffic since launch.

To quantify this study, Chitika Insights examined a sample of hundreds of millions of Windows impressions from the Chitika Ad Network. This data was drawn from a date range of October 15th to December 13th, and focuses on impressions from the U.S. and Canada only.

Based on the graph above, Web traffic from Windows 8 users constituted 2.3% of all Windows traffic as of December 13th 2012 – exactly 48 days after its release. In comparison, 48 hours following Apple’s release of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, its new OS had already captured 3.2% of Mac Web usage. Both Windows 8 and Mountain Lion were available as downloadable upgrades to consumers for $40 and $20, respectively.

The graph above shows Windows 8 Web traffic share peaking in early December, 2012. Since then, Windows 8 activity has largely remained flat, with the most recent share figures showing approximately 2.3% of Windows-based Web traffic coming from Windows 8 users.

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