Net Applications

Windows 8 is winning over more users, but it's doing so at a snail's pace.

Microsoft's latest OS took home 2.67 percent of all global traffic seen by Web tracker NetApplications last month. That put it in fourth place among all operating system versions, just ahead of Mac OS X 10.8 and behind Windows Vista.

But that was only a slight rise from January's figure of 2.26 percent, which itself jumped from 1.72 percent in December and 1.09 percent in November.

Windows 7 remained in first place though its share was virtually unchanged at 44.55 percent. In second place, Windows XP's share dipped slightly to 38.99 percent. And Windows Vista continued its gradual descent, ekeing out a 5.17 percent share.

Windows 8 is struggling to gain traction, at least in comparison to Windows 7.

Both versions of Windows were officially released in October of their respective years -- Windows 8 in October of 2012 and Windows 7 in October of 2009. By February 2010, Windows 7 had already scooped up more than 9 percent of the traffic seen by Net Applications.

Of course, Windows 8 is a different type of operating system -- one designed for both touch-screen tablets and traditional PCs. As such, it's naturally going to face challenges trying to convince existing PC users to ugprade and new tablet buyers to consider a Windows 8 device.

Microsoft initially offered PC users a carrot stick in the form of low-priced Windows 8 upgrades.

Windows 7, Vista, and XP users were able to buy Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99. And Windows 7 users who bought their PCs between June of last year and January 31 of this year could purchase the new OS for just $14.99.

But both of those deals are now history, so people who want to upgrade will have to shell out $119.99 for the standard version of Windows 8 and $199.99 for the Pro edition.