Windows 8 launches in a few days but doubts remain if the multi-platform operating system, touted by Microsoft as the biggest revamp ever of its core product, will indeed carve a noticeable spot in the computing world increasingly dominated by Apple and Android gadgets.

Citing data from Forrester Research, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that only about 30 per cent of surveyed firms have declared intentions to quickly deploy Windows 8 on their workplaces shortly after its official debut.

The Forrester report also suggested that 57 per cent of enterprise PC users will likely postpone or skip altogether the new Microsoft OS, a stand that analysts said were normal for companies that place premium to costs and stability considerations.

Migrating to a new computer system requires additional expenses without the assurance that the changeover would be smooth and easy, experts added.

And early trials provided by Windows seemed baffling even to persons smart enough to take on fresh technologies, WSJ said.

In one test, one engineer was made to try out and grasp the basic functions and features that Microsoft has ported with Windows 8 in just under two minutes. The whole task required the tester to boot up the PC, switch from the tiled-interface to conventional desktop view and then reboot the new Windows 8 machine.

Almost expectedly, the time given proved insufficient and not necessarily because Windows 8 was clunky but chiefly due to its overwhelming environment, which should require major retraining for workers that will end up using new PCs on the reengineered OS, the WSJ report said.

That is another letdown for would-be customers, who obviously would mind the hassles and likely more costs of subscribing into the new Windows experience that Microsoft is trying to peddle.

In fact, according to Fortune, supply chain players for the global PC market appear far less enthusiastic on the notion that Windows 8 will bring back the old glory days of the industry or at least rekindle consumers' interest on the fresh iterations of Windows-powered devices.

There'll be no frenzied activities that can be attributed to Windows in the last quarter of 2012 and if any industry pick ups would emerge, such would only occur by the second half of 2013, by which time issues arrayed against Windows 8 would have been hopefully addressed by Microsoft, the Fortune report said.

"Given (the disappointments attributed to Windows 8), we believe the PC industry is headed for a muted December quarter and well below the ramp expected with new products," Topeka Capital analyst Brian White was quoted by Fortune as saying on Monday.