Microsoft claims that data collected from some Windows 8 users suggest that people are adapting to the radical departure from previous designs. Julie Larson-Green, the Microsoft executive who leads Windows product development said that looking at data collected automatically from some Windows users, she says, show they are adjusting to some of the new operating system’s controversial features without problems.

Microsoft receives data every day from people using Windows 8 who have chosen to join the company’s “customer experience improvement program.” This means that information about how they are using the operating system is sent to Microsoft. Although some new users will struggle to figure out these features, Larson-Green says that 90 per cent of them need just one session to discover the two that are most crucial to the interface design. Those are the Start screen and “Charms,” a menu that offers shortcuts to be summoned by a mouse or finger gestures.

It is taking between two days to two weeks to master the new Operating System, she said. She added that there was a cutover point, around six weeks in, where you start using the new things more than the things you’re familiar with.