The uptake in sales of Windows 8 desktop computers, which has never been particularly fast, has slowed, according to stats for July from web traffic pollsters Net Applications.

Windows 8 has held a 5.4 percent market share as of last month, only up 0.3 points on June. That figure was only up 0.83 points on May. Net Applications shows a gradually slowing trend over time.

Windows 8 was officially released in Oct. 2012, showing only a growth rate of less than one percent a month in desktop usage.

This is tough news for Microsoft.

Here is another disturbing fact. Windows XP, which is in second place in the stats, had a resurgence during July. XP, released in 2001, clawed back 37.19 percent of the market, which shows a pause in the long term trend toward its demise. Many companies, moving off XP, are going to Win7, which is now the number one most used desktop OS.

Windows XP will officially turn off extended support in April 2014.