Microsoft Sells 40 Million Windows 8 Licences

[engine]

Tami Reller, the Chief Marketing and Financial Officer for Windows announced the tally during her appearance at the Credit Suisse Annual Tech Conference on November 27.

Microsoft had not released any sales figures for Windows 8 other than saying the company sold 4 million upgrade licenses of the operating system to those with previous versions of Windows during the first three days it was available. Microsoft launched Windows 8 commercially on October 26.

How does this compare to Windows 7 sales? Microsoft said it had sold 60 million Windows 7 licenses from the end of October 2009, its launch date, to the end of January 2010 December 2009. So that's 60 million Windows 7 licenses sold in two months. So far, Microsoft has sold 40 million licenses of Windows 8 in one month.Microsoft Sells 40 Million Windows 8 Licences [zdnet.com]

Earlier story
Microsoft Sells 4 Million Upgrades To Windows 8 [webmasterworld.com]

[zeus]

I think iPhone/apple has got real competition now with windows 8

[jojy]

I think iPhone/apple has got real competition now with windows 8

Seriously? I checked windows 8 it has no competition with iOS/Mac OS. Silly desktop, I think we need touch monitor now!

[incrediBILL]

I think iPhone/apple has got real competition now with windows 8

Apples and Oranges or should I say Microsofts.

Based on sheer numbers of mobile units sold in the last quarter, Android was Apple's competition and now Microsoft has to unseat Android. If Microsoft were just going after Apple it would've been an easier uphill path since they already own the desktop market.

Android on the other hand, unlike Apple, used the Windows OS sales and distribution model and is selling boatloads of units on many devices from many vendors.

The only thing MS has going for it is the desktop market and all the people that would prefer the simple data path of one vendor for all platforms.

However, as an old Windows programmer guy from 2.x, I think they waited way too late because I'm a big old Android user and it interchanges everything I need just fine with my Windows desktop.

Some corporate users wanting 100% MS Office compatibility for doing presentations on their tablets or whatever will probably go Windows 8 across the board but the rest of us don't care.

I found the Win 8 UI particularly alien to anything I've ever used before and didn't care much for it whatsoever.

x-Windows anyone? Ubuntu?

[SevenCubed]

I read an article about Windows 8 adoption a few days ago but didn't bookmark it, now wishing I did because I don't remember where it was.

The jist of it is that the author was saying he feels it is going to be by-passed by the corporate upgrade cycles and that they will probably wait for the next one.

He may be right if even power users like incrediBILL found it alien. I've only seen images of the desktop, that's all, but I have been hearing it's quite radical.

I know when I worked as a IMAC guy in a large environment of over 7000 desktop systems we always skipping an O/S upgrade cycle because we had so many medical devices that always had to be QA with the default template and it was soooooo much work to get the vendors to stay on top of mission critical updates to their software.

I'm guessing this version 8 would also be a pain to train internal users who have been familiar with the same general feeling for more than a decade.

In that article he also speculated that MSFT might put out a business version -- just his speculation he said -- because he couldn't see the current flavour being widely accepted in the corporate environment.

I'm planning on getting a new laptop in the next few months and I'm leaning toward buying an OEM version of Windows 7 Pro if it comes preloaded with version 8.

[john5000]

i got a new lappy toppy recently and opted for one with windows 7 on it rather than a lappy toppy with windows 8

i checked out windows 8 on some lapper toppers at the bestbuy down the block and found it totally non intuitive and frustrating and just blehghgblehblehbleh spitoooowee!

i'll keep my start button and interface i'm already accustomed to thank you

[DirigoDev]

The Windows 8 transition was difficult for us Win 3.0 types. We've been using Win8 since summer and began transitioning developer and marketing teams in September. The feedback is 100% positive - though it is frustrating and time consuming to learn how to get around. And there are a few driver problems with Cisco VPN, HP, etc. We have Win 8 phones and a tablets for cross-browser and UI testing. They're wicked cool.

M$ having the same UI for a phone, tablet and desktop might be a winning combination to compete with Apple. Droid can't do this because they lack market share in the desktop OS space. The iPad is a toy - a very nice toy. If M$ can get PC power into a tablet with Word and Excel they're going to gain a lot of market share and retain their dominance with Office.

Corporate I.T. has been pushed by C-level execs to deploy iPhones and iPads against their wishes. C-level types may now return to a more comfy spot. I feel bad for Blackberry.

Still, a bet on M$ is a long-shot. They've not exactly been leaders of innovation. That said, .NET is a pretty big and widely adopted development platform.

[Disclosure: we're primarily an ASP.NET development group that plays in a mid-tier - we might be a bit biased toward M$].

[incrediBILL]

That said, .NET is a pretty big and widely adopted development platform.

That said, Linux is way more widely adopted and is in practically every device on the planet except Windows devices.

Ever see a toaster with a blue screen of death? Nope. That's Linux :)

The real issue for me is I'm a multi-screen user and the Win 8 setup on 2 monitors for a demo was horrendous. It looked like all the strides they made forward in Win 7 were tossed out the Windows. Maybe I need to spend more time evaluating it, but I wasn't pleased with the experience.

Plus, with Apple and Android touch screen devices I could just touch it and use it, very intuitive. Not so much with Win 8, had to figure out what the hell to do.

It will be ironic if MS does all this Win 8 stuff just to woo corporate America and they pass on the upgrade cycle which I can easily see happening since Win 7 is rock solid.

[SevenCubed]

Ah, found the story I mentioned above at the site where I read it originally [theregister.co.uk...]

[DirigoDev]

@incrediBILL never seen a toaster with a screen. Hope Apple gets around to making this iToaster at some point or an iRefrig. The iRefrig could have an App that locks the goodies until dinner time - a diet aid. It will likely be the M$ WinToast!

We're using 2, 3 and 6 screen setups with without issues. A few weeks ago I priced out moving a dual desktop to touch screens and it was way expensive.

[dataguy]

Since Windows 8 only allows full-screen viewing, shouldn't it be called 'Window 8' instead?

I'm a Windows / .Net developer and I'd love for this to work for M$, but I can't see how it will. It seems to me they are going to lose the one segment of the market that they own (the desktop.)

It's a good thing I know other programming languages!