Windows 8 sold over 200 million licenses.

[GoodBytes]

Love it or hate, sales of Windows 8.x are up.

Microsoft has annonced today that it has sold over 200 million license

"We’ve surpassed 200 million licenses now on Windows 8, which is pretty stunning," says Microsoft’s Tami Reller, speaking at a Goldman Sachs technology conference today.

This is comparing to Windows 7 sales, which after a year, reach 240 million licenses. It's clear that it is moving slower than Windows 7, there is no doubt about it, and Windows 7 sales really went up toward it's end of life when buisneses updates to it, which probably won't be the case for Windows 8, as it doesn't fall into companies 6 year upgrade cycle, and of course declining PC sales.

However, it does indicate that manufactures are getting more licenses, as, well sales are going. Not bad for what Microsoft said Windows 8 will be before it's release, even before any beta version: That Windows 8 will be the riskiest Windows they ever made. And risky is indeed the case.

Microsoft does admit that Windows 8 apps are slow, and more to be done to push those numbers on the tablet space to push sales:

The number one priority of our developer team is to really get those apps populated," explains Reller. "We’ve had some good success, but more to do."

In addition, Reller talks about the the concern of Windows 8 on the desktop space, where keyboard and mouse are used.

"We’re being very thoughtful about what’s going well, what’s not going well and how do we change that," says Reller. Microsoft isn’t ready to talk Windows 8.1 Update 1, but recent leaks have shown that the company is focusing on reducing the operating system’s disk usage, and adjusting its UI for mouse and keyboard users. "We will make material movement on just the footprint of the OS and what that can mean on how we can run on smaller devices," says Reller, referring to Microsoft’s future Windows plans. Microsoft is expected to ship its next Windows 8.1 update in April, as it continues to strike a balance for its millions of users.

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/13/5408666/windows-8-200-million-license-sales

[PillowSmoke]

Meh, still waiting a bit more until all the drivers are 100% compatible with 8/8.1 and no performance loss and maybe a decent amount of performance gain would be nice. 

[MatheusSanzo]

Clearly better than vista, but still...

[Jamdude]

Is this sales to retailers or activated keys?

[Carter]

Is this sales to retailers or activated keys?

I would assume activated keys, unless you class oem's as retailers...

[GoodBytes]

As always, it's sales of licenses. Whether be OEM's, retailers, or direct to you (you buying from Microsoft store)

It is hard to go with 'activated', because, all OEM licenses (Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc. not the retail OEM that we buy) are all pre-activated.

The numbers are compared to Windows 7, which give us an idea. Also, if OEMs are getting Windows 8 license, it means that they need more. Else, they would be getting Windows 7 licenses, or none.

[Jamdude]

I would assume activated keys, unless you class oem's as retailers...

Yea sorry I classed them in to retailers, I'm guessing Windows 7 sales were calculated the same?

[Carter]

Yea sorry I classed them in to retailers, I'm guessing Windows 7 sales were calculated the same?

More than likely for comparison proposes. Though I don't know where he got the stats from

[qwertywarrior]

pretty sure they are including OEM licenses 

[Misanthrope]

pretty sure they are including OEM licenses 

 

And also Enterprise licenses. Which granted, don't update as often but they get the licenses almost for free since those pay for the service regardless of how many individual machines they deploy to.

[beebskadoo]

If w7 was still offered as a choice at retail I'm positive the story would be drastically different. Forcing users by obsolescence is a great way to make a product sell. Does that mean those people are mostly satisfied with windows 8.x? No. Because they aren't.

Look at what HP is doing, offering windrows 7 on their online store. Smart move HP, at least you listen to your customers.

If HP would also offer W7 at retail in sure they would sell like hot cakes.

[Sors]

To be fair, The user base was much more eager to upgrade to win 7 because of Vista.   While now most users like 7 and don't see the need for 8.

[Advent]

Meh, still waiting a bit more until all the drivers are 100% compatible with 8/8.1

What drivers are you using that are not compatible?

and no performance loss and maybe a decent amount of performance gain would be nice. 

A SSD coupled with 8/8.1 has given me a HUGE performance boost. My system boots in 3 seconds and shuts down in 4-5. My games load in under 10 seconds. Care to clarify what "performance loss" you are getting?

[Eroda]

are they including copies of windows 8 on tablets and or phones?

[mr moose]

are they including copies of windows 8 on tablets and or phones?

not phones, that is a different os, they will be including the full win 8 for tablets though, as it is essentially a fully functioning pc just in tablet form factor.  If they included RT I don't think it would push the figures that much after all it really wasn't a popular release.

[Rassilon]

I'd pick 8 over 7 pretty much any day of the week.

[Rassilon]

If w7 was still offered as a choice at retail I'm positive the story would be drastically different. Forcing users by obsolescence is a great way to make a product sell. Does that mean those people are mostly satisfied with windows 8.x? No. Because they aren't.

Look at what HP is doing, offering windrows 7 on their online store. Smart move HP, at least you listen to your customers.

If HP would also offer W7 at retail in sure they would sell like hot cakes.

These two numbers aren't from the same year, braniac. And also, way to talk for people

[Misanthrope]

I'd pick 8 over 7 pretty much any day of the week.

 

Good for you but much like drunk driving, just because you could manage to do it means that you should.

[atomicmonkey101]

TBH i kinda like win 8.

[MrImnotMLG]

I'd prefer if it just die but we have to wait for 9 and hopefully it's better then windows 7.

[Rassilon]

Good for you but much like drunk driving, just because you could manage to do it means that you should.

It's actually been a lot easier to do stuff with 8.

[Misanthrope]

It's actually been a lot easier to do stuff with 8.

 

 I'm sorry I didn't realize you owned a tablet. Oh...you mean easier for a PC? Yeah well I guess that's kind of the point, it should be easy even if it's butt-ugly, inconvenient and generally annoying and stupid looking.

But hey people like modern art and morbidly obese women and self mutilation and so on, who am I to judge your taste (excluding this bit of sarcasm of course)

[Rassilon]

I'm sorry I didn't realize you owned a tablet. Oh...you mean easier for a PC? Yeah well I guess that's kind of the point, it should be easy even if it's butt-ugly, inconvenient and generally annoying and stupid looking.

But hey people like modern art and morbidly obese women and self mutilation and so on, who am I to judge your taste (excluding this bit of sarcasm of course)

What? You don't like matte finishes and straight edges? Why?

[Misanthrope]

What? You don't like matte finishes and straight edges? Why?

 

WAT

Seriously it looks like this, even if you can painstakingly correct the color scheme and replace all the stupid icons you still get a bunch of squares. I'm sorry but I just loathe the metro UI ever since I first saw it on windows phones and the 360

[Rassilon]

Seriously it looks like this, even if you can painstakingly correct the color scheme and replace all the stupid icons you still get a bunch of squares. I'm sorry but I just loathe the metro UI ever since I first saw it on windows phones and the 360

Oh, I get it, you don't know how to use windows 8. If you ever have to involuntarily look at the metro UI then you're doing it wrong. Get classic Start. Takes like 2 minutes.