Windows 8 Sales Not Too Shabby After All

Amid all the negativity surrounding Windows 8 and recent news that it wasn’t selling, it seems like sales are actually not too shabby after all. At an investor conference held by Credit Suisse, Tami Reller, head of finance and marketing for the Windows division, she compared sales with Windows 7, although it wasn’t a direct comparison. In the one month since it was launched, Windows 8 has sold 40m licences, while Windows 7 reached 60m after 10 weeks back in 2009 and claimed that “Windows 8 upgrade momentum is outpacing that of Windows 7”.

Of course, 40m licences doesn’t equal 40m users. Most of these have gone to OEMs, who buy them in bulk and sell the computers to companies, very few of which are actually using Windows 8. According to research firm StatCounter, of the 15b PCs out there, around 1% are actually using Windows 8, making for 15m PCs, Perhaps brisk sales of Stardock’s little Start8 utility to bring back the Start menu, that we reported on, is making a difference here?