Microsoft Has Sold 100 Million Windows 8 Licenses

[hixbot]

"Microsoft has forced OEMs to move 100 million Windows 8 licenses"

 

[JackFrost860]

and yet i haven't seen a single friend, family member or work college using it! it's OSX and Win7 all the way.

 

[littleleo]

"Microsoft has forced OEMs to move 100 million Windows 8 licenses"

Not forced to move, forced them to buy, they aren't moving that is the problem.

 

[Gtquan]

So many negative comments from tech journalists probably to get readership. How many of the negative comments are from people that actually use windows 8. I've got it installed on a couple of desktops with and without touchscreen and have a windows 8 tablets. I'm also a fan of android and "play" with a mac mini. After using windows 8 for 5 months I'm a fan and so are most of my colleagues that have actually used it long enough. I'm an end user, not a developer. It's fast, boots up in 10 secs with an SSD drive, has a lot of features that windows 7 doesn't. You can easily do a system restore and keep your files if/when it starts to bog down, burn to iso built in, built in antivirus, start screen is easily customizable. There are some issues - power button was too hidden (make a shortcut), boot to desktop should be an option - though just one click away. I don't get all the nay sayers - use it for awhile. You may actually like it.

 

[LordConrad]

I just bypassed the local stores and special ordered a new laptop from HP's web site, just so I could get it with Windows 7. No Metro crap for me, I'll switch to Apple first!

 

[quangluu96]

100milliong sold, less than 10% users still have window 8 installed.

 

[quangluu96]

100milliong sold, less than 10% users still have window 8 installed.

 

[oj88]

"Tom has something against windows 8 or something. ... I don't know where you got the idea that they were worried that windows 8 hasn't taken off yet. This is just biased."
First of all, "Windows 8 hasn't quite taken off yet" was not from biased Toms, but from the mouth of Reller, the CFO and CMO of Microsoft.
Secondly, The users here in Toms Hardware are very PC & technology literate. Let's run some numbers to show Reller's point of view.
Microsoft sold 60 million Win 8 In January, and 100 million four months later. That is 10 million per month this year. For the full six months, the average is 16.7 million per month. So the average annual sale will be in the range of 120 million to 200 million.
PC shipments in 2012 was 353.3 million (http://www.zdnet.com/idc-predicts-annual-pc-sales-climbing-above-500m-4010025689/). If use 360 million as 2013's sales, Win 8 only accounts for 33% to 55% (44% in average) of the PC shipments. This is certainly not good number to Microsoft, because about half of the PCs are installed with non-Win8 OSs, such as Linux based OSs, Apple's OSs, or even Win 7.

 

[ChillyWilly007]

if windows 8 was not bundled with every frickin PC, they would not have sold #$%^.
It's simply because Windows 7 was good enough.

 

[MisterZ]

number of windows 8 licenses sold is a very different thing than number of windows 8 activations.
i suspect that a good chunk of laptops pre-installed with 8 are downgraded to 7, and much of the rest would have been 7 if the customer had that option.

I doubt it. 99% of people are just going to use whatever their PC comes with. Downgrading is beyond most people. So out of 100 million sold, let's say it's likely that 99 million (at least) are using it.

 

[gbair]

I can only say one good thing about Win8...it's easier to check my email. That's it. If my laptop didn't come preinstalled with it, I would have chosen 7.

 

[Rick_09]

"It's fast, boots up in 10 secs with an SSD drive, has a lot of features that windows 7 doesn't."
So? I have Win7 on an SSD boots up just as fast, fully loaded.
I don't have Win8 and don't know if I'll get it any time soon so I won't randomly trash it. What I will say, however, is that MS not providing a choice for UI = MORONIC. It's bad business policy to force customer base into something they might not want/like. Bad idea!

 

[Matsushima]

This is like 'Bob' but at least with 'Bob' Microsoft actually admitted that it was a failure. I mean seriously. I guess there will be a giant rubbish heap of new unused desktops/laptops that have been sitting on shelves for 8 or so years. And with much more capable hardware than that ARM rubbish.

 

[RexKing13]

What is this "Choice" thing every one is complaining about. MS makes the product, choice is at their discression. Think about it. They made the old menu system that was used up until Windows 7. You had to use it. No choice in the matter. They now changed the paradigm and you think you have the right to tell them NO? You do, it is called your wallet. You have the choice to buy a Mac if you like it better. Back in the 1990s, Mac absolutly sucked so you had no choice, so they really did have a monopoly. But OSX is not that bad, so stop the bellyaching. Get used to it, stay on Window 3.1 or whatever archaic OS you perfer, or move on away from Microsoft.
Here is an uncomfortable truth, ALL of the complaining is change aversion. I know, I know, you have all these reasons to show that I am wrong on this point. But the truth is... I am not wrong, you are. People really can not admit even to themselves when they face change aversion. The truth is change aversion affects every single person at some point in time. If you are open minded about it, you can overcome it. I am not saying that you will love it all if you get over change aversion. But whenever I see vitrol remarks, change aversion is 100% of the time behind it. It is simple to prove, hate comes from fear. People dont "hate" boxes. At worst you can feel nothing for it. All true Windows 8 users find that once they get used to the system, they can do it just as fast or faster than they could in previous versions. Yes things are different and you have to learn it. But no one gets angry about learning, what is left? Fear of change plain and simple.

 

[RexKing13]

What is this "Choice" thing every one is complaining about. MS makes the product, choice is at their discression. Think about it. They made the old menu system that was used up until Windows 7. You had to use it. No choice in the matter. They now changed the paradigm and you think you have the right to tell them NO? You do, it is called your wallet. You have the choice to buy a Mac if you like it better. Back in the 1990s, Mac absolutly sucked so you had no choice, so they really did have a monopoly. But OSX is not that bad, so stop the bellyaching. Get used to it, stay on Window 3.1 or whatever archaic OS you perfer, or move on away from Microsoft.
Here is an uncomfortable truth, ALL of the complaining is change aversion. I know, I know, you have all these reasons to show that I am wrong on this point. But the truth is... I am not wrong, you are. People really can not admit even to themselves when they face change aversion. The truth is change aversion affects every single person at some point in time. If you are open minded about it, you can overcome it. I am not saying that you will love it all if you get over change aversion. But whenever I see vitrol remarks, change aversion is 100% of the time behind it. It is simple to prove, hate comes from fear. People dont "hate" boxes. At worst you can feel nothing for it. All true Windows 8 users find that once they get used to the system, they can do it just as fast or faster than they could in previous versions. Yes things are different and you have to learn it. But no one gets angry about learning, what is left? Fear of change plain and simple.

 

[ojas]

Haha 100M licenses suggest a 10% PC market share. Which stands at only 4%, i.e. 40M.
So 40M sold. On steam, market share is 11%...and since Steam has well over 40M users, that's at least 4M confirmed Win 8 sales.

 

[egilbe]

Selling a license is not the same as people using Windows 8. How many licenses are they still selling for Windows 7 for comparison?

 

[Branden]

number of windows 8 licenses sold is a very different thing than number of windows 8 activations.
i suspect that a good chunk of laptops pre-installed with 8 are downgraded to 7, and much of the rest would have been 7 if the customer had that option.

I doubt it. 99% of people are just going to use whatever their PC comes with. Downgrading is beyond most people. So out of 100 million sold, let's say it's likely that 99 million (at least) are using it.

true, 95% of people will use whatever comes on the machine, but i think half of customers would opt for 7 instead of 8 if they only had the choice.
let's also not forget that not all 100m licenses are in the hands of customers (95% of whom will activate those licenses), most likely a vast majority of those licenses are sitting in manufacturers hands waiting to be installed at the factory or on machines sitting in warehouses or on store shelves. and of licenses actually activated by end-users, how many of them truly like windows 8 and how many are discontented enough to downgrade at some point?

saying 100m licenses sold equates 100m happy windows 8 users is faulty logic. it'd be like ford claiming that printing 100m serial numbers for their fusion model equates 100m happy fusion drivers out there right now - it takes no consideration how many fusions have actually came out of the factory, sitting in factory lot, sitting in dealer lots, not been kept after purchased, or even fusion drivers who find they hate their fusion now that they're using them daily.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

@esrever
I think most tech enthusiasts hate on windows 8. Cant see how they are counting windows RT though, i mean surely that should be classed as a different OS

I think it's the exact opposite. I think most people hating on Windows 8 are people who have little understanding of their computer.

That is one way of looking at it, here is another.

Non-techies arent looking for touch on their non-touch enabled desktop.
Techies arent looking for touch on their non-touch enabled desktop.

Both groups would be happy if Win 8 could be purchased/configured without any trace of Metro, with all control panel options in the desktop where it belongs, and without any acces to the MS (cr)appstore.

I comprehend why MS is doing what they are revenue-wise, and integration of the smartphone/tablet/pc ecosystem-wise. As it is, however, I have no use or want to use MS smartphones/tablets currently. That mind set is shared with a huge portion of other techies who are noxious at another round of MS shoving down our throat more crap we dont need or want. We are IT savvy people who have been through these cycles multiple times with the release of Windows that continue to be:
1) riddled with security holes
2) stuffed with bloat
3) changed around for changes sake
4) more limited then the last OS in certain ways.

Its got nothing to do with us being lazy, not knowing how to get to the desktop or missing the start button.

 

[tim1935]

Well people HAVE to buy new computers in this day and age, so... they will undoubtedly sell.

 

[soundping]

Microsoft is down to playing numbers games now. How sad.

 

[Matsushima]

What is this "Choice" thing every one is complaining about. MS makes the product, choice is at their discression. Think about it. They made the old menu system that was used up until Windows 7. You had to use it. No choice in the matter. They now changed the paradigm and you think you have the right to tell them NO? You do, it is called your wallet. You have the choice to buy a Mac if you like it better. Back in the 1990s, Mac absolutly sucked so you had no choice, so they really did have a monopoly. But OSX is not that bad, so stop the bellyaching. Get used to it, stay on Window 3.1 or whatever archaic OS you perfer, or move on away from Microsoft.
Here is an uncomfortable truth, ALL of the complaining is change aversion. I know, I know, you have all these reasons to show that I am wrong on this point. But the truth is... I am not wrong, you are. People really can not admit even to themselves when they face change aversion. The truth is change aversion affects every single person at some point in time. If you are open minded about it, you can overcome it. I am not saying that you will love it all if you get over change aversion. But whenever I see vitrol remarks, change aversion is 100% of the time behind it. It is simple to prove, hate comes from fear. People dont "hate" boxes. At worst you can feel nothing for it. All true Windows 8 users find that once they get used to the system, they can do it just as fast or faster than they could in previous versions. Yes things are different and you have to learn it. But no one gets angry about learning, what is left? Fear of change plain and simple.

What is this "Choice" thing every one is complaining about. MS makes the product, choice is at their discression. Think about it. They made the old menu system that was used up until Windows 7. You had to use it. No choice in the matter. They now changed the paradigm and you think you have the right to tell them NO? You do, it is called your wallet. You have the choice to buy a Mac if you like it better. Back in the 1990s, Mac absolutly sucked so you had no choice, so they really did have a monopoly. But OSX is not that bad, so stop the bellyaching. Get used to it, stay on Window 3.1 or whatever archaic OS you perfer, or move on away from Microsoft.
Here is an uncomfortable truth, ALL of the complaining is change aversion. I know, I know, you have all these reasons to show that I am wrong on this point. But the truth is... I am not wrong, you are. People really can not admit even to themselves when they face change aversion. The truth is change aversion affects every single person at some point in time. If you are open minded about it, you can overcome it. I am not saying that you will love it all if you get over change aversion. But whenever I see vitrol remarks, change aversion is 100% of the time behind it. It is simple to prove, hate comes from fear. People dont "hate" boxes. At worst you can feel nothing for it. All true Windows 8 users find that once they get used to the system, they can do it just as fast or faster than they could in previous versions. Yes things are different and you have to learn it. But no one gets angry about learning, what is left? Fear of change plain and simple.

Windows 8 fanboys will bring this invalid argument over and over again. "Windows 8 is just a new interface, get used to it because I'm right and you guys are all wrong." This is just plain rubbish. You're the one that's being ignorant. People shouldn't have to get used to an obstructive, useless interface that is being shoved in their faces when they could use Windows 7-because Microsoft is basically shoving Windows 8 into every single desktop/laptop on the shelves today and that is why desktop sales are declining so much and that bloated, slow Android platform is winning. Windows 8 is more limited, obstructive and useless than Vista. Aswell, the reason why there isn't an improvement to Windows 8 is simply because they want money, and making everyone use it, as well as creating a walled garden. When people want to get something done quickly and easily, they don't want all this cr@p preventing them and slowing them down. Why upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8? Because it's faster? You'll probably waste more time wondering why the DVD isn't going to play in your desktop, or figure out how to do something administrative, or launch something very quickly like Windows 7! Not everyone is good with computers. If you really think that this change is good, let's go back 18 years when 'Bob' was out. You are using Windows 3.1. Then try using 'Bob'. A completely different interface that was also completely useless for anything and was very similar to Windows 8. As a result, no-one bought it. Microsoft even admitted it was a failure.

 

[ingtar33]

What is this "Choice" thing every one is complaining about. MS makes the product, choice is at their discression. Think about it. They made the old menu system that was used up until Windows 7. You had to use it. No choice in the matter. They now changed the paradigm and you think you have the right to tell them NO? You do, it is called your wallet. You have the choice to buy a Mac if you like it better. Back in the 1990s, Mac absolutly sucked so you had no choice, so they really did have a monopoly. But OSX is not that bad, so stop the bellyaching. Get used to it, stay on Window 3.1 or whatever archaic OS you perfer, or move on away from Microsoft.
Here is an uncomfortable truth, ALL of the complaining is change aversion. I know, I know, you have all these reasons to show that I am wrong on this point. But the truth is... I am not wrong, you are. People really can not admit even to themselves when they face change aversion. The truth is change aversion affects every single person at some point in time. If you are open minded about it, you can overcome it. I am not saying that you will love it all if you get over change aversion. But whenever I see vitrol remarks, change aversion is 100% of the time behind it. It is simple to prove, hate comes from fear. People dont "hate" boxes. At worst you can feel nothing for it. All true Windows 8 users find that once they get used to the system, they can do it just as fast or faster than they could in previous versions. Yes things are different and you have to learn it. But no one gets angry about learning, what is left? Fear of change plain and simple.

What is this "Choice" thing every one is complaining about. MS makes the product, choice is at their discression. Think about it. They made the old menu system that was used up until Windows 7. You had to use it. No choice in the matter. They now changed the paradigm and you think you have the right to tell them NO? You do, it is called your wallet. You have the choice to buy a Mac if you like it better. Back in the 1990s, Mac absolutly sucked so you had no choice, so they really did have a monopoly. But OSX is not that bad, so stop the bellyaching. Get used to it, stay on Window 3.1 or whatever archaic OS you perfer, or move on away from Microsoft.
Here is an uncomfortable truth, ALL of the complaining is change aversion. I know, I know, you have all these reasons to show that I am wrong on this point. But the truth is... I am not wrong, you are. People really can not admit even to themselves when they face change aversion. The truth is change aversion affects every single person at some point in time. If you are open minded about it, you can overcome it. I am not saying that you will love it all if you get over change aversion. But whenever I see vitrol remarks, change aversion is 100% of the time behind it. It is simple to prove, hate comes from fear. People dont "hate" boxes. At worst you can feel nothing for it. All true Windows 8 users find that once they get used to the system, they can do it just as fast or faster than they could in previous versions. Yes things are different and you have to learn it. But no one gets angry about learning, what is left? Fear of change plain and simple.

Windows 8 fanboys will bring this invalid argument over and over again. "Windows 8 is just a new interface, get used to it because I'm right and you guys are all wrong." This is just plain rubbish. You're the one that's being ignorant. People shouldn't have to get used to an obstructive, useless interface that is being shoved in their faces when they could use Windows 7-because Microsoft is basically shoving Windows 8 into every single desktop/laptop on the shelves today and that is why desktop sales are declining so much and that bloated, slow Android platform is winning. Windows 8 is more limited, obstructive and useless than Vista. Aswell, the reason why there isn't an improvement to Windows 8 is simply because they want money, and making everyone use it, as well as creating a walled garden. When people want to get something done quickly and easily, they don't want all this cr@p preventing them and slowing them down. Why upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8? Because it's faster? You'll probably waste more time wondering why the DVD isn't going to play in your desktop, or figure out how to do something administrative, or launch something very quickly like Windows 7! Not everyone is good with computers. If you really think that this change is good, let's go back 18 years when 'Bob' was out. You are using Windows 3.1. Then try using 'Bob'. A completely different interface that was also completely useless for anything and was very similar to Windows 8. As a result, no-one bought it. Microsoft even admitted it was a failure.

you do realize that M$ stuffs blog/forum opinion boxes about their products all the time right?

Just look at any win8 article and you see them all over the place, the professional bloggers on M$ payroll. Don't get so exercised over the M$ shills.

not saying there are any in this thread just that its a good chance a chunk of the positive posts about win8 are coming from paid bloggers.

 

[Matsushima]

Yes... Everyone knows... But I'm not replying only to him, but other Windows 8 fanboys (or M$, perhaps)

 

[littleleo]

Well people HAVE to buy new computers in this day and age, so... they will undoubtedly sell.

People can still buy Windows 7, and I'm selling a lot of it. Some dealers are stocking up on Windows 7 so they won't have to go to Windows 8 for some time.