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Microsoft: We've sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses to date

zdnet.com

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Re: Microsoft: We've sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses to date

#21

Post by ConstantineXVI »

dangrossman wrote: post #12
wheaties wrote: post #7

Yeah, I bought one of your licenses Microsoft. I didn't want to buy it. Given the choice I would not have bought it. And quite clearly as evidenced in my past week of Twitter I've been trying to get rid of it. Alas, to no avail...

Considering Microsoft is not reading this, and you don't have a Twitter account in your profile, would you mind sharing with HN what your message means? Why did you buy Windows 8 if you didn't want it, and why can't you get rid of it?

My best guess would be he's referring to an OEM license that came with a PC he bought.

Re: Microsoft: We've sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses to date

#22

Post by sliverstorm »

jlgreco wrote: post #17
[deleted] wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

Doesn't really matter to MSFT/your OEM if you remove Windows 8 after you get it, unless you go through the hassle of getting a refund for it.

But just think of the internet points!

Re: Microsoft: We've sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses to date

#23

Post by astrodust »

[deleted] wrote: post #13
mtgx wrote: post #9

The vast majority of these licenses were sold to OEM's, who now have to "get rid of them" in the market. So we'll see how long that takes before they ask for another bulk of licenses from Microsoft. Could be weeks or could be months. If it's months, next time they'll request much fewer licenses.

[deleted]

Maybe this is their strategy to sell Windows 8 and then also sell a copy of Windows 7.

Re: Microsoft: We've sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses to date

#24

Post by aresant »

Win 8 moves ~40,000,000 licenses in first month. Upgrades are $39.99.

Win 7 moved ~30,000,000 in month one. Upgrades were $120 - 220/upgrade.

Vista moved 20,000,000 first month. Upgrades were $129 - 299.

MSFT is offering the DVD-version of Windows 8 for ~$30/more per copy so let's just pretend that the fair price for comparison of Windows 8 is $69.99 (since I assume far more physical media went out of Win 7 in 2009).

So that's still 1/2 the revenue per upgrade they collected in the previous cycles.

Looking at their revenue by division Windows & Win Live have been on the decline:

http://www.tannerhelland.com/wp-content/uploads/Microsoft-re...

I wonder how drastically this will impact them - if they see a real, sustained gain in traction vs. Windows 7 adoption in the 25% range, that's not going to make up for the shortfall in revenues but certainly would help to lay a foundation for future growth in mobile / server & tools / business / etc.

I'm not sure I even have a point, just trying to sort through this data and get a sense of what it means for MSFT macro.

Re: Microsoft: We've sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses to date

#26

Post by wheaties »

dangrossman wrote: post #12
wheaties wrote: post #7

Yeah, I bought one of your licenses Microsoft. I didn't want to buy it. Given the choice I would not have bought it. And quite clearly as evidenced in my past week of Twitter I've been trying to get rid of it. Alas, to no avail...

Considering Microsoft is not reading this, and you don't have a Twitter account in your profile, would you mind sharing with HN what your message means? Why did you buy Windows 8 if you didn't want it, and why can't you get rid of it?

I bought an emergency computer at Best Buy pre-installed with Windows 8. No matter what I've tried I can not get the thing to start not in Windows. I can't even drop down to the legacy BIOS to get Linux to boot.

Oh yeah, I also failed the recapcha several times before I could even get into the computer in the first place. A recapcha when you're first starting... brilliant. Btw, I'm not an MS hater but I am a Windows 8 hater.

Re: Microsoft: We've sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses to date

#27

Post by whatshisface »

contextfree wrote: post #11
nsns wrote: post #2

Which might simply mean that this is the approximate amount of non-Apple laptops (and desktops?) sold since Win8's launch, because most of them are now sold only with Win8 licenses [0]. Hardly a mark of success, but of MS's (doomed?) pervasiveness. [0] e.g., http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPo...

Yes. This, along with everything else that happens in the world anywhere ever, is clearly a sign that Microsoft is doomed.

Everyone is doomed, just at different times. :)

Re: Microsoft: We've sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses to date

#29

Post by dansul »

aresant wrote: post #24

Win 8 moves ~40,000,000 licenses in first month. Upgrades are $39.99. Win 7 moved ~30,000,000 in month one. Upgrades were $120 - 220/upgrade. Vista moved 20,000,000 first month. Upgrades were $129 - 299. MSFT is offering the DVD-version of Windows 8 for ~$30/more per copy so let's just pretend that the fair price for comparison of Windows 8 is $69.99 (since I assume far more physical media went out of Win 7 in 2009).…

Actually many who should have paid $39.99 didn't, and instead paid only $14.99. The reason is that the form which asks you about your supposedly "new" notebook purchased can be completed with fake info's and you would instantly get the discount code in your email. I know this because there were talks about it on many forums.

Re: Microsoft: We've sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses to date

#30

Post by dkhenry »

brudgers wrote: post #3
nsns wrote: post #2

Which might simply mean that this is the approximate amount of non-Apple laptops (and desktops?) sold since Win8's launch, because most of them are now sold only with Win8 licenses [0]. Hardly a mark of success, but of MS's (doomed?) pervasiveness. [0] e.g., http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPo...

"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." That's 10% of the total in the first three days to existing users. Including myself.

If a month has 30 days then that's also 10% of the time period, or another way of saying it is that sales remained constant over that initial time frame.
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