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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

#41

Post by kvb »

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).…

There was an upgrade discount when Win 7 came out, too, down to $50 [1]. Additionally, as others have pointed out, it's unclear how many of the 40M licenses are upgrades vs. OEM licenses.

[1] see http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-7-upgrade-discount-..., for instance

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

#42

Post by kenjackson »

forgotAgain wrote: post #36

If Microsoft wanted to impart real knowledge in pronouncements such as this they would have clarity in what they say. By not giving a definition of what they mean by "licenses sold" they are avoiding clarity. It's an example of why many people, including myself, have lost confidence in everything they say.

Licenses sold is pretty clear. What else would you like them to say? This is the figure they've always given. It would seem odd to me if they created some new metric that we couldn't compare with Win7 and Vista sales.

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

#43

Post by actsasbuffoon »

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.

Not sure about that. According to the EULA, it appears that you can only downgrade to Windows 7 if you purchased the professional edition:

Instead of using the Windows 8 Pro software, you may use one of the following earlier versions: Windows 7 Professional or Windows Vista Business.

This agreement applies to your use of the earlier versions. If the earlier version includes different components, any terms for those components in the agreement that come with the earlier version apply to your use of such components. Neither the manufacturer or installer, nor Microsoft, is obligated to supply earlier versions to you. You must obtain the earlier version separately. At any time, you may replace an earlier version with Windows 8 Pro.

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

#44

Post by guygurari »

chc wrote: post #33
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).…

I don't think cash flow is Microsoft's overriding concern at the moment. They'll still get plenty of steady income from their corporate cash cows. Right now, I think Microsoft is more worried about the existential threat of a world where people are weaned off Windows. They want Windows 8 to be used in as many places as humanly possible. If they can maintain their ubiquity, their overall ecosystem is secure. They will…

If that were true, then I would have also expected them to ease up on the anti-piracy measures.

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

#45

Post by zik »

kenjackson wrote: post #42
forgotAgain wrote: post #36

If Microsoft wanted to impart real knowledge in pronouncements such as this they would have clarity in what they say. By not giving a definition of what they mean by "licenses sold" they are avoiding clarity. It's an example of why many people, including myself, have lost confidence in everything they say.

Licenses sold is pretty clear. What else would you like them to say? This is the figure they've always given. It would seem odd to me if they created some new metric that we couldn't compare with Win7 and Vista sales.

Since the vast majority of these licenses are sold to OEMs to build systems it doesn't reflect anything much. The number sold to actual customers would be a lot more useful.

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

#46

Post by rbanffy »

hnriot wrote: post #37
wheaties wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What you describe is a feature of Windows 8, it's to ensure that a trusted source controls what runs on the hardware. Windows 8 is, as you've discovered, far more security conscious.

> it's to ensure that a trusted source controls what runs on the hardware.

Trusted by whom?

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

#47

Post by kenjackson »

zik wrote: post #45
kenjackson wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Licenses sold is pretty clear. What else would you like them to say? This is the figure they've always given. It would seem odd to me if they created some new metric that we couldn't compare with Win7 and Vista sales.

Since the vast majority of these licenses are sold to OEMs to build systems it doesn't reflect anything much. The number sold to actual customers would be a lot more useful.

What do you mean? Are you talking about the amount sold directly to consumers or the amount that get into consumers hands?

The former is uninteresting. The latter would be great, but MS doesn't know this info (and they've never reported it).

And the channel I suspect is pretty efficient when it comes to license acquisition, since you don't need to do runs like you do in HW.

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

#48

Post by robotys »

melling wrote: post #28

We should be able see real Win8 usage numbers in the IE10 stats over the next couple of months, at least until IE10 ships for Win7.

I like this line of thinking. But it still only reflect a portion of Win8 user as another portion of them will use alternative browser (chrome, ie).

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

#49

Post by cek »

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).…

A very small percentage of Windows is software-only; something like 10%. And sales to consumers represents a smallish fraction of revenue & profits compared to enterprise sales.

So the lower price for upgrades will not have a huge impact on MS's revenue (or profit).

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

#50

Post by bane »

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).…

Most of those are probably OEM licenses which are sold at a pretty steep discount to manufacturers and I believe make up the lions share of any windows release in terms of raw license "sales"...e.g. Dell may purchase a block a 5 million OEM licenses at some sort of discount...50-60% off of retail.
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