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Windows 8 outsells Windows 7
The Telegraph ^ | 28 Nov 2012 | Jennifer O'Mahony

Posted on 12/04/2012 6:07:15 AM PST by SmokingJoe

Sales of the Windows 8 operating system, which was launched on October 26, were driven by upgrades rather than users purchasing the software on new machines, according to Reuters.

Microsoft sold 60 million Windows 7 licenses in two months, compare to 40 million licenses of Windows 8 in one month.

Tami Reller, finance and marketing head of Microsoft's Windows division, said yesterday: "Windows 8 upgrade momentum is outpacing that of Windows 7," speaking at an investor conference held by Credit Suisse.

Previous versions of Microsoft operating systems sold considerably fewer licenses than Windows 8 in a comparable period, with XP shipping 8 million units in the month following its launch in 2002, and Microsoft Vista selling around 10 million licenses in the first 30 days following its introduction in 2006.

In raw figures, Windows 8′s first month has been around twice as strong as for Windows Vista, and four times as strong as that of Windows XP

However, there is now a much higher volume of PC users worldwide than in 2001, and Windows 8′s upgrade price is far less than it has traditionally charged for new versions of Windows.

Upgrading to Windows 8 costs £43, compared to £88 for the full software package or £399 for the new Microsoft Surface tablet running Windows 8.

Many of the sales are to PC manufacturers, who in turn sell a large number of machines to companies, very few of which are using Windows 8 yet.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: apple; microsoft; windows7; windows8
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To: SmokingJoe
How many of these licenses were from OEMs buying in bulk? Did Microsoft offer Dell, HP and other manufacturers a spectacular deal if they front loaded a year of licenses to the first month of the Windows 8 release in order to boost the sales numbers?
21 posted on 12/04/2012 6:37:14 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Big Bird is a brood parasite: laid in our nest 43 years ago and we are still feeding him.)
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To: Yosemitest

Mac O$? From those Califags?

It’s Linux, baby. Linux all the way.


22 posted on 12/04/2012 6:38:07 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
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To: SmokingJoe

..if I can\could get security patches, I would use my XP Pro SP3 for 10 more years...


23 posted on 12/04/2012 6:42:21 AM PST by WalterSkinner ( In Memory of My Father--WWII Vet and Patriot 1926-2007)
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To: driftdiver
Long enough to realize that microsoft still owns 85% of the OS market.

Incorrect. It may be 85% of the desktop market, but not the entire OS market.

24 posted on 12/04/2012 6:43:41 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: smokingfrog
"If you have an older machine with Vista it’s probably worth doing the upgrade, as long as you have the memory and hardware that can handle it."

As I understand it, W8 requires fewer resouces than WVista, being targeted more at "mobile" devices. I've got an ASUS EEE PC "convertible" netbook that also can function as a tablet (screen rotates and swivels to lie flat over the keyboard) that has a touchscreen and W7. I'm thinking about putting W8 on it just to get an idea of W8's performance.

MSoft's "will it run here" program says that W8 will run on it, but that the touchscreen "isn't fully compatible".

25 posted on 12/04/2012 6:46:32 AM PST by Wonder Warthog
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To: SmokingJoe
Vista was more of a virus than an operating system. It made people nervous. So they were slow to move to Windows 7.

Windows 7 is actually pretty good, so maybe people are willing to trust Microsoft again. They seem to forget that every good OS from Microsoft is followed by a disaster, then MS corrects the mistakes.

I'm not trusting them any more. My next machine will likely run Android.

26 posted on 12/04/2012 6:48:14 AM PST by ArGee (Reality - what a concept.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

If you download and install one of the freeware “Windows Start-menu” programs (I prefer Classic Shell: http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/) and you’ll have a Win8 box with a Win7 GUI.

Regardless of adding a start menu or leaving as is, you’ll need about an extra 20% hardware to do the same things as you could do with a Win7 box.


27 posted on 12/04/2012 6:48:31 AM PST by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed

http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

This site shows the operating systems in place. Windows 8 is about 1% (or a 4th of what Windows 7 was 2 months after it was released)

If there are a lot of copies being sold, it is because Microsoft is buying the copies from themselves.


28 posted on 12/04/2012 6:51:59 AM PST by MNDude
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Which reminds me of another thing. When Windows 8 starts up you get a prompt that says “Checking Media”, followed by the word “Fail” twice.

Then the machine boots normally. The word “Fail” concerned me so I called the help desk, and after an extended period of being taken on and off hold, was informed that Windows 8 by default boots to the disc, and there is no way at this time to change that. So if you don’t have a disc in the drive it is gonna flash “Fail” at you until booting normally from the hard drive.


29 posted on 12/04/2012 6:52:10 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: cableguymn

The Alternative-Release Law of M$ OS:

98 - good
ME - bad
XP - good
Vista - bad
Win 7 - good
Win 8...


30 posted on 12/04/2012 6:53:24 AM PST by bigbob
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To: SmokingJoe

Windows 8 is the new pre-employment training system for McDonalds.


31 posted on 12/04/2012 6:53:30 AM PST by isthisnickcool (Sharia? No thanks!)
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To: TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed
Those $40 offers didn't have anything to do with it though.

The 60 million Windows 7's made them WAY MORE money!

32 posted on 12/04/2012 6:53:32 AM PST by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: WalterSkinner

“..if I can\could get security patches, I would use my XP Pro SP3 for 10 more years...”

Same here. If not, I’ll upgrade from XP SP3 to 7 Pro and then if I have to, I’ll wait for a Windows 9 or whatever they’d call it.


33 posted on 12/04/2012 6:53:39 AM PST by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: SmokingJoe
November 30 story on the "Telegraph" says different:

Headache for Microsoft as sales of Windows PCs fall

34 posted on 12/04/2012 6:53:54 AM PST by CedarDave (Presstitutes: Journalists who refuse to ask hard questions and who report by omission or distortion)
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To: TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed

another thing, is that Windows 8 comes with new PC’s, but I’ve heard that corporations are “downgrading” to Windows 7 about 90% of the time since they can do that for no extra cost.


35 posted on 12/04/2012 6:56:35 AM PST by MNDude
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To: ShadowAce

Well since this thread is about a desktop OS it certainly makes sense that the context of my post on market share was about the desktop OS marketshare.

DOH!


36 posted on 12/04/2012 6:57:38 AM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: MNDude

“If there are a lot of copies being sold, it is because Microsoft is buying the copies from themselves.”

Or it could be due to inaccurate statistics on something brand new


37 posted on 12/04/2012 6:59:57 AM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: driftdiver

LOL! Point taken.


38 posted on 12/04/2012 7:00:33 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
they also get the Fisher Price start menu

Aptly described. Downhill from there, in some Lenovo and HP models coming out, Windows updates are getting stuck during install, due to some weird incompatibility with AV or maybe the audio drivers, causing the pc to fail to restart (or complete configuring of updates). Various other bugs are being reported, which we folks not endowed with IT do not know (or care to learn) how to overcome. An even bigger hassle is possible when you actually use Windows 8 at WORK. Some people don't have extra time to spare, figuring out how to navigate in a new environment.

But if you're into games, Windows 8 is just loaded with games.

39 posted on 12/04/2012 7:04:19 AM PST by HomeAtLast
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To: rockrr

Thanks! That’s good to know. I suspect a lot of businesses are going to run this Classic Shell to keep employees from staring at sports and entertainment widget tiles all day.


40 posted on 12/04/2012 7:05:30 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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