Windows 8: 40 million licenses sold so far, says Microsoft

Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses since the operating system launched on October 26th. However, a research firm has claimed that only 15 million PC owners are actually using it. Get the details below.

Tami Reller, Microsoft's finance and marketing head explained that Windows 8 is selling faster in its first month than its predecessor Windows 7, which sold 60 million units in its first ten weeks.

NDTV reports - via Reuters - that Reller, who was speaking at a Credit Suisse investor conference didn't offer a breakdown of Windows 8 sales. For example, it was unclear which sales were straight license purchases for home use, professional use, or operating systems bought bundled with PC hardware.

Tech research firm StatCounter cast doubt on Reller's announcement, and posed that only 15 million PC devices were actually running and actively using the operating system, making up just 1% of the 1.5 billion PCs worldwide today. The projection suggests that many licenses are lying dormant, snapped up by businesses and hardware companies for professional use when required.

Although Microsoft's new Surface tablets use Windows 8, Reller did not share sales figures with attendees, but earlier that day, the company did reveal that is shifted some 750,000 Xbox 360 consoles across America during the Black Friday sales week.

Are you using Windows 8? Are you enjoying it? let us know below.

Thanks Eurogamer.