Four Million Windows 8 Upgrades Since Friday

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
The numbers are in and, according to Microsoft, the company has sold four million Windows 8 upgrades over the weekend. I guess Ballmer wasn't lying when he said Windows 8 is selling better than Windows 7 up to this point.

Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday the company has sold 4 million upgrades to Windows 8, signaling a strong start for its new operating system which launched on Friday. Ballmer, speaking at a meeting for software developers at Microsoft's headquarters near Seattle, said hundreds of millions of Windows systems would be sold over the next year, and the company was seeing strong interest from business users.
 
Wonder who's buying it? I don't know anyone who is using Windows 8...
 
I wonder about the number of subsequent downgrades back to 7. :) And on an unrelated topic, I wonder how many folks downgraded iOS6 back to iOS5 - I did ("maps").
 
Well apparently not everyone is as afraid of change as the average [H]'er. ;)
 
I wonder about the number of subsequent downgrades back to 7. :) And on an unrelated topic, I wonder how many folks downgraded iOS6 back to iOS5 - I did ("maps").

Those of us who did research never upgraded to iOS6.
 
So, in ~4 days, Microsoft's moved 4M units. For comparative purposes, Apple moved 3M units of Mountain Lion in ~3 days, but to a significantly smaller user base.

I would say that it's an okay result.
 
the upgrades are cheap compared to the W7 release, also keep in mind it is a msoft sales platform, would not be surprised to see a free version one day.
 
"...and the company was seeing strong interest from business users."

Yeah, right. And how much did you have to pay these businesses to show interest?
 
I think basically the people that were already considering it wanted to cash in on the reduced pricing. I'm guessing the trend will decline rapidly. Perhaps I'm wrong. I had to chuckle when Ballmer put a spin on how many businesses were showing interest. I guess them spending money on a hype machine is paying off for them. Like many have stated though, wondering how many people are trying to reinstall Windows 7. I'd give it a couple weeks before he gets to comfortable with all the initial numbers.
 
I wonder about the number of subsequent downgrades back to 7. :) And on an unrelated topic, I wonder how many folks downgraded iOS6 back to iOS5 - I did ("maps").

When one accounts for the size of the Windows user base, 4 million isn't even a drop in the bucket. These early adopters are probably among the hardest core Windows users that simply keep up with Windows and probably already know everything there is to know about Windows 8.
 
So, in ~4 days, Microsoft's moved 4M units. For comparative purposes, Apple moved 3M units of Mountain Lion in ~3 days, but to a significantly smaller user base.

I would say that it's an okay result.
Lol, now thats funny.

But it was actually 3m in 4 days ;).
 
Yea I was about to say, seems W8 is a lot cheaper at first glance than W7 was. Obviously, creates more sales at a glance but real strength will come from revenue.
 
Microsoft sure seems to be trying to hard to get people to believe how much of a success it is. Marketing super-powers activate!
 
So, in ~4 days, Microsoft's moved 4M units. For comparative purposes, Apple moved 3M units of Mountain Lion in ~3 days, but to a significantly smaller user base.

I would say that it's an okay result.

It is a well known fact in the Windows world that a much smaller percentage of people uprade an existing version of Windows than Mac users an existing version of OS X. The key to distribution of new versions of Windows lies in new hardware sales so the much more interesting number is how many new Windows 8 PCs were sold this weekend.
 
I bought a copy but I am not using it. Price was cheap as an upgrade since I purchased a laptop recently. Figured I might use it someday...maybe never.
 
Lower the price to almost nothing, make the desktop look like a toy, and bam! Watch the masses buy stuff ;).
 
it doesn't surprise me there are so many purchases: they are damn near giving it away! 15 bucks for an upgrade here, 66% off there, heck, i bought the copy i just installed and am posting from because it was cheap, i have no choice but to learn it, and came with a 30 dollar gift card from amazon (where we get our diapers from for the baby).

Sure, i have TechNet, and have been attempting to force myself to learn it since RC1, and could just go on using a TechNet copy, but i'm actually trying to be legit these days. Cheap avenue to do that? I'm in.

That being said, i somehow get the feeling that codeflux is right on. How many will be upgrading back to windows 7? How many are doing it now because they feel the inevitability of this dog with fleas entering the house? (me for one, sadly)
 
Lower the price to almost nothing, make the desktop look like a toy, and bam! Watch the masses buy stuff ;).
Actually Windows 7 was free to a lot of people, including some here on [H], via the launch party promotion they had. So $15 for Windows 8 is more than myself and many others paid for Windows 7 :D.

Plus as someone else stated, Windows 8 desktop looks almost exactly like Windows 7 desktop minus the start button.
 
at least there are options, wasnt it MS who said that people wont be able to hack there way around the metrogui?
 
Well apparently not everyone is as afraid of change as the average [H]'er. ;)

There's nothing wrong with change as long as it brings improvement. Change for the sake of change is pointless.
 
These are all either free by rebate or $15.
So yeah. If you just bought a new device,why not?

I think the W7 three packs were $150 and I recall thinking that was a steal.
 
There's nothing wrong with change as long as it brings improvement. Change for the sake of change is pointless.

I agree completely. Which is why I went with Windows 8. Lots of improvements as part of the changes.

I am with Windows 8 on 3 PC's. My employer is going with it on the sales team (~200 users) when the Pro version of Lenovo's offering is out. They like the idea of a convertible tablet/laptop running Windows 8. I'll be buying either a Surface Pro or Lenovo convertible when Pro is released, too.

Windows 8 isn't bad. If you don't like the UI, customize it or get rid of it via the many software alternatives that do that for you. It works GREAT. Even if you don't care for the UI, the fast boot (boots faster than work monitor can turn on and display image), the better file transfers, Storage Spaces, snappier all around, it still offers more. Don't use Modern UI or Windows Store if you don't want to. But, if your reasoning for skipping it is because of those, you're being stubborn. $15 is not a lot. People spend more on a lot less. Like I said, you can bypass Modern UI and the Start Screen and not use the Windows Store.
 
Well when they price it at $15 yeah people are going to buy it regardless of whether or not it's shit. Hell I bought it at $15, don't know if I'll ever end up using it, but it will be there just incase.
 
Well when they price it at $15 yeah people are going to buy it regardless of whether or not it's shit. Hell I bought it at $15, don't know if I'll ever end up using it, but it will be there just incase.
I would think that MOST people who bought it are planning on using it. Sure a few will buy it just for the sake of having it, like yourself, but I would think that it's a small percentage of people who would do that.

Plus MOST people only upgrade to the newest OS when they buy a new PC ;)
 
Back
Top