Probably includes the copies Microsoft 'purchased' for all of their staff.

yeah the sales are up because they are requiring it to be loaded on new systems. Unlike in the past when people could refuse the window 7. Just recently new computer at my work was coming with window 7 since the PC guys will no longer load XP. If we could still get XP we would not have moved to 7 that is for sure.

GUI looks interesting and has lots of potential - Microsofts default icons and colors are dreadful thou.
Imagine it black glass and translucent. Would look way sleeker.

Thats just appearance thou - will have to actually play with it to see how intuitive it is.

People dont like change, so i imagine there will be complaints. However, with the emerging tablet market - they did pick a good time for a paradigm shift with their OS design.

So MSFT wants mindshare credit for presales this quarter, while booking revenues next quarter. What a brilliant way to double-count sales for maximum traction.

Apple should similarly estimate all the iPhones it will sell in the winter quarter and chat about them in the fall quarter where it isn't selling any many, so we can perpetually talk about what Apple is and will be selling, rather than talking about how it isn't selling the new phone before it's available in the market, and how the old phone isn't selling as well at the end of its life span.

I read Apple are buying $100K worth just to give financial and moral support to Microsoft.

They are running a promotion until January where you can buy Win8 pro for $70. After that, it'll be $200. At this price, I'm thinking about trying it out for my old WinXP machine that I haven't touched in a year after getting an mac mini. Of course sales are going to be heavy at this price.
 

These numbers are very unlikely. Enterprises are always cautious to moving to new OSes, so there is no chance that Windows 8 will be getting into the hands of any enterprise users quickly.

These numbers can only be sales into the pipeline, and as one person suggested, to PC vendors gathering licenses for preloading on new PCs.

I certainly won't be installing Windows 8 in my VM without knowing more about it, and how it will run the few Windows apps I, infrequently, use.

I hate to say this but I'll be buying a copy of Windows 8 to run on my Linux computer in a virtual machine. I hate Microsoft. I'll be using it for work purposes AND for Netflix. I won't keep anything not related to work on it. Those photos, movies, personal files, and everything not related to work will stay away from Windows. I just don't trust their software.

My Apple computer is getting old but I'm keeping it because it works with very few problems. I might even upgrade the RAM and hard drive to give it a boost and extend its lifetime.

If the new Windows 8 cost the same as 7 I wouldn't be making that purchase. I would just stick with my older version. It is my hope that this is the last Microsoft product I will buy.

"competitive pressures"

Why use so many letters to spell Apple?

I absolutely hate Metro, and considering all the chatter about how Microsoft's partners think Windows 8 is aweful, makes you wonder who's cooking the books at Microsoft to get those numbers.  Only IT sheep would bother buying Windows 8, and only to know the headaches they'll have to deal with in the future.