Windows 8 sells 40 million licenses in first month

Industry naysaying , a tightened grip on program (or app, if you really want to use that nickname) quality standards, and team lead takeoffs barely budged the churning treads of Microsoft's Windows 8 push, as NDTV reports the operating system sold 40 million licenses in just a single month since releasing on October 26.

It's worth underlining that this milestone isn't a count of installed copies of Windows 8, but licenses, which hardware manufacturers purchase in droves for resale through pre-built desktop and laptop setups. Tech research firm StatCounter claimed only around 15 million PC users run Windows 8 so far—a dust-mote 1 percent of the globe's 1.5 billion PCs. A fair bet for the slow adoption is shaky backwards compatibility for older games, but digital distribution services—such as 90 percent of GOG's recently-made- Windows 8-friendly library —thankfully work unhindered.

Omri Petitte is a former PC Gamer associate editor and long-time freelance writer covering news and reviews. If you spot his name, it probably means you're reading about some kind of first-person shooter. Why yes, he would like to talk to you about Battlefield. Do you have a few days?