Windows 8 Surpasses 100M Users in Six Months

During the first 30 days at retail,

sold

Windows 8 licenses.

Now, six months after arriving on

store shelves (among many other retailers), Windows 8 has crossed a new milestone. Tami Reller, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer, told the

that more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses have now been sold. According to

, this means that Windows 8 is selling at the same rate as its predecessor, which sold

in less than three years and has acquired

of the business PC market. This adds credence to the theory that consumers want Windows 8,

. From its inception, Microsoft has promoted the benefits of upgrading to Windows 8, noting that it can improve the performance of older machines. Based on the

, it would seem that consumers have taken Microsoft's advice. Many manufacturers still have high hopes for 2013.

thinks that it can sell

this year, most of which will be Windows 8 machines. A small number of them could be

Chromebooks or Androidbooks, but the majority will run Microsoft's OS. Some notebook manufacturers might discount their Windows 8 touch screen machines by

in hopes of spurring new sales. Thus far,

Ultrabooks concept has not provided Windows 8 -- or Windows 7 -- with a boost in hardware sales. Nonetheless, Ultrabooks are estimated to account for

by 2016. That sales goal could be achieved even sooner if the current estimates are met. Ultrabooks are expected to account for

in 2013. Getting consumers to actually buy them, however, is the real challenge that Intel faces. The ongoing PC sales troubles are not exclusive to Windows, however. Lifetime Chromebook sales have yet to reach

, making it one of the least popular Windows alternatives available. Mac sales have also been declining. After three years of increases, total Mac sales declined more than 20 percent during the

. Mac sales

during the second quarter, though at a slower pace.