Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses since October 26.
Tami Reller, the Chief Marketing and Financial Officer for Windows announced the tally during the Credit Suisse Annual Tech Conference on November 27.
Microsoft had not released any sales figures for Windows 8 other than saying the company sold 4 million upgrade licenses of the operating system to those with previous versions of Windows during the first three days it was available. Microsoft launched Windows 8 commercially on October 26.
Reller did not release any sales figures for Microsoft's Surface RT tablet/PC devices, which also have been on sale since October 26.
Reller spent much of the first 25 minutes of her presentation about Windows 8 and Surface reiterating Microsoft's design philosophy. She cited a number of statistics meant to show that users were positive about the Windows 8 PCs and tablets that have are in the market and coming to market in the coming months.
"For $39.99, you get Windows 7 made even better," Reller said.
Reller is one the two primary leaders in charge of the Windows division -- along with the new head of Windows engineering, Julie Larsen-Green -- now that former Windows President Steven Sinofsky has left the company. Sinofsky's immediate departure was announced a couple of weeks ago.
More to come.