After blowing past the 40 million mark in Windows 8 licences sold at the end of November 2012, Microsoft now announced that it has surpassed the 60 million mark.  

According to the company, this represents the cumulative sales of Windows 8, including both user upgrades as well as OS sales to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) for installation on new desktop PCs and tablets. Microsoft stated that this places Windows 8 on a similar sales trajectory that the firm managed with its predecessor - Windows 7.

The firm added that there has also been a significant increase in the number of Windows 8 certified systems since general availability at the end of October 2012, with the number of certified systems for Windows 8 and Windows RT now standing at more than 1700.

According to the official Windows blog, developer support for the new OS is strong with the number of Windows 8 apps quadrupling since the opening of the Windows Store. The Redmond-based company passed the 100 million app download mark, just two months after the general availability of the PC and tablet platform last year.

In related news, read more on Windows 8 and Microsoft’s Surface tablet in our Top 5 tech news stories of 2012.