As Windows 8 continues to gain market share, Microsoft has announced i has sold 60 million total Windows 8 licenses since the operating system first launched in October 2012. The company also confirmed the Windows Store has passed the 100 million app download mark.

With this new figure, it’s clear now that total Windows 8 sales have grown by 33 percent since late November, when Microsoft announced 40 million licenses had been sold. Microsoft appears to still be on track to cross the 100 million license benchmark during the first calendar quarter of 2013 — if it can keep up its current pace.

As with the previous milestone, Chief Financial and Chief Marketing Officer for Windows Tammi Reller has detailed that the 60 million figure includes sales “to OEMs for new PCs.”

Despite its downsides, we have found that Windows 8 will suffice as an early foundation for Microsoft’s services and touch-focused vision. Like wedetailed in our 2012 summary, the next version of Microsoft – Blue – will hopefully solve Windows 8’s quirks, keep its new user interface elements, and complete the change of Windows from a desktop operating system to one that runs on your desktop, laptop, tablet, and phone.