Skip to main content

Microsoft’s new ‘By The Numbers’ site boasts big stats but skips the Surface

microsoft by the numbers touts sales glosses over losses

If you ever wanted to know how many active Outlook.com members there are (400 million), Microsoft has made it easy to find out. Want to know the number of Xbox 360 consoles sold worldwide (76 million)? You can find that, too. If you’re in a Microsoft versus Apple debate, and you’re trying to make your point that Microsoft is indeed the better of the two, the company’s “Microsoft by the Numbers” site, which launched yesterday, is here to help.

The company calls the site “a collection of visual statistics about Microsoft products and services.” Laid out in the typical Windows 8 “Metro” design, the tiles are active, allowing users to click on them and see certain statistics about the company. Not only will you be able to know that as of August 11, over 250 million people have a SkyDrive (whether all of them use it regularly is another question), we also know that about 2.6 million gallons of free beverages are guzzled every year by Microsoft employees (and that the most popular soda selection is Coke Zero).

Related Videos

Although it’s nice that Microsoft is throwing a few “fun” statistics in there (about 554,000 pizza slices are consumed each year by Microsoft employees on campus), we’d much rather see one statistic that isn’t included in the Microsoft by the Numbers site: Surface sales. Sure, the first tile on the top left touts Microsoft’s sale of more than 100 million Windows 8 licensees, but out of 30 statistics on the page, that’s the only mention of anything related to Windows 8. 

It’s no secret that Surface sales are awful. After all, Microsoft has been using promotions for the past few months in hopes of getting more of the first-gen products off store shelves (presumably in preparation for a second-gen Surface tablet). But the company still hasn’t unveiled exactly how bad Surface sales are – and it’s certainly not using its new “By the Numbers” site to do so. We find it interesting that Microsoft picks and chooses its best numbers to flaunt, when there are a few specific numbers we’re all waiting to see. Rounding out it’s list of 30 stats with two about pizza and soda is an obvious way to fill the gaps that are missing from Surface Pro and RT sales numbers. We’ll check back with the site when those numbers – be they good or bad – are displayed.  

Editors' Recommendations

Microsoft just teased its next big Windows 11 update
Windows 11 22H2 Tablet Taskbar YouTube screenshot

Microsoft has given us a glimpse of a feature that "Moment 2" may bring as early as January 2023.

Since Windows 11 version 22H2, the Redmond, WA company has dedicated to releasing smaller feature updates, known internally as "Moment." The first one gave us the much-requested tabs in File Explorer (along with its Context IQ tech). The next Windows 11 version 22H2 "Moment" is currently slated for early 2023, according to sources, after it undergoes testing throughout 2022.

Read more
All the reasons the new Surface devices are worse than before
The Surface Pro 9 with the Type Cover keyboard lifted up.

We expect tech to get better with each generation. After all, what's the point of releasing a new version of your product if it's not better than the previous version?

It's the question I had after reviewing the new Surface Pro 9 and Surface Laptop 5. There are plenty of good things about these new Surface devices, but there are a few ways they're actually worse than their predecessors, the Surface Pro 8 and Surface Laptop 4. That's not what you want in a launch of new products, especially when the competition continues to move forward.

Read more
Is Microsoft’s new PC cleaner just an Edge ad in disguise?
The new PC Manager app on a Windows 11 desktop

Microsoft really wants you to use the Edge browser, so much so that the company has tied it to PC optimization in a new settings app. Microsoft PC Manager does what you could always do by opening the settings menu, but the new app also prompts you to set Edge as your default browser.

Screenshots of the new app were posted on Twitter by @ALumia_Italia and appears to show what is a public beta of the app. The app performs basic maintenance functions. You can check startup apps, check for updates, run disk cleanup, and other minor optimizations.

Read more