Microsoft revealed on Tuesday that there has been 3 million downloads of the Windows 8 developer preview since September.

The software giant introduced its Windows 8 developer preview in September at the company’s BUILD event. Over 3 million copies have been downloaded and Microsoft is pushing towards a beta in early 2012. Windows Web Services VP Antoine Leblond revealed the statistic during a Windows 8 developer event in San Francisco on Tuesday. Leblond also revealed that there are now 1.25 billion PCs worldwide. “It’s a ridiculously huge number,” he said. He predicts that there will be 400 million new x86 PCs in next 12 months. Leblond also compared Microsoft’s statistics with its rivals. Microsoft has shipped 500 million Windows PCs since Windows 7 shipped compared with 247 million Android devices and 152 million iOS devices and 30 million Macs. “The reach of Windows is just so much bigger,” he said. “That’s what you get to participate in by developing Metro-style Windows apps.”

Microsoft previously revealed that it had recorded 500,000 downloads of the Windows 8 developer preview in just 24 hours. Microsoft is currently preparing a beta copy of Windows 8, to be made available in January. Little is known about the feature set of Microsoft’s Windows 8 beta. Recently leaked screenshots indicate that Microsoft will allow users to change the Start Screen color and the Start Screen background image in beta copies of Windows 8. Microsoft has previously detailed some other minor improvements to the Windows 8 beta. Users will be able to create, name and rearrange Start Screen groups as well as navigate with the Windows 8 Apps screen in a better way. Microsoft is planning to group applications to make it easier for users to identify them in Windows 8 beta. Windows Media Center will also return to Windows 8 beta alongside the typical Windows games, DVD creator and .NET 3.5.