07/17/2008, 5:05pm, EDT
Thursday, July 17thMicrosoft sells 180m of Vista in 18 months
Microsoft on Thursday afternoon revealed as part of its latest quarterly results that it has sold 180 million copies of Windows Vista in the roughly 18 months since the operating system's launch in late January 2007. The news comes as Microsoft also reveals that it has earned more than $60 billion in revenue for one fiscal year and notes that its income grew 18 percent over the 12-month span. Unlike some past years, Microsoft credits the success to a broader success that includes Vista alongside the recently-launched Windows Server 2008, Office, various server apps, and the Xbox 360.
The company had a "strong finish" with the spring quarter, according to Microsoft chief financial officer Chris Liddell. It earned just over $15.8 billion in the quarter and grew a proportionate 18 percent for the one quarter versus the same period in 2007.
Microsoft's numbers reveal a relative resurgence in Vista sales over the past two months. While the statistic averages to about 10 million copies of Vista sold each month -- a figure reached just a few months into Vista's existence -- the company as recently as May boasted that it had sold 140 million copies both to PC vendors and end users. This puts Vista sales at about 20 million per month for the past two months and more closely reflects the sales rate Microsoft saw when it first launched the software.
Forecasts from the company also anticipate continued demand for the next fiscal year and would have Microsoft earn between $67.3 billion and $68.1 billion in revenue, or a gain of at least 11 percent.
Filed under: industry
Other story tags: Microsoft, Vista, Xbox 360
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BS
I haven't seen more than 10 people using it out of the thousands of PC users I have encountered
great!
The more POS named Vista MS sells, the more people will convert to OSX.
Yeah right
Only 95% of people who know, use the 'downgrade' rights to switch back to Windows XP. But MS still counts them as a happy Vista user....
New PCs
Vista comes bundled with new PCs, that is the major part of the sales. When PC sales are up it will be reflected on Vista sales as well.
It's called...
Inertia.
Keeps the Earth spinning round the sun and MS getting upgrades every few years.
Congrats!
Nicely done, Microsoft. You can't really dismiss such figures. With that many existing customers, time and ease are going to guarantee continued success for Windows updates.
Still, I've never used Windows for over 20 years on my computers, and probably never will. I'm a very satisfied Mac OS user whose never had problem using the OS or being really concerned by anyone who didn't.
Nice going, Apple!
/
I like it
I've been a mac user since 1985, and have 4 macs running osx. I'm also a windows user and just got a new Dell Latitude D830 laptop and decided to get Vista on it. I must say, I really like Vista. So far it works great for me and I'm very pleased with it.
Things I like more in Windows than on a Mac:
The task bar -- it is far easier and more intuitive than the menu bar dock on the mac in that I can see which apps are open (i.e. multiple spreadsheets open at the same time) and makes it easier to toggle between them.
Menus that stick with the application window instead of being on the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Windows Explorer -- it is far easier to navigate to files and find what I want via explorer than it is using the finder.
Acrobat, outlook, word, excel, and firefox all work better on a PC than they do on a Mac.
Things I like more on a mac than in windows:
Spotlight -- makes it easier to search for things and is seamless.
Secure -- I don't worry as much about viruses on my macs, although I have never had one on either platform.
Ease of setting up child friendly settings on the mac.
Bonjour -- easy to setup new periferals, although Vista seems to do a very nice job at this as well -- at least when adding a printer.
Anyway -- they both have their pros and cons, and I happen to like and use both.
Cheap PC sales reflects
This number comes from all the cheap PC sales that have the useless home basic edition that can barely run itself let alone anything else. I bet more than half of those copies haven't even been opened because the customers had a copy of XP waiting to install instead.
Actual users
Thats great. 180 million units sold, but only about a dozen using it.
Nope
I hate the menu bar on the windows, on Windows. Think about all the windows you can have open and how many menu bars that requires, where the Mac has one which changes depending on what app you're in. The Mac way just makes sense. You don't need 10 menu bars taking up space when you're not even in that application. If you want the choices closer to where you are working, most apps have a tool pallet and you can open and close that at will.
On a Mac it is so easy to tell what documents are open and switch to them: Alt-tab, F9, F10, or just the fact that the windows can be splayed out, unlike in "Windows" where the documents are stuck within the window of the application and can't be moved wherever without blocking out your entire screen with the apps background.
Windows wastes so much screen space, uselessly. Everywhere you look (the sides of their windows, the tops of their windows, their bar at the bottom of the screen which is mostly empty and useless (at least the Mac Menu bar serves a purpose), everywhere!
I've been a computer tech for nearly 15 years and work with both Macs and PCs. Whether I'm fixing a problem or working with them, Macs are always easier to use, troubleshoot and fix—not to mention they have way fewer problems to begin with. I hardly ever see Vista, but when I do, it's a major problem. Something as simple as installing a program on my friend's computer turned into a huge fiasco. The < 6 month old computer can't even run the program on Vista because it's such a hog. The same program works fine on XP or OS X.
If I had to work on Vista, and couldn't work on Macs; I'd switch my occupation.