Microsoft has once and for all put the bitter taste of Windows Vista behind it by announcing that its latest desktop operating system, Windows 7, has become the fastest selling operating system in history.
Speaking at the Morgan Stanley technology, media and telecoms conference yesterday, Microsoft's chief financial officer Peter Klein revealed that the software giant has sold over 90 million copies of Windows 7.
Launched in October 2009, Windows 7 received widespread critical acclaim and Microsoft's latest figures suggest the software has sold at an average rate of almost 50 licenses per minute. At close to a sale-per-second, it becomes Microsoft's most successful launch, but Windows 7 still has some way to go in terms of global market share.
Current statistics from Net Applications suggest Windows 7 has captured an eight per cent share of the operating system market in a period of just over four months. An impressive rate of growth, and one that has eclipsed all non-Windows operating systems, but Microsoft will be wary of the fact that 7's predecessors - Vista and XP - remain more prominent. The much-maligned Vista operating system currently commands some 16 per cent of the market, whilst Windows XP remains dominant with a massive 65 per cent share.
Windows XP's success is of course accredited to its widespread corporate use, and Microsoft is hoping that businesses will begin an expected transition to Windows 7 roughly a year after release.
"There will be an enterprise refresh cycle," said Microsoft's Peter Klein when asked about the relatively-slow uptake among business users.
"It's not precisely certain when that will happen and how fast it will happen. But as we've been saying, specifically for the last several quarters, we expect it to happen this calendar year and go into next calendar year."
Microsoft's Windows division reported a $5.4 billion profit for the last quarter, a figure almost double that of the same period last year.
Want to know more about Windows 7? Take a look out our multi-part review:
HEXUS: Windows 7 review index |
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