Microsoft on Friday announced that it has sold over 350 million licenses of Windows 7 in the past 18 months. The milestone points to a momentum in the adoption of Windows 7, but Microsoft didn’t break down the numbers into how many copies shipped with new PCs or are upgrades.Despite impressive growth, Windows 7 is second (with 24 percent) only to its older sibling, Windows XP, which still holds around 55 percent of the market. But Windows 7 could on track to become the most popular operating system if Microsoft continues to sell at this rate. Alex Wilhelm calculated for The Next Web that Microsoft sold over the past 18 months 450 copies of Windows 7 per minute. So to be more exact, Windows 7 will eclipse XP in 12 to 15 months, according to an ArsTechnica estimate.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/226126/.htmlAlso see:Windows 7: 350 million licenses sold in 18 months
Eighteen months after Windows 7 was released, Microsoft is boasting that it has sold 350 million licenses of its flagship operating system. The platform’s sales have barely slowed since the company last bragged about numbers; after 12 months, 240 million licenses had been shipped.All a far cry from Windows Vista’s market take-up. Though Windows Vista sold well — around 330 million Internet users two years after launch — its reception was lukewarm, and though users actually quite liked it, it failed to achieve acceptance in the essential corporate market.
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/04/windows-7-350-million-licenses-sold-in-18-months.arsWindows 7 expands lead over Vista, still dwarfed by Windows XP
Windows 7 has expanded its lead over Windows Vista with more than 350 million licenses sold after 18 months on the market, Microsoft said Friday. But Windows XP, older than both Vista and 7, still captures about half of the desktop operating system market with Mac and Linux far behind.”Analyst firms like IDC estimate that more than 90% of businesses are currently in progress with their Windows 7 migrations,” Microsoft official Brandon LeBlanc blogged Friday. “And we’ve seen that companies who have deployed Windows 7 save an average of $140 per PC per year — showing a 131% return on investment in just more than 12 months.”
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/042211-windows7-350-million.html