Windows 7 Powers MS Through Recession, Hottest OS Yet

Just a week after digital content distributor Steam announced nearly a quarter of its members had already made the switch to Windows 7, Microsoft Corp. has revealed that its latest operating system is now the most-rapidly adopted OS in the history of PCs.

Win7: 60 Million Licenses and Counting

Microsoft released Windows 7 on October 22 of last year. Over the course of Microsoft's second quarter within the last fiscal year, the Redmond-based firm reported selling some 60 million Windows 7 licenses, making it the hottest OS in the history of personal computers.

In a recent report, industry trackers Netmarketshare.com found that Windows 7 had been installed to 7.51 per cent of all PCs connected to the web. That means it's still well behind Microsoft's last memorable OS, Windows XP (66.3 per cent) but significantly higher than any of those Mac OS' put together by competitor Apple.

Win7 Sales Power MS Through Recession

Peter Klein, Microsoft's Chief Financial Officer, says the demand for Windows 7 has been critical for his company's growth. "Exceptional demand for Windows 7 led to the positive top-line growth for the company. Our continuing commitment to managing costs allowed us to drive earnings performance ahead of the revenue growth," Klein remarked. (Source: xbitlabs.com)

Indeed, Microsoft's revenue was up considerably over the same period last year.

According to reports, the firm announced a record revenue of over $19 billion for the second quarter ending December 31, 2009. That's a 14 per cent jump over the same time period a year prior. These are enormously important numbers for a software firm that was forced to lay off thousands of employees between winter and spring 2010.

Windows XP Declines Sharply

Still, while Microsoft continues to chip away at its only real OS competitor, Apple, the majority of its success with Windows 7 has come at the cost of Windows XP. Reports suggest the latter OS has dropped at a rate three times faster than Vista since the release of Win7.

If Windows 7's hot start continues, experts believe it will overtake Windows Vista as the second-most popular OS (behind XP) on the market by June of this year. (Source: computerworld.com)