Concomitantly with Microsoft's release of Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007 to the company's Software Assurance customers via volume licensing on November 30, 2006 at the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square, NY, Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer forecasted their success.

As far as Windows Vista is concerned, it is no secret that Microsoft is pushing for an adoption rate that will outpace the market performance of Windows XP by 2:1. Just in 2007, the Redmond Company is looking to ensure that Vista will find its way onto 20% of the world's desktops. Even at the expense of Windows XP.

"During the last decade, Windows 95 and Office 95 transformed the way people work," Ballmer said. "These new products announced today are the most advanced work that Microsoft has ever done, and I believe they signal the beginning of a new wave of innovation that will have an even more profound impact during the next decade."

At the press conference marking the most significant product launch in Microsoft's history, Ballmer revealed the numbers not only for Vista, but for Office 2007 and Exchange 2007. According to Microsoft's CEO, the software giant is looking, by the end of 2007, to draw the line and count a total of 200 million copies of the three offerings in use worldwide.

"These are game-changing products," Ballmer said. "It's an incredible step forward for business computing in a year of unprecedented innovation from Microsoft. We expect that more than 200 million people will be using at least one of these products by the end of 2007."