Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer revealed that he can find no measure of comparison between Windows Vista and older Microsoft platforms such as Windows XP and Windows 95. Present at Software 2007, in Santa Clara California, Ballmer answered a question coming from the moderator related to the three operating systems.

In Microsoft CEO's perspective, Windows Vista is in a different league altogether, separated by the two other Windows platforms in terms of innovation and market success. According to data made available by Microsoft, in the first month since Vista hit the shelves, the operating system sold in excess of 20 million licenses, outperforming Windows XP by more than 2 to 1.

"OK, that leads me to my first question on Vista itself. So, Windows 95 -- look back: Windows 95, XP, Vista. How do the three things compare?" was the question and Ballmer delivered the following answer: "Well, each came at kind of a different time for the industry, different times for Microsoft. In a sense, Windows 95 was really the kickoff for the broad acceptance of the PC. And you can't repeat that, since PCs are very popular. On the other hand, in terms of kind of range and amount of innovation, speed with which customers have embraced the new products, certainly Vista is really in a class by itself."

At over 100 days since the initial date of availability, Windows Vista has found its way onto no less than 3.02% of the world's desktops. This makes Windows Vista the forth most adopted operating system globally behind only Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Mac OS X.