Windows 7: 90 Million Sold Copies in 4 Months

Microsoft has sold in excess of 90 million copies of Windows 7 after just four months since the operating system hit store shelves. Windows 7’s official launch was on October 22nd, 2009, although the platform had been finalized months earlier with the RTM on July 22nd. At the start of 2010, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer noted at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show that Windows 7 was the fastest selling operating system in history. At the end of that month, the software giant revealed that it had sold in excess of 60 million licenses for the OS.

“Today during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, [Microsoft] Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein announced that Windows 7 has sold 90 million licenses to-date! That's a lot of Windows 7. We're humbled and excited that people are responding so positively to Windows 7 – our customers have made it the fastest selling operating system in history,” Brandon LeBlanc, Windows communications manager on the Windows Client Communications Team, revealed.

The number offered by Klein is in line with the statistics made public by Internet metrics company net Applications. Windows 7 is credited with a usage share of 8.92%, up from 5.71% at the end of December 2009. After just four months on the market, Windows 7 owns more than half the market share of Windows Vista, which is down to 16.51%. If the current trends continue, Windows 7 will become the second most used operating system worldwide after Windows XP by mid-2010.

“Peter also had an opportunity to show off some of the great hardware innovation coming from our partners in the PC business. He brought three great PCs on stage to show off: the Sony VAIO X which is so sleek and portable it could fit inside a MacBook Air, the Dell Adamo XPS which is the thinnest PC in the world, and the HP Envy 13 which combines breakthrough industrial design with tons of power. I had a hand in helping to get these PCs to Peter for the conference and it was fun to hear him talk about them on stage. All in all, some great momentum for Windows 7 and some great PCs,” LeBlanc added.