Windows 7’s overall superiority to Windows Vista has translated into the latest iteration of the Windows client, leaving its predecessor in the dirt in terms of commercial success as well. Windows 7 RTM has been embraced by over three times more customers compared to Vista RTM in the first week on the market alone. Market research company, The NPD Group, indicated that initial sales of the boxed, retail copies of Windows 7 dwarfed those of Vista’s. In the first few days on the U.S. market, Microsoft sold 234% more boxed copies than Vista, noted The NPD Group.

“Microsoft’s program of early low-cost pre-sales, high visibility marketing, and aggressive deals helped make the Windows 7 software launch successful,” revealed Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. “In a slow environment for packaged software Windows 7 brought a large number of customers into the software aisles.”

Microsoft executives, including Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, had revealed during visits in Taipei and Japan that Windows 7 sales were strong. However, Microsoft has so far failed to confirm the data provided by The NPD Group. At the same time, the Redmond company has yet to make public any official sales figures associated with Windows 7.

Still, although it outsold Vista by 234%, Windows 7 delivered a smaller boost in actual revenue. Statistics provided through the NPD’s weekly tracking service, reveal that actual Windows 7 dollar sales were only 82% higher than Vista. This can be explained through not only the consistent discounts on pre-sales that Microsoft offered, but also through less sales of the Ultimate flavor of Windows 7, as Microsoft worked to focus consumers more on the Home Premium and Professional editions.

And, as was expected, the launch of Windows 7 also contributed to pushing sales of Windows PCs, although to a lesser degree than Vista did starting with the end of January 2007. Sales of Windows 7 computers were 6% less than those of Vista machines, in a maker that reveals an overall 49% year-over-year units growth, and 95% over the week prior to Windows 7’s general availability on October 22nd, 2009.

“A combination of factors impacted Windows 7 PC sales at the outset, but the trajectory of overall PC sales is very strong leading into the holiday season,” added Baker. “Vista had a slight advantage at launch, as January traditionally has a bigger sales footprint than October. The other hurdle Windows 7 faced was sales of PCs with older operating systems (XP and Vista) were high, making up 20 percent of sales during the Windows 7 launch, compared to just 6 percent of older operating sales during Vista’s launch week."