Microsoft Sells 20M Vista Copies in Month

Mar 26, 06:46 PM

Current Headlines: Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista sales topped 20 million in the first month, the Redmond, Wash., software company said Monday.

By comparison, Vista predecessor Windows XP sold 17 million copies in its first two months, Microsoft said.

We are encouraged to see such a positive consumer response to Windows Vista right out of the gate, Vice President Bill Veghte said.

The PC market is 66 percent greater this year than when the XP operating system was released in October 2001. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 136 million units then, compared with 227 million computers shipped in 2006, research firm IDC said.

Vista was released to consumers Jan. 30.

Microsoft's figures include not only boxed copy sales and those included on new PCs, but also sales from people who bought Windows XP during the holiday season and applied for a free Vista upgrade, the software company said.

The early sales also show more people are buying the higher-end version of Vista than in past operating-system introductions, Microsoft said.