Just in: 3D printing goes mainstream with Stratasys' $403m MakerBot buy

Topic: Windows

Discover

Microsoft: 300 million copies of Windows 7 sold

Summary: Microsoft has sold 300 million copies of Windows 7 to date, officials said on January 27, the day the company is reporting its Q2 FY11 earnings.

Mary Jo Foley

By for All About Microsoft |

Microsoft has sold 300 million copies of Windows 7 to date, officials said on January 27, the day the company is reporting its Q2 FY11 earnings.

That's up from the 240 million figure we last heard in October 2010.

Microsoft execs also said that Windows 7 is now on 20 percent of all Internet-connected PCs.

According to a copy of Microsoft's earnings report, which went out ahead of the close of the financial markets, Microsoft earned $19.95 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $8.17 billion, $6.63 billion and $0.77 per share, respectively. The quarter really "Kinected" for Microsoft, as my blogging colleague Larry Dignan noted.

In November last year, Forrester Research reported that 10 percent of business PCs in North America and Europe were running Windows 7. As of November, Windows 7 was deployed on 31 percent of brand-new PCs purchased by business users surveyed by Forrester. The research firm predicted that within a year, that number will grow to 83 percent.

Update: While unit sales of Windows 7 were strong, overall Windows/Windows Live revenues were down by Windows and Windows Live revenues were down 30 percent from the year-ago quarter. But in the second quarter of Microsoft's FY10, the Windows unit's revenues were buoyed by deferred revenues from Microsoft's upgrade program.

Topics: Windows, Banking, Microsoft, Operating Systems, Software

About

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Contact Disclosure

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Talkback

66 comments
Log in or register to join the discussion

  • Pheeww - Thank Goodness!

    Because I was about to get a boatload about "MS is doomed" from the Mac Users and Linux nut heads if this quarter turned out to produce lower revenue. Thanks for extra info on Windows 7 sales hitting 300 million, extra ammunition to rub in Mac Cult and Linux nutcase faces. Windows 7 should be on 600 million PC's by 2012, impressive. Look like Windows Phone 7 is the sore spot, hopefully it will pick up later in the year with the expected update and more carrier support (and please Microsoft, better marketing push, please just give it all you got).
    Mr. Dee
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft: 300 million copies of Windows 7 sold

      @Mr. Dee

      It's all FUD. Windows 7 will be in the bargain bin by next month. M$ is lying.


      ;)
      The one and only, Cylon Centurion
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Microsoft: 300 million copies of Windows 7 sold

        @Cylon Centurion 0005
        Eventually they have to start selling fewer than 7 copies per second, right?

        At this rate, I'm a little worried. It looks like this won't be the decade that Microsoft dies.
        Rich Miles
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Microsoft: 300 million copies of Windows 7 sold

        @Cylon Centurion 0005 That right, according to reliable sources that I cannot name or link to Win32 is no longer relevant... oh wait I meant Win32/64 as I just learned there was a Win64... yeah and Office sucks. This is the year of Linux! Any sort of success MS reports is all FUD and lies but any issues they don't report is even worse...

        Wow so THAT's what it's like to be an ABMer....
        athynz
        Reply Vote

      • Loverock Davidson sent me a e-mail confirming that according to his friend

        Mike Coc that the numbers were correct ...... and we all know that Mike Cox wouldn't tell a lie to Lovie as we all know they're attached at the hip :-)
        Linux_Forever
        Reply Vote

    • "Mac Cult and Linux nutcase faces"

      That's not very nice Mr. Dee. Plus it is not very lyrical...doesn't really roll of the tongue. You should have said: "...rub in the faces of Mac Cultists and Linux Nut Jobs"

      Cheers!
      CowLauncher
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Microsoft: 300 million copies of Windows 7 sold

        @CowLauncher I would prefer if you used Mac-Wackjobs and Linux Schmucks
        Mr. Dee
        Reply Vote

    • I wasn't going to say a word

      @Mr. Dee
      But it's still been 12 years or so since I've run into someone (in person) who was genuinely enthusiastic about MS products. MS still derives the vast majority of its revenue from being the default (something which hasn't changed in at least 15 years).

      Revenue doesn't tell the whole story, though it's a good sign for MS that they haven't had to sell Windows 7 licenses with "downgrade rights".
      John L. Ries
      Reply Vote

      • Why would they?

        @John L. Ries

        The only OS that Windows 7 could downgrade to would be Vista. The age of computers made for XP is long dead. Buying a multi-core machine with XP is money wasted.
        The one and only, Cylon Centurion
        Reply Vote

      • The popularity of the Apple stores

        should have given them a cue.

        A massive shift underway in IT today. An IT renaissance after the dark ages. Exciting times.
        Richard Flude
        Reply Vote

      • the popularity of the Apple stores

        @Richard Flude not really
        pupkin_z
        Reply Vote

      • Don't hold back - Do tell

        [i]But it's still been 12 years or so since I've run into someone (in person) who was genuinely enthusiastic about MS products.[/i]

        Except for the paid shills M$ has that come on here to these blogs. Or don't they count? lol...

        [i]MS still derives the vast majority of its revenue from being the default (something which hasn't changed in at least 15 years).[/i]

        Yup, the only OS seen in the stores, unless they happen to sell Apple, too.

        [i]Revenue doesn't tell the whole story, though it's a good sign for MS that they haven't had to sell Windows 7 licenses with "downgrade rights".[/i]

        Good point. I almost forgot about that 'ringing endorsement' of Vista.

        [i]more[/i] lol...
        search & destroy
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Microsoft: 300 million copies of Windows 7 sold

        @John L. Ries you need to get out more :)
        RonanSail
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Microsoft: 300 million copies of Windows 7 sold

        @John L. Ries If people had critiqued Apple because well its revenue does not say everything people would be screaming bloody murder.

        The reality is that it is all about Apple Cultists. The Linux nutjobs have left the building, and the M$FT pumpers don't care anymore because well they are tired of this discussion.

        The reality is that Windows is here to stay whether you like it or not. And Linux is here to stay. I am using both Windows 7 and Linux Ubuntu 10.10 and have to say I rather like both operating systems.
        serpentmage
        Reply Vote

      • I have. Part of that 300 million Win7 sales

        @John L. Ries
        have come from people I know that are genuinely enthusiastic about Windows 7.
        XBox360 and Kinect are in many of our friends and relative's homes as of December 2010, and from those I've talked to that have WP7, they really do, like it.
        John Zern
        Reply Vote

        • Sorry Richard Fluid

          @John Zern
          I agree that telling yourself that helps you sleep at night, but that's your problem, not ours. ;)
          John Zern
          Reply Vote

      • serpentmage: Yes, but we're discussing MS now

        And, as far as I can tell, Apple doesn't have a history of cooking the books to "prove" that its products are successful and doesn't need to. There are reasons why Apple has a cult following and they have to do with the genuine enthusiasm for Apple products, which their users actively seek out.<br><br>While I have no reason to suspect the revenue numbers for Windows 7 (as I did for Vista), the fact remains that Windows is dominant because it is preloaded on the vast majority of personal computers and it's all that the vast majority of the computing public are familiar with. People don't need to make any effort to get a Windows PC; rather, it takes a fair amount of effort to get a non-Apple PC that's not preloaded with Windows. It's successful because it's the default, and for no other reason. There may well be MS-cultists in real life, but I haven't come across one in person (rather than cyberspace) since the late 1990s. For the vast majority, MS products are preferred solely because they are familiar, "everybody else" uses them, and in the case of Windows, it automatically comes with your computer. In short, it's the default and that hasn't changed in a very long time.<br><br>However, I do like the current line of propaganda better than the traditional insinuation that MS' continued overwhelming dominance is necessary to preserve the culture of interoperability that has developed over the past 30 years. It's no more honest, but doesn't try to lay a guilt trip on those who choose to use software that competes with Windows and Office.<br><br>BTW: I don't think that MS or Windows is likely to disappear, but I can envision a competitive market dominated by neither MS nor any other vendor, in which the market share for Windows is between 25% and 40%. So yes, I agree that Windows is here to stay.
        John L. Ries
        Reply Vote

      • John L. Ries, don't you think that Windows 7

        is preloaded onto machines for a reason? MS isn't forcing OEM's to preload Windows, they want it to sell systems.

        [i]It's successful because it's the default, and for no other reason[/i]

        If the OEM's thought they'd still sell the same amount or more with Linux installed, they would do so, and not have to purchase Windows licenses, period.

        Though it may explain the success of the iPad, people only buy that over Android tablets simply because, for no other reason, that they are used to it, as it's familiar to them after owning an iPhone?
        John Zern
        Reply Vote

      • More John Zern bullsh!t

        [i]is preloaded onto machines for a reason? MS isn't forcing OEM's to preload Windows, they want it to sell systems.[/i]

        Tell that to the Justice Department. Even (as feeble as it is) the oversight order is that is still in effect.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft

        And let's not forget their rallying cry...

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish

        And now we have this nonsense

        http://www.antitrusttoday.com/2010/05/19/court-finds-microsoft%E2%80%99s-apple-defense-half-baked/

        [i]If the OEM's thought they'd still sell the same amount or more with Linux installed, they would do so, and not have to purchase Windows licenses, period.[/i]

        You keep persisting in this lie. The only way that would be believed is if they offered to sell hardware with blank HDDs, and let the customer choose which OS to have loaded on it at the point of sale, which you already know they don't.

        Just cut the M$ propaganda bullsh!t, @John Zern. Nobody (except your fellow shills) believes you.
        search &amp; destroy
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Microsoft: 300 million copies of Windows 7 sold

        @John L. Ries They simplified things in Win7, they included XP in it as XP Mode (Win7 Professional/Enterprise/Ultimate) for those who really need that compatibility.<br><br>With the brilliant UI and XP Mode, you've got the best of both worlds.
        lepoete73
        Reply Vote
CNET Join | Log In | Privacy | Cookies Close