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Microsoft: 350 million licenses of Windows 7 sold in 18 months

Microsoft officials said on April 22 that the company has sold 350 million Windows 7 licenses in the 18 months the product has been available.
Written by Mary Jo Foley, Senior Contributing Editor

Microsoft officials said on April 22 that the company has sold 350 million Windows 7 licenses in the 18 months the product has been available.

(Other recent milestones from Microsoft on Windows 7 include 240 million sold in its first year of availability, and 300 million licenses sold as of late January 2011.)

Microsoft doesn't break out in its numbers how many of those licenses are preinstalled on new PCs, sold as upgrades or sold to volume licensees.

Microsoft unveiled in the UK this week a new way to try to help the company sell more Windows PCs to consumers. Microsoft is picking certain models to highlight as being best in category.

The "Windows Collection" subsite on Microsoft's Windows Web page organizes PC by primary function -- "mobile companion," "professional," "gaming," etc. -- and lists several different models at different price points from various vendors. Microsoft officials said the idea is to reduce the emphasis on speeds and feeds, and highlight the differences in design and form factors. Microsoft has been doing something similar for a while with Windows 7, but "The Collection" is an updated presentation of the grouping by function concept.

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