Despite underwhelming consumers and being snubbed by enterprises, Windows Vista’s numbers keep growing, with Microsoft Corp. saying Thursday that it has now shipped 88 million copies of the operating system, almost double the number of copies of XP in the same amount of time at its launch.
In late July, Microsoft said it had hit the 60 million shipment mark with Vista.
Microsoft had previously said that it had shipped 20 million copies of Vista in its first month and 40 million copies of Vista in the first 100 days.
Microsoft credited Vista with helping it beat Wall Street expectations and raise financial projections for the rest of the year. The company reported revenue of $13.76 billion for the first quarter ended Sept. 30, up 27 per cent from the same quarter in 2006. Revenue in its client segment, which includes all consumer versions of Windows, was $4.14 billion, edging out the $4.11 billion in revenue from the Microsoft Business Division where Office is produced.
CFO Chris Liddell credited strong sales in emerging markets, due in part to anti-piracy and legalization programs there.