Microsoft sells 20 million copies of Windows Vista
Microsoft has claimed that 20 million copies of its latest operating system, Windows Vista, have already been sold to consumers since it was released on 30th January. This compares to the 17 million copies of XP sold in its first two months.
“While it’s very early in the product lifecycle, we are setting a foundation for Windows Vista to become the fastest-adopted version of Windows ever,” commented Bill Veghte, Microsoft’s corporate vice president.
The figures include copies of Vista that came pre-installed on new PCs, as well as those recent XP users entitled to a free Vista upgrade. However, Windows marketing director Bill Mannion said that the upgrade programme had boosted the overall figures but certainly wasn’t a core component of the 20m.
Both Microsoft and PC manufacturers are noticing that consumers tend to be purchasing the higher-end versions of Vista, though that’s perhaps not too surprising given that some of the key ‘wow’ features of Vista aren’t included in the more basic versions.
Microsoft also claimed that initial problems with users getting hold of their Vista upgrades after purchasing XP machines late last year have now been solved.
