Windows 7 Birthday: 240 Million Copies Sold In Its First Year

Oct 21 is Windows 7 first anniversary and in the space of a year, the company sold more than 240 million licenses, a record for a Microsoft operating system’s first year. Can you believe it's only been a year since Windows 7 hit the market? Of course, Microsoft is celebrating Windows 7's birthday the best way it knows how: sales numbers. Turns out the little OS has done pretty well for itself, with 240 million licenses sold, giving it a 17 percent global operating system market share, and making it a healthy chunk of the 1.2 billion Windows PCs out there. As for the slow-to-adopt businesses out there, Microsoft still has some work to do, but it says 90 percent of companies have upgraded or "started their move" to 7.



"I think Windows 7 has exceeded expectations," said Gavriella Schuster, general manager of Windows Product Management. "We delivered what we said we were going to deliver, when we said we would deliver it, with very high quality."




For months before its official launch, Windows 7 raked in positive reviews and feedback from customers around the world. The operating system also was released into one of the biggest economic downturns in recent history, yet it was quickly and widely adopted by consumers and businesses alike.

Windows 7 at One Year

People are four times more likely to recommend Windows 7 to a colleague or friend than they were a year ago, and in its first five months, the number of IT professionals recommending Windows 7 surpassed those recommending Windows XP.

In addition, as Windows 7 marks its one-year anniversary, it:

• Has sold more than 240 million licenses worldwide • Has a customer satisfaction rate of 94%* • Is on more than 1.2 billion Windows PCs worldwide • Is on 93 percent of new consumer PCs, as of September • Has over 17 percent of the global operating system share** • Has inspired nearly 90 percent of companies to upgrade or start upgrading to the new OS • On average, can save companies US$140 per PC per year, and a 131 percent return on investment in the first year

* Lifehacker

** Net Applications, October 1, 2010