MSFT: Windows 7 is Fastest Selling OS of All Time

By Marcus Yam
published

This probably means that it sold faster than Windows Vista.

Microsoft's very proud of its latest operating system Windows 7, as it seems that the general public likes this one far more than its predecessor. In fact, the company boasts that this Windows platform is flying off the shelves faster than any other operating system.

Fast Company quotes Craig Beilinson, the Director of Marketing for Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, as saying, "Windows 7 is by far the fastest selling Operating System in history."

This isn't the first time that Microsoft has boasted about the sales of Windows 7. Shortly after release, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer characterized Windows 7 sales as "fantastic."

"Since launch, we've already sold twice as many units of Windows 7 than any other operating system we've ever launched in a comparable time," Ballmer said in an earlier report.

Sadly, Microsoft still isn't sharing hard sales numbers with any of us yet, but given the growing proliferation of computer users today, (which means that there are more computer users than ever), it's not hard to believe that the latest Windows is selling faster, to more users, than previous releases.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
98 Comments Comment from the forums
  • gorehound
    meh...i am still on XP and loving it.eventually i will upgrade.probably summer 2010.
    Reply
  • naterandrews
    Although I don't like Microsoft I have to give them kudos on "7".
    It is fast, stable, and rock-solid. Running 7 Ultimate right now and it is a good OS, and far more intuitive than any other version of Windows before it.

    With Microsoft lowering the upgrade and full version prices of "7" compared to Vistas' previous pricing schemes, tossing in discounts for students and families with "home bundles", and giving a wider-birth of usage for RC users, its likely that we will see Windows 7 overshadow XP in terms of popularity.
    Reply
  • pcxt21
    As someone who's been booting Windows 7 since Beta. I can defiantly believe that it's selling that well.
    Reply
  • phantomtrooper
    windows 7 is a great os.
    Reply
  • dogofwars
    Too pricey for me, retail is not cheap and if you want to have virtual pc you have to spend almost 100$ more. Very disappointing for that but the OS itself is great.
    Reply
  • hunter315
    looking at the browser stats i would definitely believe it, w3 schools already has it at 9% and vista only ever hit 18.6 so it seems they may finally have found what they needed to produce to kill off vista and XP in one fell swoop.
    http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp
    Reply
  • It's probably flying off shelves because all those suckers that got stuck with Vista are desperate for a new OS.
    Reply
  • dogofwars
    bgrngodIt's probably flying off shelves because all those suckers that got stuck with Vista are desperate for a new OS.
    Most agree with you on that one
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    Windows 7 FTW! Really though, the ONLY reason you NEED to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 is if XP cannot support your software. This will happen, considering it came out in '02. If you're running Vista now, upgrading to Windows 7 should be a no brainer. I couldn't tell you how many times I dealt with crashes in Vista and had to be much more cautious about memory usage because Vista was just plain bloated. Of course though, if you just like to see newer things, Windows 7 looks SLIGHTLY better looking than Windows Vista on the outside. There's a MUCH more visable change between Windows XP and Windows Vista (or even Windows 7). The XPM feature is pretty sweet, too, although I don't have much use for it. I'm on Windows 7 Ultimate OEM 64-bit.
    Reply
  • dogofwars
    For the OEM one, if I choose to install it on another computer am I screwed??
    Reply