Windows 7 Is 400 Million Licenses Strong, Vista SP1 Support Dropped
Ever since Windows 7 reached the GA (General Availability) milestone, Redmond-based software giant Microsoft has been touting the fact that it is the fastest selling operating system in history. During the first day of the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shed a little more light on just how successful Windows 7 is.
Ballmer announced that to date, more than 400 million Windows 7 licenses have been sold. This means that 1 Windows 7 license continues to be sold per second. Out of all the PCs in the world, Windows 7 is used on 27.13% of them (according to figures released by Net Applications for June 2011).
To prove that Windows 7 is the fastest selling operating system in history, Microsoft has, from time to time, released figures to back its claim. Here are the figures Microsoft made public so far:
January 2010 – 60 million licenses sold
March 2010 – 90 million licenses sold
April 2010 – 100 million licenses sold
June 2010 – 150 million licenses sold
October 2010 – 240 million licenses sold
January 2011 – 300 million licenses sold
April 2011 – 350 million licenses sold.
July 2011 – 400 million licenses sold.
While Windows 7 is doing fine and selling at a rate of 1 license per second, the Windows Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1) is retiring. Microsoft pulled support for Vista SP1 as of the 12th of July, 2011. Microsoft advises Vista SP1 users to update to SP2 or to switch to Windows 7. Microsoft has set up an end of support page that you can visit to ensure your PC is on the latest service pack.
What about Windows XP, the operating system that has been out there since 2001 and continues to be used by a lot of people? Microsoft will continue to provide extended support for Windows XP for some 1000 days more. Or to put it in other words, Microsoft will drop support for Windows XP on the 8th of April, 2014. Once support is dropped, Microsoft will no longer issue security patches and hotfixes for any Windows XP version.
Ballmer announced that to date, more than 400 million Windows 7 licenses have been sold. This means that 1 Windows 7 license continues to be sold per second. Out of all the PCs in the world, Windows 7 is used on 27.13% of them (according to figures released by Net Applications for June 2011).
To prove that Windows 7 is the fastest selling operating system in history, Microsoft has, from time to time, released figures to back its claim. Here are the figures Microsoft made public so far:
January 2010 – 60 million licenses sold
March 2010 – 90 million licenses sold
April 2010 – 100 million licenses sold
June 2010 – 150 million licenses sold
October 2010 – 240 million licenses sold
January 2011 – 300 million licenses sold
April 2011 – 350 million licenses sold.
July 2011 – 400 million licenses sold.
While Windows 7 is doing fine and selling at a rate of 1 license per second, the Windows Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1) is retiring. Microsoft pulled support for Vista SP1 as of the 12th of July, 2011. Microsoft advises Vista SP1 users to update to SP2 or to switch to Windows 7. Microsoft has set up an end of support page that you can visit to ensure your PC is on the latest service pack.
What about Windows XP, the operating system that has been out there since 2001 and continues to be used by a lot of people? Microsoft will continue to provide extended support for Windows XP for some 1000 days more. Or to put it in other words, Microsoft will drop support for Windows XP on the 8th of April, 2014. Once support is dropped, Microsoft will no longer issue security patches and hotfixes for any Windows XP version.
