Microsoft's Vista sold 20 million copies in its first month

Microsoft claims that it shifted more than 20 million copies of Windows Vista in its first month following the consumer launch, more than doubling the rate at which Windows XP was snapped up.

In contrast, the business world is still - in the main - exercising caution in its rate of Vista adoption, with research released last week revealing that 68 per cent of UK companies with more than 3,000 employees have no plans to upgrade to the new operating system.

The software giant unveiled the figures yesterday, drowning out the previous fanfare sounded back in 2002 when it announced that Windows XP had sold 17 million copies during its first two months on the market.

The high demand is testament to the value of Vista's enhanced security and usability features in addition to new tools and upgrade assistance programmes, according to Microsoft.

"We are encouraged to see such a positive consumer response to Windows Vista right out of the gate," said Bill Veghte, corporate vice president of the Windows business group at Microsoft.

"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. Working with our partners, we are helping our customers leverage new tools and programmes to accelerate the transition and provide a great user experience."

The 20 million-plus tally is made up of a mixture of full packaged products, upgrades and licences sold to PC manufacturers between January 30 and February 28.

In separate news this week, Microsoft used one of its blogs to make small businesses and home users aware that they can now receive a 10 per cent discount if they want to purchase additional Vista licences.

But comments posted on the blog showed that users are not impressed by the cost savings on offer.

"Honestly, it leaves much to be desired (and I speak not as a Linux or Apple zealot), especially as you can easily find Vista discounted by 5-7 per cent at Amazon.com or marked down by about that much at retail stores like Best Buy. In fact, with the sales tax rate in most states, it may actually be cheaper to buy it at Amazon than at a 10 per cent discount from Microsoft," said one poster.

"...Ten per cent isn't worth it unless you are completely incapable of comparison shopping, or you live 100 miles from the nearest computer store and you're on metered dialup."

Disgruntled UK users have also set up an e-petition to lobby the government to investigate international Vista pricing discrepancies.

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