Microsoft: Vista Intro Outsold XP

Sales of Vista during the first month that the newest Windows operating system was available to consumers were more than double the sales that Windows XP racked up in twice the time, Microsoft Corp. said.

Microsoft sold over 20 million Vista licenses in its first month, the company said. That compares to the first two months of XP sales, which reached 17 million licenses.

The figures didn't impress one expert. "I would be more surprised if that weren't true," said Richard Shim, an analyst with IDC. "Back when XP launched, the cards were really stacked against XP. We were just coming off the bubble bursting and the PC market was in a trough."

In addition, there are a lot more PC users now than when XP launched so Vista sales should naturally be better, he said.