During the meeting, which was broadcast over the Internet, Ballmer wouldn't say exactly how many licenses or copies were sold to consumers and businesses, but previous reports that put Vista's sales in the first month at 20 million makes it easy to calculate sales of Windows 7 at about 40 million.

Since its Oct. 22 release, Windows 7 has received good reviews from consumers and developers . That doesn't mean, however, that Microsoft can sit back and relax.

Minimal Impact

Gartner analysts expected the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 to have a minimal impact on PC sales, although inventory adjustments around the same time could artificially affect shipments during the third and fourth quarters.

Recent Windows releases haven't driven PC market growth, according to Gartner's Mikako Kitagawa. The timing of Windows 7, however, is favorable for the industry because of expected economic improvements and an overdue hardware replacement cycle.

Gartner also anticipates more consumers and small businesses will upgrade during the holiday season because of the Windows 7 release. On the corporate level, analysts expect Windows 7 adoption won't ramp up until late 2010.

Shipments Better Than Expected

While analysts predicted the PC market this year would suffer substantially compared to 2008, shipments of PCs have been doing better than expected, according to a Gartner report.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 80.9 million units in the third quarter, a 0.5 percent increase from the third quarter 2008, according to Gartner.

While most PCs are shipped with Windows operating systems, Apple continues to increase its share of Mac shipments year over year, according to IDC, a technology research firm.

One shareholder asked Ballmer how Microsoft plans to address the growing number of college students buying Macs.

"You take any audience in the U.S. ... and say how are we doing? The truth of the matter is we do quite well. Even amongst college students, we do quite well," Ballmer said. "It is important to remember that 96 times out of 100 worldwide people choose a PC with Windows. That's a good thing. Even in the sort of toughest market, which would be kind of the high end of the consumer market here in the U.S., 83 times out 100 people choose a Windows PC over a Mac. That does not us rest on our laurels, not at all."

What's Next?

Just one day before Ballmer shared the success of Windows 7 with shareholders, Windows 7 boss Steven Sinofsky was at the Professional Developers Conference fielding questions from individuals asking about Microsoft's next operating system.

Sinofsky didn't offer much to the crowd except to say that giving information prematurely takes away from the surprise ending.