Windows 7: Over 200 per cent more popular than Vista

That Windows 7 is more popular than Vista is no surprise - but just how much more love is Microsoft's latest OS getting?

According to research by analyst NPD Group, Windows 7's first week after release blew Vista's out of the water.

NPD found that boxed copies of Windows 7 outsold their Vista equivalent by 234 per cent in the US.

But the Windows 7 buying frenzy hasn't translated into a similar bump in sales of PCs with Windows preloaded.

The number of Windows PCs sold in the days after Windows 7's launch were up 95 per cent on the week before. Vista, however, saw a 170 per cent boost in PC sales compared to the week before it launched, NPD said.

However, it's likely the global recession as well as the respective timing of the releases of the two OSes - January, when Vista was launched, is traditionally a higher volume month for PC shipments than October, when Windows 7 was released - have played a part in the sales disparity.

A recent survey of European and US IT professionals found that more than half of new corporate PCs are expected to run Windows 7 within 12 months.

If the prediction is correct, it would mean Windows 7 would have been adopted by business more quickly than any other Microsoft OS, according to the software giant.

"Windows 7 is proving more popular than Vista was when it first launched
(Screenshot: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)