‘Windows Vista is Microsoft’s top selling product in Russia at the moment, while its nearest predecessor Microsoft Windows XP is only the second most popular product whose sales amount to 25% or 30% in the total turnover. Moreover, people increasingly tend to buy Windows Vista even if the computer or laptop they’ve just bought has Windows XP installed on it already,’ Valeria Shverova of Belyi Veter Yekaterinburg said to UrBC.

According to RBC daily, the global sales of Microsoft’s operating systems initially dropped by 24%, or down to $4.03bn, but thanks to Vista boosting sales a little bit and Windows XP retaining the better part of its popularity, the demand went up again.

‘Windows Vista is believed to be more productive than the earlier versions; moreover, it offers the user a whole range of additional options. The massive promotion campaign, with all the direct mail, free booklets, demo versions and so on deluging Russian customers is another cause of Vista’s currently growing popularity,’ Valeria Shverova says.

However, Ural Company NETA reports their best selling product is Windows XP, while Vista is only beginning to gradually attract customers. This can be due to people becoming accustomed to the Windows XP version and having no urge to switch to another one.