Microsoft's revenue has increased consistently for its entire lifetime, until recently (Q1'09). [1] In other words, for 23 years, their revenue has gone up eve

Microsoft's revenue has increased consistently for its entire lifetime, until recently (Q1'09). [1] In other words, for 23 years, their revenue has gone up every quarter, and even though it "dropped" in Q1 it was still 13.65 billion dollars for a single quarter. About $3.4B of that is from their client division that sells Windows. Windows isn't the only revenue that counts (e.g. people may not upgrade other software either, if they haven't upgraded Windows). And revenue isn't the only effect on long-term viability. They are no doubt spending a lot to maintain Windows right now. If they gave a free upgrade to Windows 7, they could pretend Vista doesn't exist and eliminate most of its support costs; simply tell all customers that Vista will not be supported because Windows 7 is free and is compatible. [1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/23/microsoft-revenue-plunges http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/23/microsoft-rev...