In his speech at Microsoft's annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, the company’s CEO Steve Ballmer said that the initial reception of Microsoft’s October 22-released Windows 7 operating system was “fantastic,” and the new OS had surpassed the sales rate of the earlier Windows releases.

With reference to both boxed copies of Windows 7 OS and copies sold to PC makers for inclusion on their computers, Ballmer noted: “We've already sold twice as many units of Windows 7 as any other OS we've ever launched in a comparable time period.”

Though the chief executive stopped short of giving the precise sales figures of the Windows 7 OS, it is assumed that – given the nearly 20 million Windows Vista units sold in the opening month – the initial sales figures of the new OS stand at an approximate 40 million units.

Adding that the initial overwhelming response to Windows 7 is the logical outcome of its notably superior quality, Ballmer told the shareholders that Windows 7 is “simply the best PC OS” that either Microsoft or any other company has built thus far. 

The initial success of Windows 7, which had already rave reviews before its release, has also been corroborated by the statistics put forth by the NPD Group as well as Net Applications. The data from both the companies indicates that Windows 7 has clearly surpassed the comparable early sales figures of its predecessor, Windows Vista.