Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced yesterday that the company has shipped right at 20 million licenses of the newer Windows Vista operating system since it launched at the end of January. Microsoft was quick to point out that the previous operating system (Windows XP) only sold 17 million copies during the same timeframe when it was launched over five years ago.

To really make that statement worth anything, a comparison of shipping and sold PCs from all major manufacturers from the time Windows XP shipped and when Windows Vista shipped would be needed. While Many critics have dogged Windows Vista recently (myself included, as I went back to Windows XP), Windows Vista will be successful no matter what as Microsoft gets all major manufacturers shipping at least Vista Basic on every PC sold, whether desktop or laptop.

In fact, Windows Vista could not sell a single copy in a retail box and still be wildly successful since it will have some version of Windows Vista shipping with almost every new consumer and business PC. No new news there.

In typical marketing fashion, Microsoft VP Bill Veghte said that "We are encouraged to see such a positive consumer response to Windows Vista right out of the gate ... while it's very early in the product lifecycle, we are setting a foundation for Windows Vista to become the fastest-adopted version of Windows ever." That is very true -- but it won't be based on some technical or graphical superiority of Windows Vista, but on the shipments of PC vendors worldwide who end up doing all the heavy lifting.

[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 3-27-07]