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Vista sales have now hit 180 million, but more significantly the company has ended months of disappointing figures by selling around 20 million copies per month in May and June.

Sales of Office 2007 for Windows, the company's server software and its Xbox 360 games console were also buoyant, as revenue increased 18% year-on-year.

"Delivering $60 billion in annual revenue is an outstanding accomplishment and a testament to the powerful combination of great technology solutions and strong execution by our partners and global sales and marketing teams," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. "The outlook for fiscal year 2009 is positive given the breadth of our impressive technology portfolio and the expanding collection of online services we are bringing to market."

Chief financial officer Chris Liddell expects revenues of around $68 billion over the next 12 months. It seems rumours of the company's decline were exaggerated.