Bill Gates has revealed at a European news conference that sales of Windows Vista have reached 140 million copies worldwide.

The timescale for the statistical update, the first since the company crossed the 100 million mark at the start of the new year, was not disclosed.

Gates said that this shows Vista continues to sell at a "very rapid" rate.

The majority of Microsoft's Vista sales are thought to come from licenses bundled with new computers rather than consumers specifically shopping for the OS.

Despite Gates' optimism, some PC makers have said recently they will continue to offer XP past the the older OS' shelf date, in response to customer demand.

>> News - Dell defies MS over XP
>> Via - WSJ (subsciption required)
>> And - Electronista