To read this article in its entirety, please visit eWeek: Microsoft Revenues Benefit from Windows 7, Business Spending

Heading into the earnings call, analysts had predicted Microsoft would post revenues of $15.2 billion. The stronger-than-expected revenues suggest that the economy—or at least the part of it with a need for software—is indeed on the mend after a long period of global recession. During the same quarter in 2009, facing plunging software sales and a freeze in business spending, Microsoft had reported revenues of $13.1 billion.

“We had strong demand and strong sales execution,” Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein told analysts and media during a July 22 conference call. “We certainly feel good about the traction of our products.”

Buoyed by strong sales of Windows 7, Microsoft’s Windows division reported revenues of $4.5 billion, up from $3.2 billion during the same quarter last year. Since its October 2009 launch, Microsoft says, some 175 million Windows 7 licenses have been sold.

Revenue for the Business division, which recently launched Office 2010, experienced a year-over-year rise from $4.6 billion to $5.3 billion. Although revenue for the company’s Online Services division increased year-over-year from $501 million to $565 million, its quarterly losses steepened to $696 million.   

Microsoft’s advertising revenue climbed 19 percent year-over-year, to $494 million. The company hopes to have the major components of its online search-and-advertising deal with Yahoo, which involves porting Yahoo’s U.S. advertisers and publishers onto Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, in place by the end of 2010.