Microsoft Corp’s Windows95 may have caused more pain than gain to software houses that were banking on fast business uptake, but for Microsoft itself, it was all gain. Net profit in its fiscal second quarter shot up 54% to a record $575m, while its sales soared 48% to $2,200m. Needless to say, the company did not say how many copies of Windows95 had been shipped, but it did say that preloaded OEM business for Windows95 and other products amounted to $672m in the quarter, up from $548m in the first fiscal quarter, and that an estimated 8m users bought Windows95 pre-loaded in the second quarter, up from 4m in the first. Elsewhere, revenues from the BackOffice suite doubled over year-ago levels, and chief financial officer Mike Brown said revenues in each of the next two quarters would be similar to those achieved in the period just ended.
