Only in the quarter's final month did Windows sales tick up, but those were to computer makers buying Windows 8, and thus were deferred until next quarter.

Microsoft executives did even not bother citing PC sales statistics Thursday, as they usually do, perhaps because they were so depressing.

"We saw the overall PC market decline this quarter in advance [of] the launch of Windows 8 and in part due to competitive pressures and the challenging macroeconomic climate," Bill Koefoed, the general manager of Microsoft's investor relations, said in the earnings call yesterday, without naming numbers.

According to Gartner and IDC, global in the third quarter.

The portion of Microsoft's total revenue of $16 billion generated by Windows was just 20.3%, the lowest in the last four years, and slightly below the earlier low record set in the third quarter of 2009, the period immediately before the launch of Windows 7.