During the conference call, Microsoft officials highlighted what they considered outstanding sales to enterprises.

"[Businesses] continue to make long-term investments in the Microsoft platform," Koefoed said, adding that as a result, multiyear licensing as a percentage of total revenue grew to approximately 40 percent. "This quarter, we saw strong Enterprise Agreement growth in both new business and renewals."

CFO Peter Klein said Microsoft is benefitting from broad business IT investment, from desktop refreshes to data center software. "For a while CIOs have been saying Microsoft is a top priority and we're really starting to see that, both from the infrastructure side and the desktop side," he said.

Klein called the upgrade cycle "unprecedented," adding, "as you can see, there is a lot to look forward to next year."

In the third quarter, the Server & Tools Division, which includes products like the company's enterprise database SQL Server, posted revenue of $4.57 billion, up 14 percent, thanks in part to strong SQL Server and System Center sales.