Price cuts may have played a part in boosting sales to consumers, said Helm, who cited the lower costs of some editions, particularly the consumer-oriented Home and Students version.

Before Microsoft launched Office 2010, it -- discounts for users who already had an earlier version -- and replaced it with a single license price that in some cases was lower. A one-license copy of Office 2010 Home and Business 2010, for example, cost $199, $40 less than the corresponding Office 2007 Standard edition's upgrade price.

Retailers have also heavily discounted Office 2010 Home and Student, the most popular retail version. Amazon.com, for instance, currently sells that three-license edition for $125 -- $25 off list -- but other online sellers have it as low as $100.

"[Microsoft] is not taking its foot off the accelerator of core ... Office products," Allan Krans, an analyst with Technology Business Research, said in an e-mail. "The desktop market is Microsoft's to lose, and in [the fourth quarter of 2010] the company tightened its grip on these critical markets."

Overall, brought in revenues of $19.85 billion, a record for the October-December quarter. The company cited a 55% increase in sales from the company's Entertainment and Devices division -- on the back of the Kinect and its halo effect on the Xbox 360 game console -- as well as the strong Office numbers for driving revenues.