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Nearly two months after the launch of what Microsoft called one of its most important products ever, the Windows XP operating system has failed to sell more copies than its predecessor did after its release, according to data from market research firm NPDTechworld.

Since its October 25 launch, Windows XP has sold about 650,000 copies through retail channels, as opposed to the roughly 900,000 copies of Windows 98 sold in the two months after it was launched, according to Howard Dyckovsky, vice president of software tracking at NPDTechworld, a division of the NPD Group. Windows XP tallied sales of approximately 400,000 copies in October and pulled in 250,000 in November, he said.

Though the numbers may appear disappointing, Dyckovsky says they're not as dismal as they might first appear.

"Given the market conditions, sales are pretty good," he said, adding that "[XP] will end up selling more than [Windows] 98 and [Windows] 95 did, but it will take a while."

"Overall, it will clearly be the biggest-selling operating system that Microsoft has," he added.

The dip Windows XP has taken compared with Windows 98 can be explained by a number of factors, Dyckovsky said.

The tech industry continues to battle soft sales. While early indications show a spike in year-end PC sales, it's still too soon to assess the real impact of holiday shopping, he noted. However, economic concerns may be keeping users from upgrading to Windows XP immediately.

What's more, the prices of new PCs are markedly low this season. The wealth of available bargains may prompt customers who are in a buying mood to plunge forward and buy new PCs with Windows XP preloaded, Dyckovsky suggested. The sales figures for those Windows XP PCs are not reflected in the retail charts, he said.

Also, Microsoft permitted PC vendors to market Windows XP systems in advance of the actual launch. Vendors typically configured a PC to be Windows XP-ready, and promised software upgrades when the OS became available. Those sales are also not reflected in the counts of shrink-wrapped box sales of the operating system.

Though Windows XP is not "taking the world by storm," Dyckovsky expects that the numbers the OS has tallied so far this year likely line up with Microsoft's pre-launch expectations.

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