Microsoft reported its quarterly earnings today with a 14% decline in revenue from the same period a year ago. The company reported revenue of $12.92 billion for the quarter.

Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $4.48 billion, $3.57 billion and $0.40 per share, which represented declines of 25%, 18% and 17%, respectively, when compared with the same period last year.

The company noted that the reported financial results reflect the deferral of $1.47 billion of revenue, an impact of $0.12 of diluted earnings per share, relating to the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program and sales of Windows 7 to OEMs and retailers before general availability.

Adding back the deferred revenue, the company says, revenue totaled $14.39 billion, a 4% year-over-year decline, and EPS totaled $0.52 per share, an increase of 8% over the same period of the prior year.

"We are very pleased with our performance this quarter and particularly by the strong consumer demand for Windows," said CFO Chris Liddell. "We also maintained our cost discipline, which allowed us to drive strong earnings performance despite continued tough overall economic conditions."

The company will be looking for a much stronger report next time as the company just released Windows 7 to the public and its first retail store both this week, among other products.

"The worldwide launches of Windows 7, Exchange Server 2010 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are exciting milestones for Microsoft, our partners and customers," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. "We are pleased by the early positive response we are receiving for these products."

Time will tell how Windows 7, the store, and the rest really fares for the company (and Bing for that matter). The company appears quite optimistic.