It is hard not to be smug nowadays if you’re an Apple executive.

Consider the following: pound-for-pound smart-phone champ? iPhone; coolest MP3 player? iPod; first and only cool tablet computer? iPad — with the slate computer selling three million pieces three months after its release.

Well, I hate to bring some rain upon the Cupertino company’s parade.

Indeed, selling three iPads every second for the past three months is quite an accomplishment. This feat, however, seems pale and not that impressive when compared with what Microsoft (the IT world’s most uncool company) has done.

Steve Ballmer and company have sold 150 million copies (OK, licenses) of Windows 7, the software giant’s latest operating system. That would be equal to selling seven copies of Windows 7 per second for the past nine months, which makes it the fastest-selling operating system ever.

PC Sales Leap

Most industry analysts agree that growing demand for Windows 7 is also driving the current PC market recovery after the sluggish 2008 and 2009. Highlighting once again the symbiotic relationship between Windows and the PC, the PC market is set to grow 22 percent, according to market research firm Gartner.

The economic recession that hit global markets in late 2008 to 2009 has made most businesses delay their IT purchases, including computers and peripherals, and instead opted to maximize the life span of their computers, software tools, network equipment, and infrastructure.

After all, in times of dropping profits and revenues, management finds it harder than ever to approve IT-related expenditure proposals. But with 2010 almost half way through, an increasing number of companies are finally finding the courage (and the budget) to finally say goodbye to their Windows XP-running, antiquated computers, laptops, and other IT assets.

Web’s Red-Light District

The online world officially gets its porn suffix, and all concerned might finally find a reason to smile. Porn purveyors get to have domain names that proudly wear their triple-x color. Network guardians and moralist groups that wish to block online porn can now easily do so their anti-smut initiatives.

ICANN, the nonprofit group that manages Internet domain names, recently said it will consider adding .xxx to its list of suffixes that people, businesses, and organizations can use to identify their Web sites and online presence.

Online porn groups and companies, however, are not required to give up their .com sites. That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join us next time as we keep on watching IT.