Microsoft Delivers Strong Growth and Includes a Sunny Forecast

Reported quarterly sales and profit gains that surpassed Wall Street’s expectations and delivered an optimistic outlook Thursday, suggesting that a weakening economy would not slow it down.

Microsoft’s strong performance was led by its three major businesses: personal computer operating systems, office productivity programs and software that runs computers in corporate data centers. The company, the world’s largest software maker, continues to struggle and lose money as it battles Google in its new markets for Internet services and online advertising.