Microsoft watchers, and I presume Wall Street as well, have been waiting for the announcement of Microsoft’s 2011 Q3 earnings. Well, they are out and the results should have them smiling in the boardroom.

From their press release:

Microsoft Corp. today announced third-quarter revenue of $16.43 billion for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2011, a 13% increase from the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $5.71 billion, $5.23 billion, and $0.61 per share, which represented increases of 10%, 31%, and 36%, respectively, when compared with the prior year period. Diluted earnings per share included a $0.05 tax benefit primarily related to an agreement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to settle a portion of their audit of tax years 2004 to 2006.“We delivered strong financial results despite a mixed PC environment, which demonstrates the strength and breadth of our businesses,” said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. “Consumers are purchasing Office 2010, Xbox and Kinect at tremendous rates, and businesses of all sizes are purchasing Microsoft platforms and applications.”

Microsoft Business Division revenue grew 21% year-over-year. Since its release last spring, Office 2010 has become the fastest-selling version of Office in history, and the integrated innovation with SharePoint, Exchange, Lync and Dynamics CRM is driving significant growth for the division.

Server & Tools revenue grew 11% year-over-year, the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Strong business adoption of Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2, and System Center are driving record revenue and margin expansion.

Windows 7 remains the fastest selling operating system in history with 350 million licenses sold. Revenue for the segment was down 4% in the third quarter, in line with the PC trends, excluding prior year launch impact.

Online Services Division revenue grew 14% year-over-year primarily driven by increases in search revenue. Bing’s US search share increased to 13.9% this quarter.

Entertainment & Devices Division grew 60% year-over-year, fueled by Kinect for Xbox 360, the fastest-selling consumer electronics device in history, continued strong Xbox 360 console sales and growth of Xbox Live.

One interesting note is the revenue from Windows 7 especially. Consider the post earlier today about the slump in PC sales, which Paul and I talked about in today’s Daily Brief. Even though Windows 7 set records with over 350 million licenses sold so far its revenue was down by 4% in the third quarter.

[Cross-posted at Winextra]