Microsoft plans to defer $1.5 billion in revenue

Microsoft Corp. said it would defer about $1.5 billion in revenue from its current fiscal second quarter to its third quarter to account for its upgrade plan and pre-shipments of its upcoming Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007 software suite.

The company said it would begin a coupon program for personal computer buyers to upgrade to Vista when it premieres next year in an effort to avoid a drop-off in PC sales over the holidays and ahead of the software’s release.