Microsoft Corp. says its fiscal third-quarter profit fell 11 percent from a year earlier, when revenue from pre-sales of the new Windows Vista operating system pushed up results.

Microsoft said after markets closed Thursday that net profit for the three months ended March 31 fell to $4.39 billion, or 47 cents per share, from $4.93 billion, or 50 cents per share, in the same period last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast a profit of 44 cents per share.

Excluding the impact of deferred Vista revenue from last year’s quarter, Microsoft said earnings per share rose 14 percent.

Earnings were also depressed by 15 cents per share due to a fine from the European Commission.

Revenue edged up to $14.45 billion from $14.4 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts were looking for $14.4 billion in sales.