Customer satisfaction is on the rise for Microsoft -- enough to overcome ire sparked by Vista release The American Customer Satisfaction Index recently released its annual measure of customer satisfaction, which includes some interesting results, most notably for Microsoft. Remember when the company released Vista? Did anything about that piss you off? If you answered yes, you’re in good company, according to this survey, which is considered a predictor of consumer spending.“At the beginning of 2007, when Microsoft released Windows Vista, customer satisfaction plunged 4% to an ACSI score of 70, well below the industry average, where it remained for the next three years,” reads the ASCI’s commentary on the data. On any given year, Microsoft — the only software company large enough to be named in the survey — rates a customer satisfaction index lower than the aggregate of the rest of the industry, and its worst year came later, in 2008, when it sunk to 69.Opinion is on the rise, though, for Microsoft, at least according to the ASCI. “In October 2009,” reads the report, “Windows 7 was introduced. It took three weeks for the new software to reach a 4% market share compared with seven months for Windows Vista, as consumers were in a hurry to upgrade. By March 2010, more than 90 million Windows 7 licenses had been sold.”And the company’s index rose like a collective sigh of relief. In the latest results the company scored a 76, the highest ever score in this measure for the company.If you have time to check out the index, take a glance at the “Subscription Television Services” section, which examines cable, fiber optic, and satellite operators. The satellite and — more recently, fiber optic — companies have been poaching dissatisfied cable companies, which is apparently causing some backlash, in the form of better service, from the cable companies. (See — vote with your dollar! It works.) None of the numbers are what you would call “impressive” for the cable companies compared to other industries. But they are, for the most part, on the rise.Got gripes? Send them to christina_tynan-wood@infoworld.com.This story, “Windows 7 turning tide for Microsoft among consumers,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Christina Tynan-Wood’s Gripe Line blog at InfoWorld.com. Technology Industry