Over the past decade, Mac shipments have grown with nearly every new Microsoft release

As if Steve Ballmer didn't have enough to worry about after last week's Sidekick/Microsoft (MSFT) Danger debacle, here's a bar graph that may add to his miseries.

The graphic (shown full-size below the fold) comes out of a report to clients issued Monday by Broadpoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall. Anticipating the release of Windows 7 next week (Oct. 22), Marshall reviewed Mac sales figures over the past 10 years to analyze the impact of the four previous Windows launches:

• Windows 98 (launched on June 25, 1998)
• Windows 2000 (launched on February 17, 2000)
• Windows XP (launched on October 25, 2001)
• Windows Vista (launched on January 30, 2007)

His findings: More