The rebound of Microsoft's Windows franchise and the latest revamp of its venerable Office programs were key factors behind the company's unexpectedly strong fourth-quarter results, reported earlier this afternoon.

In fact, all of Microsoft's five major divisions posted increases in revenue for the quarter, helping the company defy predictions that it would be topped by Apple in quarterly revenue. But the bottom line wasn't quite so rosy in some Microsoft groups -- with the online division, in particular, seeing its quarterly loss grow even bigger, thanks in part to the startup costs of partnering with Yahoo in search.

"Strong quarter," concluded analysts from Goldman Sachs in a note to clients. "We like the strength from Windows, all of the enterprise businesses, the acceleration in bookings growth and tight cost control, providing significant margin upside." They added that they would "expect the stock to rally on these results."

Continue reading for details of each division's results.

Windows and Windows Live: We had a hunch this was coming, based on reports of PC market growth in excess of 20 percent for the recent quarter. Microsoft said revenue in this division rose 44 percent, to more than $4.5 billion, as companies started to replace their computers, getting new versions of Windows in the process, and consumers continued to buy new PCs at the same time.

Profits were up 59 percent in this division, to more than $3 billion.

Microsoft Business Division: The launch of Microsoft Office 2010 boosted this division to $5.2 billion in revenue, up 15 percent.

"Consumer revenue increased $357 million or 51% due to sales of the 2010 Microsoft Office system and growth in the PC market," the company said in its earnings release. "Business revenue increased $326 million or 8%, primarily reflecting licensing of the 2010 Microsoft Office system to transactional business customers, growth in multi-year licensing revenue and a 4% increase in Microsoft Dynamics revenue."

Microsoft is making a push into cloud-computing in this area, and the company sought to address concerns that online versions of its programs will cut into its traditional software revenue by pointing out that 70 percent of new "seats" for its Business Productivity Online Suite "represent new business to Microsoft."

Server and Tools: In another positive sign for business technology spending, this division posted revenue of more than $4 billion, up 14 percent, returning to the double-digit growth that was more common before the recession struck Microsoft and the rest of the technology industry.

In its earnings release, Microsoft credited the result to renewed strength in sales of products including Windows Server and SQL Server, two stalwarts of the division.

Online Services Division: Here's where it starts to get uglier. A revival in online advertising helped push revenue in this division up 13 percent, to $565 million, but the company continues to spend considerably more than it makes online, as the division's operating loss widened to $696 million.

A major factor in the larger loss was increased expenses related to the Yahoo search agreement, in which Microsoft will be powering the Yahoo search results in an effort to gain the critical mass to compete more effectively against Google for advertisers and users. Microsoft cited expenses including "reimbursement and implementation" and "third-party development and programming" related to the Yahoo deal.

Entertainment and Devices: Some better news for Microsoft's online initiatives: The Xbox Live online service, part of this division, saw revenue from its digital marketplace -- downloadable games, movies, etc. -- exceeded revenue from the Xbox Live subscription service for the first time this year, the company said. That underscores the potential for Microsoft to see growth in certain areas online.

However, that trend also translated into increased royalty costs for the division, based on the sale of third-party content in the Xbox Live marketplace. Entertainment & Devices was also hampered by the failure of Microsoft's Kin mobile phone initiative. The company said its cost of revenue increased $251 million because of charges related to the discontinuation of Kin, as well as those higher royalty costs.

Overall, quarterly revenue was up 27 percent in this division, to $1.6 billion, but it posted a loss of $172 million.

Earlier: Microsoft posts a big quarter, tops Apple, profits up 50%