Of course many here seem uninpressed because they don't know if it is gold or silver etc but seriously is nice to see over half your userbase is some how connected.  Also only reason you need gold is to play online so silver still gets many of the features gold has so it is still an important number.  Think of it purely as a social network and 10 million is very nice for MS especially since they met their goal 6 months in advanced.  Those silver users that nobody seems to care about may still spend money on xbox live arcade games and the market place etc.  Some may buy 1 month 3 month cards etc for when they want to go online etc. 

Finally what do you want to compare xbox live to in order to be impressed?  I am sure the psn has a number of users as well maybe close to MS at around 50% but similar how many of them are playing online?  Does it really matter?  Both services have millions of users with MS having a nice percentage of that paying.  Vgchartz doesn't track xbox live 12+1 month card sales but if they did I am sure it would be a top seller every year.  What company wouldn't want an extra $40-60 annualy from a number of users.  It would be nice to know a percentage of how many are gold but if I where to go based on my friends it has to high with the top selling 360 games like gears, halo, cod4, rainbow six all having great online experiences.  I am sure many will continue to be uninpressed though would be nice to know something besides well how many are gold users etc.  If it helps I been a gold user since I bought my system in 2006 so there is at least 1 person out of those 10 million who has gold :)

 Quick poll:  How many 360 owners here in vgchartz have xbox live gold or have ever had it?

AIM or Yahoo. Either will do.

Ive always been on Gold. The XBL service is very polished and I think its worth the annual fee. Seemed like it had some issues this past holiday though, it must have been getting hammered, maybe from all the new xmas signups?. Hopefully they will get that all sorted out so it wont ever happen again (yah right).

How long have those been out compared to xbox live?  Can you find how well those grew in the alloted time?  Can these be compared the same since those two are free and for xbox live you would potentially pay for it?  Basically what does aim or yahoo have that you would want xbox live to have or was your comment just a smart ass comment which is fine.  Just curious. 

I think a fee for online gaming is just gouging which is one of the many reasons I am still avoiding the XBOX.

@ DaSimkin - totally agree, I have a gold membership and the only saving grace Xbox Live as is that they ban cheaters and hackers. Those two things ruined PC online for me and its nice to be in a cheat free environment.

@ Words of Wisdom - Ah, if only your name reflected your posts.

Because AIM and Yahoo Messenger have never had downtimes or stability issues?

At my best, it does.  At my worst, its irony amuses me.

No one pays for AIM or Yahoo AFAIK. 

If AIM is down once a year, you're not losing any money or losing use of a service you have paid for.  Xbox Live on the other hand...