 |
 |
|---|
Posted on 09/27/2016 7:46:44 PM PDT by dayglored
Microsoft’s self-installing Windows 10 operating system has reached the 400 million mark, the firm announced at its Ignite conference in Atlanta this week, up from the previous high of 350 million in August.
This adoption rate means the firm’s self-imposed target of a billion devices by mid-2018 looks increasingly unlikely, but the Redmond giant can take some consolation in the fact that business enthusiasm seems to be growing.
The latest version of Windows hit its one-year anniversary on July 29, a date that also marked the ending of the free upgrade offer period for users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
As El Reg pointed out at the time, this meant that Microsoft now faces the challenge of trying to get people to pay for Windows 10, which is tough if users weren’t convinced enough of its merits to upgrade for free already.
Nevertheless, 350 million devices in one year is better than where previous versions of Windows were at the same point in their lifecycle, helped no doubt by Microsoft’s helpful approach of automatically downloading it and upgrading your PC without you having to bother doing this yourself.
But there are signs that businesses and professional users at least are keen on Windows 10, with European IT market research outfit Context reporting that Windows 10 Pro adoption is on the rise.
Context said that Windows 10 Pro accounted for a quarter (24 percent) of Windows Business PCs sold through distributors in Western Europe during August, up from 18 percent in July and 16 percent in June.
However, this means that Windows 7 still remains the business platform of choice, and August’s figures from NetMarketShare show that Windows 7 is still the largest operating system in use overall, accounting for just over 47 percent of computers accessing the web.
But the researchers expect that European business spending on Windows 10 could pick up even further towards the end of this year, helping to drive “a modest improvement” in overall PC sales for the second half of 2016, compared to that seen in the first half of the year.
Windows 10 Pro is a step up from the basic Windows 10 Home that many consumer PCs ship with, and includes key added capabilities such as the ability to be joined to a corporate Active Directory Windows domain.
However, Redmond cheesed off many business users earlier this year when it retroactively removed from Windows 10 Pro a feature that enabled admins to restrict access to the Windows Store, and thus control what apps users can install.
The move was portrayed by many as an attempt to upsell businesses to the Windows 10 Enterprise edition, which is only available through volume licensing deals.
Either way, the inevitability of Windows 10 marches on...
|
|
|---|
Windows 10 hasn’t been freely chosen. Windows 10 loads itself while you are asleep. Basically its date rape of your computer.
A guy who rapes passed out drunk women shouldn’t brag about his success with the women. Microsoft shouldn’t brag about their adoption rate.
Windows 10 updated my desktop computer without my permission and installed its browser Edge which will not open. I have to redirect everything to Internet Explorer. Edge is a joke, as is 10.
Well, they're way behind where they wanted to be according to their ridiculous goal of a billion devices by whatever date they picked... so while they're no doubt happy about hitting 400M, I wouldn't call it bragging. More like relief.
And I am pretty sure it's not supposed to auto-install itself any more now that it's not free.
OTOH, I have read stories about it allegedly downloading and offering to install itself, but you have to pay up for it to proceed. Still pretty underhanded, but not without precedent.
So now it auto installs and bills you?
and it was only forced on 390 million of them.
Notice that they said devices. I work with a lot of computers and none of them have Win10...yet.
Oh, yes, they're happily counting every toaster that has Windows 10 in it.
That's not surprising, and they did say that up front when they started. It's not just desktops and laptops.
How can forced updates and tricking people to update make this number valid?
Be sure to disable Cortana or you will have the Start button not working and the inability to right click on the program buttons on the taskbar along with the wifi not working.
http://www.howtogeek.com/265027/how-to-disable-cortana-in-windows-10/
They never claimed it would only include people who specifically asked for it. I'm not excusing it, just sayin', they are using every trick in the book to make that number as close as possible.
I would not expect any different behavior from ANY sales/marketing outfit that made some cockamamie prediction and then had to follow up on it. Microsoft's technical people are some of the best in the world. Their sales/marketing folks.... not so much.
"Microsoft Redesigns the iPod Packaging"
Luckily, I’ve been able to fend off the insidious W-10 install so far.
Perfect analogy
Won't necessarily be "a day". Rather, it's a slow but accelerating erosion of what was once a near-total monopoly.
The ease and low cost of deploying Linux in VMs -- on desktop/laptops and in cloud networks -- has tons of people being exposed to and converting to Linux from Windows. Even the Mac has seen growth from Windows escapees, despite its historically higher acquisition cost (because Apple doesn't do low-end).
Windows won't die for a very long time, but only because it used to be the only game in town. That just isn't true any longer. Windows 10 isn't a bad OS, in fact I'm getting used to it and finding it's quite usable. But the high pressure tactics of the past year are taking a toll.
....and only 398 million of those coerced or “upgraded” without the hardware owners’ consent using normally illegal hacking techniques.
Doze off, and wake up to discover you were screwed!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.