back to article Windows 10 now on 75 million devices, says Microsoft

Microsoft's corporate veep Yusuf Mehdi reports that Windows 10 is now on 75 million devices, following its general availability four weeks ago. This suggests that Windows 10 is being installed faster than any previous version. Exact figures are hard to come by, but Microsoft took around four months to sell 90 million Windows 7 …

Page:

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Store Apps

    ... and the appearance of compelling Store apps would be a strong incentive to upgrade.

    They ain't there yet, and that's perhaps why microsoft went for enticing Windows 7 users to the store by offering the free upgrade. What it has on offer sure isn't attractive.

    1. mythicalduck

      Re: Store Apps

      microsoft went for enticing Windows 7 users to the store by offering the free upgrade

      If by "offer" you mean "force". My mother's PC has been failing to install it for some time by the looks of it, despite none of us wanting it on there. I've since disabled Windows Updates. Right thing to do? Dunno, but if there's any problems - bam - to Linux she goes...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Store Apps

        means offer. you know, like android and iOS offer updates? welcome to 2012.

  2. Naselus

    "Developers will have their eye on one statistic in particular, which is that Windows Store for Windows 10 "has seen 6x more app downloads per device than Windows 8"."

    Over what time period? Like, ever? So in 4 weeks win 10 has manged 6 times as many downloads per user from the Store as Win 8 ever did? If so, that's extraordinary... and a little hard to believe. If it's just measuring over the last 4 weeks, then really it's not surprising,

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      read the tweet. compared to win 8.

  3. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    Ok so 10M have installed it

    But how many still have it installed?

    How many have seen how bad it is and/or how much it spies on you and simply gone back to the previous version?

    Now those figures would be really interesting.

    cue El Reg stock phrase

    We contacted Microsoft for a comment and as yet they have not responded.

    1. Steve Evans

      Re: Ok so 10M have installed it

      It's certainly "on" two of my machines, having downloaded (and eaten a chunk of my C drive), but I haven't installed it yet...

      Given the nature of PR, I imagine he chose his words carefully, and I do count +2 to the total.

      1. PeterM42
        FAIL

        Re: Ok so 10M have installed it

        .....and add another 3 (or was it 4) failures - and that was only my test machine!

        The "clever" thing Blundersoft are doing is to make you use an .iso so it won't authenticate the product key, which means: "Go buy a new licence".

        BOG OFF BLUNDERS OFT!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Ok so 10M have installed it

        install is not download. they could have said downloads but that would be probably in the hundreds. also remember, it is being rolled out in waves as per their other posts so in many ways, it is actually growing slower than it could if they let everybody download.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ok so 10M have installed it

      I went back to win8.1 when i read there was no way to block all the reporting back to MS, despite a massive list of check boxes switched to off while installing it.

      1. kenhes

        Re: Ok so 10M have installed it

        You do know that Windows 8.1 and even Windows 7 phone telemetry home. Pretty much every modern OS does.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Ok so 10M have installed it

          probably less. google now is big brother watching and google's entire business is spy on your email, web browsing, everything, then sell it to their advertisers. MS so far is just taking baby steps this way.

    3. KaiserMCG

      Re: Ok so 10M have installed it

      I installed it during the Tech Preview stage and then the RTM but went back to 8.1 (with a decent Start Menu - Start8) soon after as I feel it's just not ready yet and I don't like the lack of control over what's pushed to (or pulled from!) my own system.

      8.1 with a Start menu and SSD is basically 7 on steroids and I don't have to look at any of the Metro stuff at all if I don't want to.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Up

        Re: Ok so 10M have installed it

        My laptop's hard drive failed here, just out of warranty natch, and I replaced it one of my 256 GB SSD's that I hadn't purposed yet. Complete eye opener on Windows 8.1. If anything was going to see W10, that would have been it as it and the tablet are only Internet connected devices now. I'm going to leave it as is. Amazing. [Win 7 HD to SSD wasn't this good.]

    4. MrXavia

      Re: Ok so 10M have installed it

      I installed, but after finding out I couldn't stop automatic updates, and finding Windows 10 broke things, I reverted back to Windows 8.1, which will be replaced by Linux as soon as I have time to ensure my hardware is supported, something Windows 10 didn't have! and this is a 5 month old laptop!!!

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ok so 10M have installed it

      net applications, stat counter, steam hardware survey, all confirm people are not just installing it, they are using it.

  4. chivo243 Silver badge
    Windows

    pushing a free upgrade

    Seems easy enough. I just can't believe MS have 75 meellion installs of W10 at this point. Out of all of the people I talk to, only 1, yes one, has tried Windows 10, and he loved Windows 8 out of the box... Is it possible they are talking downloads? Multiple by the same people? Many not installed?

    I have been tempted to fire up an old winbox and see what all the fuss is about. It fades before I get half way up the stairs.

    1. Daniel von Asmuth
      Windows

      Re: pushing a free upgrade

      Indeed, I suppose many of those 75M devices used the free upgrade option. Heck, there are more devices running Linux these days. How many copies of Windows for Raspberry PI did they sell?

      1. Richard Plinston

        Re: pushing a free upgrade

        > How many copies of Windows for Raspberry PI did they sell?

        None. 1) it is free. 2) it is not yet finished. 3) It is not the Windows 10 you are thinking of.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: pushing a free upgrade

        1) windows 10 for raspberry is free silly. get your facts straight first.

        2) yes free is popular. are you in a panic?

      3. Cari

        Re: pushing a free upgrade

        "I suppose many of those 75M devices used the free upgrade option. "

        Display models in stores will account for a decent chunk of proper win10 upgrades. 75m is a meaningless number without proper context. And a good many of that number will be people on the insider programme who may have at least two installs running on different devices or in VMs for testing purposes.

    2. Jim Preis

      Re: pushing a free upgrade

      I'm sure I'm an edge case, but I have not less than 6 Lenovo laptops dating back to the original X1 (NOT carbon) from 2006 with Intel 3000 graphics and I've gotten Win 10 to run on each and every one of them with only one major issue on one machine. (One of the X1's doesn't properly handle DID - dual independent displays).

      My mom and pop - who are in their 70's - are comin' up for a visit this weekend and they've both asked that I chaperon their upgrades.

      I was working at IBM (then Lenovo) in development engineering for the launches of Win2000, Win98, Millenium, XP and 7 and I must say that the Win10 launch has been far and away the best - highest quality - launch of a Windows OS I've yet seen. YMMV, but I wish you luck in your upgrading endeavors.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: pushing a free upgrade

        >>> I'm sure I'm an edge case, but I have not less than 6 Lenovo laptops dating back to the original X1 (NOT carbon) from 2006 with Intel 3000 graphics and I've gotten Win 10 to run on each and every one of them with only one major issue on one machine. (One of the X1's doesn't properly handle DID - dual independent displays).

        So this chap gives an honest, frank assessment of his experiences with Win 10 and he gets as many down votes as upvotes (8 of each at time of posting). Lol, you childish muppets.

      2. WylieCoyoteUK

        Re: pushing a free upgrade

        I support MFP hardware and software from several manufacturers on customers' networks, and the phone hasn't been that busy.

        When untrained users, who don't even know how to install a network printer, upgrade to win10, we have to fix the mess.

        On these, we need to un-install the rubbish WPS and WSD drivers that Windows 8 and 10 insist on using, (they often end up with a multifunction printer installed as a standalone (not working) scanner).

        Then install the correct drivers.

        Next, fix the broken network shares, and get job management settings working.

        Then fix SMB and email scanning.

        The other big problem is the "modern" apps being made default, especially the terminally stupid windows pdf reader.

        On networks with sysadmins, they probably do this themselves.

    3. Gis Bun

      Re: pushing a free upgrade

      I guess it depends on the people you know. 1 in 25 isn't much of a statistical sample. 1 in 2500 is different.

      1. chivo243 Silver badge
        Meh

        Re: pushing a free upgrade

        Correct you are. My contact base in since the release of Windows 10 has been somewhere between the numbers you quote, however since I'm the Windows guy at work, I feel I'm a bit of lightning rod...

    4. GX5000

      Re: pushing a free upgrade

      I have it on a VM and on a spare box, the joys of having to support everything under the Sun...

      How many Vista Installs were they gloating about back then ?

      Is everything in Media a lie meant to boost confidence and sales now ?

      Maybe it's time to fire up the old BBS and start our own VPN's again...just sayin...

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: pushing a free upgrade

        neither xp, nor vista, nor windows 7 ever managed these numbers. For perspective, 7, the best success story so far, managed 60M sales after 60 days. Windows 10 is not technically a month old. And this time they are counting "installs", not sales. Sales mean: sales to dell or OEMs which buy in bulk and still have to find their way to a store and turn into a consumer purchase.

        So in fact 10 is MUCH more successful than anything MS has ever released because they haven't even talked sales (remember, windows 10 is free to upgrade, not OEMs on higher end PCs).

        I imagine if they added channel sales plus upgrades, they'd easily clock 100M. unprecedented.

    5. kenhes

      Re: pushing a free upgrade

      Or possibly out of the 2 billion + computer users you don't know every single one of them.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: pushing a free upgrade

      watch this stats from just a few days in:

      http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

      Already bigger than linux and OSX.

      wait for this month's. people are using it buddy.

  5. King Jack
    Thumb Up

    Next Year...

    We have the Olympics to look forward to and now we have the 'other shoe' dropping as well.

    I can't wait to learn the true value of 'free upgrade'.

  6. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Big Brother

    Softly, softly...

    Perhaps they're including their stealth conversions of Win 7 and 8 to Win 10.

    Citation

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    75 million people made a mistake.

    1. Jim Preis

      ehem, 75,000,002

    2. Gis Bun

      OK. you can stick with your Windows 2000.

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        "OK. you can stick with your Windows 2000."

        For the VM I need to run a couple of elderly Windows programs I shall do just that as if I let the Win7 instance upgrade it'll presumably start bleating about upgrades & from the reports I've seen here it will also download "telemetry".

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      funny way of saying 75M people don't care about your take on their lives :)

  8. Cardinal
    Devil

    "A Close Call Gromit!"

    I was one of those who didn't manage to complete the update.

    I had initially just tapped on the Win10 update logo to see what it was about, as I was expecting a bit of explanatory dialogue before the deed was done - but no - MS practically bit my hand off and I was put instantly on the list, without further ado!

    After later reading about the privacy issues I decided I didn't want it after all, and so tried to cancel it using the recommended 'right-click on the Win10 logo' method, but that didn't work for me either (I think I'd uninstalled one of the required updates or something) so I made sure to make an image of my current setup and just take a look at Win10 when it arrived.

    I was a bit concerned that MS would install the thing sometime during daytime hours and would thus consume a large portion of my 10GB monthly bandwidth allowance (all I need really), so I tried to install it after midnight using the Media Creation Tool.

    This was however unsuccessfull, as the VGA driver was apparently not up to scratch. - I later found that there was a VGA update that should fix the problem but was so thankful that Win10 hadn't installed, and consequently I now appear (I think) to be inoculated against further MS attempts to install it, that I've not bothered to update the driver since.

    The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. - Thank God.

    1. CrosscutSaw

      Re: "A Close Call Gromit!"

      The wrong trousers, you downloaded the wrong trousers!!

    2. Steven Roper

      Re: "A Close Call Gromit!"

      If you want to make sure you've excised all the Windows 10 crap from your system, you might want to go into Windows Update/Installed Updates and uninstall and hide the following updates if they're present:

      KB2505438

      KB2670838 (Windows 7 only)

      KB2952664

      KB2976978 (Windows 8.x only)

      KB3021917

      KB3035583 (This is the bastard that puts that "Upgrade to Windows 10" icon in your systray)

      KB3075249

      KB3080149

      1. Cardinal
        Thumb Up

        Re: "A Close Call Gromit!"

        Thanks, I'll keep a note of them in case I have to reinstall with the image I made, as they'll all still be on that.

        At the moment I'm just trying to stay quietly under the horizon in case "The MS Eye of Sauron" picks up on my continued existence during one of its periodic sweeps from Redmond, and wants to try reinstalling again,

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "A Close Call Gromit!"

      well you know, that is a choice. not one you have with iOS or android (both worse privacy wise) but at least windows respects the choice :)

  9. CrosscutSaw

    Let me fix the title

    "Windows 10 has now been force fed onto 75 million devices."

    or

    "75 million people will click on anything that pops up."

    LOL

    1. Zog_but_not_the_first

      Re: Let me fix the title

      Deep wisdom

    2. Mark 85

      Re: Let me fix the title

      I wish I could upvote that 100 times. A classic...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Let me fix the title

      so like, android and iOS?

      1. Cari

        Re: Let me fix the title

        "so like, android and iOS?"

        No?

        Depending on your device's manufacturer, you might be bloody lucky to get an update to Android. And when you do, it isn't forced. I've had 4 Android devices over the years and have never had the OS update itself without my say so, let alone do everything it can to trick me into updating. Everyone I know with Android has experienced the same.

  10. DJV Silver badge
    Meh

    Doing it carefully!

    Until VirtualBox runs properly under W10 I'm definitely not shifting my main PC (currently on W7) onto it - hopefully it won't take Oracle more than 11 months to get it running properly again. I may use a spare hard disk and re-install a clean copy of W7 onto that and see what breaks when it upgrades to W10.

    My laptop, which was running 8.1 (yuk!) that came pre-installed, upgraded almost ok - MS shoved the crappy, fail-after-reboot Wifi driver onto it so I had to reload the one that actually works and it now appears to be fine.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    The Fart App gap compared to Android or iOS remains immense.

Page:

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like