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Windows 10 Grabs 5.21% Market Share, Passing Windows Vista and Windows 8 246

An anonymous reader writes: The effects of a free upgrade to Windows 10 are starting to trickle in. Available for just over a month, Windows 10 has now captured more than 5 percent market share, according to the latest figures from Net Applications. In just four weeks, Windows 10 has already been installed on over 75 million PCs. Microsoft is aiming to have 1 billion devices running Windows 10 "in two to three years," though that includes not just PCs, but smartphones, consoles, and other devices as well.
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Windows 10 Grabs 5.21% Market Share, Passing Windows Vista and Windows 8

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  • To be expected (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dunbal ( 464142 ) * on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @11:25AM (#50437071)
    They're giving it away free and they pushed a little "install me" button on current Win 7 and Win 8 installs. I'm actually surprised it's not higher. This 5% should be seen as a failure not a success.
    • Re:To be expected (Score:5, Interesting)

      by The Real Dr John ( 716876 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @11:38AM (#50437215) Homepage

      They are using their installed base of Windows computers as an advertising base now. Free always means the ad-filled version, and the version that tracks you and sells information about your surfing habits and preferences. I really hope that this is not the end of Windows as a basic, functional, user friendly operating system. It was never a perfect OS, but Windows 7 got many things right. Windows 10 got many, many things wrong.

      An interesting take on the UI of Windows from Josh Fruhlinger at IT World, with many of today's must have's in an OS came from Windows 95, including aspects of OS X.

      Link: http://www.itworld.com/article... [itworld.com]

      • Re:To be expected (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MyAlternateID ( 4240189 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @11:58AM (#50437433) Homepage

        I really hope that this is not the end of Windows as a basic, functional, user friendly operating system. It was never a perfect OS, but Windows 7 got many things right. Windows 10 got many, many things wrong.

        I sure hope it is the end of Windows as "THE" desktop OS in the minds of so many users. Ideally we'd have at least four or five operating systems in common use with roughly similar market shares and a strong emphasis on cross-platform compatibility for application developers so that jumping ship is as easy as possible. This would also provide a disincentive against all of the phoning-home behavior and other unwanted "features" increasingly common with Windows installations. It would also make malware propagation more difficult because the Windows monoculture just makes it too easy.

        • In what world do you live in? In almost all cases (at least in North America) - the tech, hardware, software, and even other industries almost always follow the "American Political" distribution ---> Two major players + a bunch of bit players. Perhaps its cause is the "form of Capitalism" that the US espouses, wherein Corporations keep consuming other corporations.
        • Ideally we'd have at least four or five operating systems in common use with roughly similar market shares and a strong emphasis on cross-platform compatibility for application developers so that jumping ship is as easy as possible.

          That is absolutely my ideal as well.

          • Actually you can be tied to Windows by software. I have several very expensive programs, and I don't have any idea what I would do to replace those in a different OS without spending lots of money and even more time relearning different software than the programs I have used for years. Here is a partial list. Image Pro Plus by Media Cybernetics, Sigmaplot 12, MS Office Suite (2010), Adobe Creative Suite CS5 (I use photoshop, illustrator, premier pro, after effects, audition, flash and media encoder), Refere

            • Yes, that is not my ideal.
              TBH I think you messed up using Reference Manager. Never put lots of effort into storing your data in a proprietary database, that's a setup for being screwed.
              • Yeah, by today's standards I messed up. But I started that database when Reference Manager came out, in the early 1990s. There were not a lot of choices back then for citation software. Plus, for some time it was really the best citation software out there. Thompson Reuters bought them out to stop competition with Endnote. So I also have Endnote X7 which has a relatively simple conversion capability that takes about 10 minutes if I need to convert the whole 10K citation library, which has over 4000 associat

            • Welcome to hotel microsoft, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

        • From the users perspective they do not run an OS they run applications. The users could care less about all the trivial minutia and never ending arguments promoting one OS over another.

      • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        That article is so much bull shit and ignorance.

        First the entire section about 3.x being hard to use has not supporting evidence. Anecdotally I can't recall anyone being especially confused by anything specific to the win 3.x ui. I can totally recall people who we not used to navigating nested menus having a terribly frustrating time using the Start menu. Explorer was a lot nicer than winfile I'll give you that but the rest of the claims run so counter to my experience I'd love to see some stats or a rea

        • When most people talk about Windows they are talking about WIN32. Stuff from before that is not relevant.

      • They are using their installed base of Windows computers as an advertising base now. Free always means the ad-filled version, and the version that tracks you and sells information about your surfing habits and preferences.

        The version that sends keyboard logs and microphone captures to Microsoft, you mean? That's ALL Windows 10 versions - none is unaffected.

      • by yuhong ( 1378501 )

        Windows itself is not ad filled, and the telemetry data has nothing to do with ads.

        • Windows 10 shows ads in both the start menu tiles and the search menu results by default.

          I have seen at least one "system notification" advertising Office 365.

          Welcome to 2015.

    • Re:To be expected (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Barlo_Mung_42 ( 411228 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @11:42AM (#50437277) Homepage

      That install me button pissed me off at first but it's actually brilliant. I normally do the updates for systems around my house but when I went to upgrade my wife's laptop she said "Oh, I did that already. Just clicked the button. It was easy."

      She's a smart person but upgrading the OS is normally outside her comfort level. They really did a nice job making the process not just easy but approachable.

      • by gl4ss ( 559668 )

        Imagine a situation where some of your sw doesn't run on win10.

        the pushing of the upgrade is nothing but ridculous and they know it. every time after opening desktop (from sleep or power on) it pops up.

        it says limited time but the time is 1 year.

        it does not have a "don't show again checkbox". it's not meant as a free choice but as something normal users think they do not have a choice about.

    • They're giving it away free and they pushed a little "install me" button on current Win 7 and Win 8 installs. I'm actually surprised it's not higher. This 5% should be seen as a failure not a success.

      The roll-out was always meant to move forward in manageable stages.

      It was clear from the beginning that distribution to low-end tablets and other systems with very limited resources would be delayed.

    • Free, yes, but its still being released in tranches to those systems eligible for upgrade, so not everyone that can upgrade has been able to do so thus far.

      If everyone had had full access to the "upgrade now" button at launch, you might have a point, but right now its not any indication of a failure at all.

    • This 5% should be seen as a failure not a success.

      Agreed. A 5% adoption rate is nothing to brag about. Most companies would go out of business with numbers like that.

      • by bondsbw ( 888959 )

        5% adoption in one month is actually pretty fantastic, for such an immense market that is filled with enterprise users (whose IT departments need to train and prepare for rollout, and who do not get the upgrade for free).

        For perspective, it took Apple around 3 years to sell a total of 75 million iPhones, and it was deemed a resounding success much earlier than that.

        • 5% adoption in one month is actually pretty fantastic, for such an immense market that is filled with enterprise users (whose IT departments need to train and prepare for rollout, and who do not get the upgrade for free).

          For perspective, it took Apple around 3 years to sell a total of 75 million iPhones, and it was deemed a resounding success much earlier than that.

          5% means that the QA department has a few systems set up, tests are failing all over, and actual deployment is a long ways off

        • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          So you just drew a comparison between a device that costs above 600EUR to a free piece of software that was semi-automatically pushed on the current massive user base of windows 7/8?

          How much alcohol did you have to ingest for that analogy to make any kind of sense?

          • by bondsbw ( 888959 )

            Folks here compared the uptake of Windows 8 (an OS which was not free to manufacturers or to people who upgraded) to Android (an OS that is free). I'm not allowed to make a similar comparison?

    • Despite the cries that people like Dunbal are just trolling, I think the parent comment is right on the mark. It would be difficult NOT to image Windows 10 not achieving at LEAST a 5% market-share when ALL of the installed copies of Windows 7 and 8 out there harass users to upgrade to 10 for free.

      Not only that, but anyone looking a little deeper into the situation will discover:

      - You only have 1 year to take advantage of this free Windows 10 offer, so putting it off means risking forgetting about it until

    • Here's my review of windows 10.

      I'm a long term Mac and Linux (and VMS and CPM!) user. I have always detested window. I have had to use it over the years and have formed a very very vlow opinion of it.
      That said this is a very positive review of Windows 10.
      But first let me start off with the truly awful back story. I bought a 2 year old HP quad i7 on which I planned to install a Linux, settling on Linux mint after trying out the latest distros for intuitive ease of use. But it came with Windows 8

      • I guess I should have returned to my starting point. As good as windows 10 seems, the upgrade process is a major botch. Do I really want to get involved with products from a company that can't get that right. They should make all the managers at microsoft try to update a 2 year old unpatched windows 8 computer. How could this get overlooked!!! My machine was not slow nor was my interenet connection. And other than 1 hour I lost when their upgrade tool got squurley it took 7 hours to just make my mains

    • Microsoft is aiming to have 1 billion devices running Windows 10 "in two to three years," though that includes not just PCs, but smartphones, ...

      So that'd be 999,999,999,997 Windows PCs and three Windows smartphones?

  • by Pulzar ( 81031 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @11:29AM (#50437133)

    Windows 8 is at 14%, but split between 8 and 8.1.

    I know Window 8 adoption is bad, but it's not *that* bad.

    • by SydShamino ( 547793 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @12:21PM (#50437701)

      Following the "every other version of windows is bad" thing, I count Windows 8.1 as the most recent "good", replacing the "bad" Windows 8. That makes Windows 10 another bad version, which so far sounds accurate given the snooping problems.

      Of course I used XP until support ended, still use 7, and never used Vista, 8, or 8.1, so my experience is limited.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by H0p313ss ( 811249 )

        Of course I used XP until support ended, still use 7, and never used Vista, 8, or 8.1, so my experience is limited.

        I try not to focus on any one operating system, my test server is Linux, my laptop is a mac and my gaming desktop is Windows.

        My message is: If you're staying with 7 then you're missing out. 10 is going to be big.

        • If you're staying with 7 then you're missing out. 10 is going to be big.

          what exactly are folks missing out on other than the confusing start menu?

          • by jez9999 ( 618189 )

            Perhaps a shitty monochrome interface (seen the icons in Win10? They're just 2-color line art abominations.)

        • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          If you're sticking to seven, you're missing out on massive privacy invasion, driver installation problems and myriad of other issues. But look on the bright side, it's awesome because it doesn't come with a dedicated anal probe.

        • 10 is going to be big.

          Why? Aside from the widely publicised problems, what actual positive things does 10 offer that previous versions didn't?

          Cortana, like all the other personal assistant gadgets of recent years, seems very clever at first sight. However, I've seen little evidence so far suggesting that real users want this sort of tool or find these tools work well for them.

          Edge seems to be unfinished and to have negligible adoption rates so far. This might change in time, but for now it seems to lack both the stability and re

    • Aren't those who have Win8 stuck on it? I read that the first Windows tablets (WinRT?) were stuck and had no upgrade path.

      Of course - that would sting me. Assuming those devices are useful - I'd probably keep using it until it broke. Then buy something NON-Microsoft that had a history of long term support.

  • It always knows where I am, in case I get lost. It calls home, *I've fallen! And I can't get up!* Now, if they could just make it turn off a car's turn signal.

  • by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @11:43AM (#50437299) Homepage

    It would not have even a 5th of the uptake if it was not 100% free right now. Hell even illegitimate windows 7 installs become legitimate with a win10 upgrade applied to them.

    • by Barlo_Mung_42 ( 411228 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @11:49AM (#50437363) Homepage

      That's not the whole story. Lots of OSs are free but don't have 5% market share. It helps that Win10 is a really good OS and is getting solid reviews.

      • That's not the whole story. Lots of OSs are free but don't have 5% market share. It helps that Win10 is a really good OS and is getting solid reviews.

        The OP was right:

        Er... that's just NOT GOOD. I understand it's early days but for a FREE (in fact, in-your-fucking-face-you-will-have-this-whether-you-like-it-or-not) upgrade, that's just worrying."

        Microsoft has been doing everything short of force upgrading Windows 10 without permission on their Windows 7/8 install base. I never gave them permission but they took advantage of "Automatic Updates" to install the Windows 10 Reservation ADWARE on my computer. I never made a reservation but again, Microsoft abused my trust and downloaded the Windows 10 upgrade bits to my computer anyway. How much longer until they just go ahead and trigger the update and force me to extricate myself fr

        • I doubt we'll ever see numbers reported for people reverting but the way they're reporting numbers now is very different from the past. In the past we'd only get how many licenses were sold into the channel. These are confirmed installs which for an upgrade is huge. People (normals) almost never upgrade their OS. They almost always wait until they get a new system that just comes with the new OS. This is huge.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @11:44AM (#50437305)

    I ran it for about 2 weeks on a laptop at home used for general browsing, but watching the logs on my firewall were crazy. I couldn't manage to track down all the different *-edge.net domains or other CDN endpoints they were using to relentlessly connect. You basically have to switch to whitelisting. My hosts block file picked up dozens of entries, but after realizing it'd be a never ending cat & mouse game I reverted back to Win7...Unless they stop this crap in a soon to be released patch we'll go back to being a Windows free home when win7 gets bothersome.

    • I ran it for about 2 weeks on a laptop at home used for general browsing, but watching the logs on my firewall were crazy. I couldn't manage to track down all the different *-edge.net domains or other CDN endpoints they were using to relentlessly connect. You basically have to switch to whitelisting. My hosts block file picked up dozens of entries, but after realizing it'd be a never ending cat & mouse game I reverted back to Win7...Unless they stop this crap in a soon to be released patch we'll go back to being a Windows free home when win7 gets bothersome.

      Just use this: https://github.com/10se1ucgo/D... [github.com] Along with some easily googlable additions to your HOSTS file. I've manged to get it down to just one site client.wns.windows.com (IIRC) it will try randomly the entire time but HOSTS seems to deal with it as well as it can be dealt with.

  • I just bought my first Windows 10 box - a laptop for my mom. It's the first Windows 8+ cut that allowed me to use the "Start" menu like it should to be used: the place where you find your apps. After disabling all the "no privacy" stuff and some kind of bastard child from Clippy and Siri ("Contana" was it?) it was actually pretty solid. I could see this replacing Windows 8 outright...but I'm still not going to upgrade the Windows 8 tablet I have. (Maybe my wife's laptop.)

    • by waspleg ( 316038 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @11:58AM (#50437437) Journal

      Unless you're running Enterprise, it's not disabled and still spying on literally everything, including sending sound from the mic to Microsoft. I was going to list some links but I'm at work and don't have time. A little searching will show you the truth.

      The US TLAs would like to thank you for your endorsement of global privacy death.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        Unless you're running Enterprise, it's not disabled and still spying on literally everything, including sending sound from the mic to Microsoft. I was going to list some links but I'm at work and don't have time. A little searching will show you the truth.

        Perhaps you should do a little searching yourself. Perpetuating this sort of ill-informed FUD really isn't helping.

        There are legitimate privacy concerns about Windows 10. There are also reasons for some of the behaviour, and settings that do turn some of the behaviour off. What we need to further this debate is facts, not hyperbole.

    • by TheDarkMaster ( 1292526 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @12:16PM (#50437653)
      As the waspleg said, the settings to disable telemetry are a placebo, they did not really work unless you are using the Enterprise edition.
    • I'm looking for a reliable, verified way to remove all this telemetry. Can anyone confirm if this project [hakspek.com] delivers what it promises? It supposedly works on windows versions 7-10.
  • What I read: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ledow ( 319597 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @11:59AM (#50437441) Homepage

    "Windows 2015 Grabs 5.21% Market Share, Passing Windows 2006 and Windows 2012 - majority of people still on Windows 2009 or maybe even Windows 2001".

    Er... that's just NOT GOOD. I understand it's early days but for a FREE (in fact, in-your-fucking-face-you-will-have-this-whether-you-like-it-or-not) upgrade, that's just worrying. And nowadays volume licensing offer software assurance, and all kinds of things that make it as cheap to upgrade as to stay where you were.

    And, still, it only just beats a 9 and 3 year old operating system and is DWARVED by a 6 year old operating system? It really suggests - as most of us know - that this isn't a forward step at all.

    Yeah, early days, but testing etc. versions have been available for over a year. So far, our finance, banking, database and even interactive whiteboard software suppliers have notified us that we're just not supported on the new OS. We haven't even TRIED it properly, and people are already telling us we can't upgrade anyway (why they left it this late to announce that, that's another question entirely).

    I work for schools and we're on SA, so we can get Windows 10 for the same price no matter what. I can't find a convincing reason to test it, going purely on what's in our email inbox, when developers have been able to test for a year now. I booted it up in a VM and tested Classic Shell still worked, that was about it.

    I've had three members of staff ask me about Windows 10. The first, it broke their software. The second it was a new machine but our software wouldn't install because of the above incompatibilities (I chanced it to shut them up, but it just wouldn't go anyway). The third, it lost all their data (possible user-error but we'll never know now).

    The only thing I've done about Windows 10 is block all the updates via WSUS that try to get our users to install it by popups and notifications masquerading as security updates.

    • It trounces the latest OSX and the latest Linux. If their biggest problem is that they're competing with themselves there are worse problems to have.

  • by Stan92057 ( 737634 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @12:00PM (#50437463)
    Considering its free plus free advertising, too wouldn't that be really poor numbers? I'm not getting it free or paid and no i not switching to Linux any distro or apple.
  • So what (Score:3, Insightful)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2015 @12:11PM (#50437593) Journal

    I don't give a damn if it grabbed 50% of whatever bullshit metric they claim to be measuring. Win 7 works for me and I'll probably use it until I'm literally forced to upgrade (i.e. lack of drivers, etc).

    And then I'll switch to Linux.

    • It is rather telling that you don't just switch to Linux now. It is free too after all...

      • It ain't broke, don't fix it. I've worked with Win7 for a bit, and have to admit it works, and allows you to get what you want to do, done.

        Just got myself a brand new laptop, got Win 10 on it (after an upgrade - dunno what it was before - instantly got frustrated by not being able to find my apps for lack of a Start menu or anything like it). It feels terribly broken. No software included other than a browser. Mail client only does MS-based mail, nothing else, and forces full screen with no way to window it

    • You're the demographic that caused IE6. Latching on to one version and sticking your head deep up the ass, while shouting lalalalala... Seriously, just fucking upgrade to a decent modern OS. Move to a new Linux distro, or buy a new Mac, or upgrade to Windows 10. At this point, Win7 is just old and senile. And you using it indicates you haven't evaluated the new OSes and this is just your laziness talking.

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