Windows 10 Now on 600 Million Active Devices (geekwire.com) 142
Windows 10 has found its way onto 600 million active devices, says CEO Satya Nadella. From a report: CEO Satya Nadella referenced the new number for the first time moments ago at the company's annual shareholders meeting. The number is up from the 500 million devices touted by Microsoft earlier this year, but it's still well short of the company's original goal of 1 billion Windows 10 devices within two to three years of its 2015 release.
Good leadership at the helm... (Score:5, Interesting)
It can't be understated how good of a job MS has done with Win10 and the company's direction as a whole in the past few years. Placing Nadella at the helm, and getting rid of Balmer has been a real boon to the company. I know this probably makes me sound like a MS shill, but having spent multiple years in the Linux desktop scene, macOS, and windows, the current windows OS is by far the best OS I've ever used.
While the target of 1B devices might be a little bit of a pipe dream, they still have another year to hit their goal, and if they don't, it's not like it's even remotely a failure.
I still can't deny that Ubuntu 17.10 is very tempting though...
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
Yeah, the management of Herpes has also done a good job, it's not active on 3 billion humans...
Re: (Score:1)
Yep, you do sound like an MS shill. Stop it, it is embarrassing.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
No, it's not embarrassing. They make a better desktop OS than Apple or any Linux desktop at the moment. I don't even view that as an "opinion." Having spent loads of time in all of them, it's just the current state of affairs.
Maybe if Apple gets their collective heads out of their rears, or if a Linux distro finally decides what it wants to be, that might change.
Re:Good leadership at the helm... (Score:4, Insightful)
As far as price/utility, Ubuntu 17 is pretty good. It's free. It doesn't send my personal data outside my machine by default. It doesn't try to nudge me to use Microsoft's (or anyone else's) servers for storage of personal info.
And it comes with a decent (OK, not great) office suite, graphic edition, media software, etc, etc built in. What's really missing is an Outlook equivalent, but with web-based email solutions, this is less relevant. (Strictly for email, I connect Thunderbird to the uni Exchange servers.)
Re: (Score:1)
No, it isn't. Windows 10 stinks, is still slow as fuck, and you can't do simple things (like backing up) easily. Installing software is a nightmare, but of course you are rewarded with not being able to even move an app post install. There is no coherency, with settings shat seemingly at random over different places. It has a moronic welcome screen "Hi..." every time it updates, and the differential between home/pro/ultimate still makes no sesne (why would home users want encryption or to run VMs). The list
Re:Good leadership at the helm... (Score:4, Insightful)
Sounds like you're quoting a bunch of ignorant drivel from the Vista days...
- It's extremely fast. It cold boots for me in 5 seconds after posting is complete. I'd also like to see your competing system run graphics intensive tasks using the latest and greatest graphics hardware and even have a chance of competing. "Slow" is about the stupidest and most ignorant claim about Windows 10 that I've ever heard.
- Installing software is a nightmare? I guess clicking an icon and clicking "Next" is too complex for some people... Definitely SO much harder than mounting a virtual drive on your machine, extracting an app from it, dragging that app to an arbitrary folder (or running an installer), and then unmounting the drive.
- "I can't move an app after I install it!" is a fake complaint and probably identifies you as an angry mac user. You never move an app after you install it anyway, and don't lie and pretend you do. They sit right in the Applications folder the way they always have. That's not an issue.
- Are you really complaining that there's a welcome screen after major OS updates that says "Hi!"? Apple plays a frigging theme video after their major OS updates, and Linux often just indiscriminately breaks or uninstalls half the crap you had installed.
- The "List of installed apps" is only confusing if you're a toddler. It's an alphabetized list of your installed apps. If that doesn't make sense to you, then you very well may be beyond help. Compare that with a mac, and you end up with garbage files spewed all over your Library that you know nothing about, and are effectively there forever, even if you decide to get rid of the application itself. Even most linux distros do a better job of keeping track of the mess they makes.
- Windows was free for me, five times over, and whether or not something is "cool" is irrelevant to how good it is at its job. Skateboards are cool. They also suck as cross country vehicles.
Re: (Score:1)
That was not a cold boot you mooran, Win 10 just hibernates then when you push the power button again, it just loads everything from RAM. Heck my WinNT and Win2K can do that too. Once my Win2K hibernates, I can just tap the mouse trackpad and the OS loads in just 1 second. So your 5 seconds with Win10 is still slower with my 1 second on an old OS.
Re: (Score:2)
Once my Win2K hibernates, I can just tap the mouse trackpad and the OS loads in just 1 second.
That isn't hibernation. It's standby.
If you don't understand the difference, disconnect the power cord/battery and reconnect. Hibernate will boot in the same time, standby will not.
Re: (Score:2)
Fast ?
When I was so fed up with Windows 10 and its long list of annoyances (the final one being preventing me accessing every directory on my filesystem, settings the rights back as soon as I specifically set them so I could see their content) I decided to give up playing with a couple hundred games that would not work in Linux ... yet (mostly the 'AAA' ones). It's not like I've much time to play anyway.
The backup of my disks (a few terabytes) took about 5 days. Just initializing it took the better part o
Re: (Score:1)
"It's extremely fast."
Sure, it can show you icons extremely quickly, but that doesn't mean it's ready to do anything.
My Win10 machine pegs the disk at 100% for the first 5 minutes after every boot. If I make the mistake of actually trying to open Visual Studio during that time it can take up to 15 minutes to become responsive.
I honestly haven't seen anything quite like it since the LOAD "*",8,1 days.
Re: (Score:3)
It reboots uncontrollably.
It spews telemetry out over the internet.
Both are unacceptable.
Re: (Score:2)
Not for me, I don't game as I already have a life (and don't need a half-life), so I am sticking with Linux.
Re: (Score:2)
You know, I have worked on OSes that didn't decide to take over my computer for hours to install updates I hadn't asked for and then hanging so I couldn't just let the blasted thing update itself overnight. But, then, I'm one of those rare people who actually wants to use his computer to do something with rather than run crappy updates. I've also worked with OSes that could actually keep a wireless connection up without needing to be rebooted now and then when it decided to go down. I've even worked on
Re: (Score:3)
Not everyone who tolerates Windows 10 is a corporate shill. For one thing, for anyone who has suffered through Windows 8.X, Windows 10 seems comparatively like the sound of angels, the taste of an expertly made macchiato and the feeling of deep carpeting beneath your feet. That's not shilling, that's just a tremendous feeling of relief.
Moreover, there's still some of us who's essential apps still run on Windows, and won't run well under Wine, at least not yet, and running individual apps in Virtualbox (a)
Re: (Score:3)
Not everyone who tolerates Windows 10 is a corporate shill. For one thing, for anyone who has suffered through Windows 8.X, Windows 10 seems comparatively like the sound of angels, the taste of an expertly made macchiato and the feeling of deep carpeting beneath your feet.
The parts that sucked about Windows 8.x:
-Non-coherent control panel menus that are half "Metro" style, half Standard Desktop style (fixable with Classic shell, though it shouldn't be required)
-Full screen start menu with annoying smart tiles, and no tree view of the start menu. Search and completely flat only.
Windows 10:
-Same identity crisis control panels
-Mini version of the same smart tile start menu, with no tree view
Addition of:
-Forced updates with automatic restart.
-Forced upgrades that are somewhere b
Re: (Score:2)
What really pisses me off with Windows 10 is its self importance. I play a full screen game and suddenly the game disappears and Windows informs me that I have to choose a time for a restart because some update was installed in the background. I generally hate applications that steal the focus, but this shit goes even beyond that.
Re: (Score:2)
What really pisses me off with Windows 10 is its self importance. I play a full screen game and suddenly the game disappears and Windows informs me that I have to choose a time for a restart because some update was installed in the background. I generally hate applications that steal the focus, but this shit goes even beyond that.
Not only that, but don't you notice your game lagging while the update is being downloaded, a process over which you have little control?
Re: (Score:2)
I have a 8 core Xeon CPU and a shitload of RAM in my computer (have cannibalised an old server) so there is no lag.
MS does better than Linux even when MS falls short (Score:1)
As a long time Linux user I find it pathetic how even when Microsoft falls short of their goal, they still manage to do so much better than the entire GNU/Linux community has managed to do.
Windows Vista, Windows 8, and even Windows 10 gave the GNU/Linux community great opportunities to get some significant market share. But instead of doing that, the GNU/Linux community screwed itself over with nonsense like GNOME 3, PulseAudio, NetworkManager, systemd, and Wayland.
The only success we've seen with the Linux
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I'd leave M$ on the desktop in a heartbeat if my apps would work elsewhere in a reasonable fashion, and the laptop I take into the field runs Mint, but I nevertheless agree with you, especially about getting the heck rid of Balmer. And I have to admit other than persistently nagging me to use Cortana and Edge, (which I now understand can be turned off) Windows 10 isn't all that bad. Microsoft is (at least at the moment) acting like a company that realize that a balance must be maintained between the annoy
Re: (Score:2)
So constant telemetry back to Microsoft and forced updates and reboots aren't that bad? Both used to be considered flat-out bugs, often unacceptable ones. This is some grade A astroturfing.
Re: (Score:2)
... It can't be understated how good of a job MS has done with Win10 and the company's direction as a whole in the past few years. ...
Yeah, MS came out with an operating system that so few wanted, they tried to give it away. And when that didn't work, they tried to trick customers into installing it. Good Job!
Re: (Score:2)
...While the target of 1B devices might be a little bit of a pipe dream...
And the back-pedalling begins.
Re: (Score:2)
Well I got to admit that Microsoft has for once been in tune with the times, with the cloud and Facebook and all that it's proven beyond any reasonable doubt that the average user doesn't care that he's being spied on. On mobile phones Android has 85% market share and most of those are loaded with services from Google who is the mother of all data mining companies. Not sure why I thought maybe this time it would be different when they didn't leave over Vista or Win8. I've been forced to upgrade my gaming co
Re: (Score:1)
It can't be understated...
So you're actually saying that there's next to nothing good to be said about what MS has done in the last few years?
I so, then I can't argue with that. Windows 10 is an intrusive, invasive piece of spyware with a horrible interface.
Re: (Score:1)
Had to give it away (Score:5, Insightful)
When that didn't work they forced it on you.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Same old tired gripe.
Re: (Score:2)
Same truth.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm glad you got paid for all that work.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Not free as in freedom.
Not primarily free as in beer.
But mostly free as in herpes.
How is this malware running on 600 million machines?
Did the recently announced Microsoft Sets look like Windows will become another Chromebook?
Re:Had to give it away (Score:5, Informative)
Windows 10 is not free now, and in fact was never really free. It was a free upgrade only for already-paid-for versions of Windows, and that offer has long since expired. If you want to install it today on a new machine, it will cost you $120-$200. Buying a Windows license doesn't give you a perpetual lifetime license either. It only gives you a license for the lifetime of your machine.
Microsoft probably realized that the vast majority of people buy a machine and never upgrade Windows. So, they just changed their business model to better fit this reality, and at the same time, made things easier on themselves by ensuring they're only supporting one OS version going forward.
I'm always a bit surprised by the "Windows is free" mantra. Microsoft only eliminated paid updates, which I suspect wasn't a huge money-maker anyhow, and will likely be partially offset by reduced maintenance costs. With those numbers, assuming only half those are desktop PCs, and even with an average of once a decade machine replacement, Microsoft is still likely grossing several billion a year on new license fees alone..
And they still haven't gotten a clue (Score:5, Informative)
And the most important thing to remember is that if people had the choice of installing Windows 7 on new machines, the Win10 numbers wouldn't even be THAT high.
The only reason people are installing Windows 10 is because they have no choice. Not only is it not that particularly compelling, but there are so many downsides, that people are actively resisting using it.
I know I won't allow it at our company until we've implemented a full deployment plan including blocking all of Microsoft telemetry IP addresses, and set up a WSUS server with a VERY conservative update schedule. Microsoft has fucked up SO many updates, SO regularly, that they cannot be trusted. This probably also means we'll be forced to subscribe to their Windows 10 Enterprise nonsense since they removed so much of the GPO functionality from Pro.
Re: (Score:2)
Which Linux distro(s) will frequently and automatically try to install the sorts of malware you described during their normal update process?
Re: (Score:2)
They've rolled out updates which report data back to Google
The first one you mentioned was literally the only example I could think of, and obviously it was controversial and much criticised. What have they done that sends stuff to Google?
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly.
Just let me *gasp* buy a valid Windows 7 key for $20 each (I don't even need a stupid USB nor DVD) and I'll immediately buy 6 copies just so I can stop with the shenanigans of deleting the WPA registry setting just to run indefinitely on my spare machines and VMs.
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly.
Just let me *gasp* buy a valid Windows 7 key for $20 each (I don't even need a stupid USB nor DVD) and I'll immediately buy 6 copies just so I can stop with the shenanigans of deleting the WPA registry setting just to run indefinitely on my spare machines and VMs.
Look on Kinguin. Win 7 pro is $25 and win 10 pro is $30. I bought a dozon or so keys there. Just use the 1-800 # to activate.
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks for the link to https://www.kinguin.net/ [kinguin.net] !
Re: (Score:2)
Windows 10 has full downgrade rights. The last few PCs we bought came with Windows 7 preinstalled. It had a Windows 10 key downgraded to Windows
Re: (Score:2)
Windows 10 has full downgrade rights.
Absolutely not. Certain OEMs have chosen to include a Windows 7 license on their new Windows 10 desktops. This was done by including some kind of a valid Windows 7 key in the BIOS or by other means. But Windows 10 by itself does not give you any downgrade rights.
Re: (Score:2)
Even if they did, that still won't necessarily help you because Microsoft cripples Windows 7 if you use it on a processor >= Kaby Lake or Ryzen. And there is hardware now where there arn't even drivers available for Windows 7.
They're basically trying to pull an Apple, but as usual they botch up the whole thing and end up making it look so bad that Apple actually looks reasonable by comparison.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's probably a good idea to use Windows 10 LTSB if you can...
Re: (Score:3)
So if you're that worried about telemetry, do you block Google analytics and Facebook?
And have you done any research at all into how to disable Windows 10 telemetry [microsoft.com], or what that telemetry is doing [microsoft.com] and whether it might actually be beneficial?
To me you sound like you're letting your own personal biases get in the way of doing your job properly.
Re: (Score:1)
Let me guess... you didn't even read your own links, did you?
Your link to "disable Windows 10 telemetry" is actually not what it says in the label... what it says in the label is "disable telemetry for Service Management Automation, Service Provider Foundation, and Service Manager Self-Serve Portal", which is not exactly the same thing.
On your second link, go to "Telemetry levels" and notice that there are 4 levels (from less snitch to more snitch): Security, Basic, Enhanced, Full. Notice that there isn't a
Re: (Score:2)
Also, what about Hitler? Think about Hitler and all the bad stuff he did for a minute. Can you really complain about Microsoft data mining when Hitler?
I rest my case.
Re: (Score:2)
That argument is stupid and you know it.
No one is forced to use Google. No one is forced to use Facebook. If I did block access to them, then it wouldn't hurt anyone or hinder anyone from doing their jobs.
Further, if Google or Facebook botches an update, no one cares, because they are not essential.
Windows is a locked in requirement of doing business. You don't have a *choice* but to use Windows. That puts it in a completely different league. As a system administrator, I both have control of, and more
Re: (Score:2)
And the most important thing to remember is that if people had the choice of installing Windows 7 on new machines, the Win10 numbers wouldn't even be THAT high.
You're talking like a geek. What is actually important to remember is that people don't give a shit what OS is on their machine and will run with whatever works / what comes with their device.
Re: (Score:1)
... and that's why we won't be upgrading to W10 until absolutely needed. All that extra $ for Win10 Enterprise to be able to control it how we want to, not at Microsofts whims. The powers that be here really do not like being controlled by other companies, so it's going to be interesting. Microsoft will bend to us, not the other way around or we'll search for alternatives. Seriously.
Active or activated? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
I installed Win10 in a VM to test it and didn't like it. Does that count?
I did the same thing and after confirming (with Wireshark) that Windows 10 loves to phone home even though I told it not to, I shut it down and have not used it since and that was over a year ago. I haven't missed it but then again I really have not used MS Windows seriously for over ten years.
What type of devices? (Score:1)
Xbox One, Windows Phone, Surface, various 3rd party tablets and netbooks, laptops, servers and virtual machines, IoT devices, Raspberry Pi...
That increases the numbers beyond what we would think of as a traditional Windows 10 application environment. It doesn't mean we can easily target those 600M active devices in any meaningful way.
https://winblogs.azureedge.net... [azureedge.net]
Microsoft loves to throw this graphic around but they're delusional if they think it's that simple.
34 million of them are currently updating (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
I had a streaming PC running a TwitchPlays for over a month.
No, this is not standard usage for most people.
Yes, it eventually rebooted without my permission.
Re: (Score:2)
This problem has long since been fixed: https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
Re: (Score:2)
From:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/update/waas-restart
"Limit restart delays - After an update is installed, Windows 10 attempts automatic restart outside of active hours. If the restart does not succeed after 7 days (by default), the user will see a notification that restart is required."
Re: (Score:2)
"Active hours" does not fix shit. Depending on day of week, I can be using my personal desktop any hour of the day. Moreover, MS active hours only allows 8 hours to be designated as active, which implies that the other 16 hours are inactive? Moreover MS has installed updated and rebooted my PC in the middle of running background tasks, like trans-coding or downloads. What a piece of junk. Did microsoft pay you a lot for this post? A free license?
Re: (Score:2)
34 million people changed the default settings which were to update in the evening and not in the middle of the day to something that disrupts them, and then don't acknowledge the notification that the system gives them that it will happen and they have a chance to avoid it?
Holy shit, man. Since we're over populated I think I found 34million dead weights we could eliminate. The CO2 savings alone make it worth while.
MS always say this (Score:2)
Even with Vista and 8 they claimed each had 'sold better than any previous Windows version'.
Of course that will be the case given that
1) PC shipments increase globally with time
2) Most PC OEMs have a contract which says they must install an OS on each machine
It's the reason Dell sold machines with FreeDos on them for a while. Their contract with MS stopped them selling machines with no OS.
3) PC OEMs get a discount on Windows
4) Most customers prefer Windows to any alternative OS.
So something like Vista or 8
Re: (Score:1)
4) Most customers prefer Windows to any alternative OS.
4) Most customers don't know of any alternative OS and stick with the OS (ie. MS Windows) that is pre-installed on their PC.
There fixed it for you.
windows 10 ... (Score:3, Informative)
Is not a bad OS... but stop nudging me, Microsoft.
I want a local account with locally-saved password, not one that's tied to a Microsoft account. Yes, it can be done, but the amount of nudging to get me to create a cloud account is infuriating. I don't want my settings in the cloud, and to give you power to change them. My computer is mine -- I don't want to be on a worldwide AD domain. Nor do I want WiFi passwords "cared and shared" with the world.
I want UX updates when I request them, not when you think I should have them.
I want one switch to turn off all telemetry. It's not that difficult to set a flag that all parts of your OS would respect.
I don't want to be nudged into using cloud storage when I can be saving and backing up locally. Oh, and I want ad-free, unpaid Solitaire back already :)
Windows 10 is a good, relatively-stable OS that's also a monetization platform -- it makes me feel like my device doesn't belong to me.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
There are third party hacks out there to disable telemetry.
Re:windows 10 ... (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:1)
That's the reason I didn't buy a Windows 8 laptop to be honest. I knew I could install Classic Shell but it irked me that I had to do that. So I kept my Windows 7 laptop.
Actually I think Windows has a Good/Bad release strategy. I.e. it's tolerable if you skip every other release, at least post Windows 2000 which I also liked.
Windows XP - Good
Vista - Bad
7 - Good
8 - Bad
10 - Good
Admittedly I don't have any Windows 10 machines either. I do run an unactivated copy in Parallels VM on my Macbook though. And it's .
Re: (Score:1)
Windows 10 isn't all that bad. I'd say it's about as well received as XP or 7.
Re: (Score:2)
"I want a local account with locally-saved password, not one that's tied to a Microsoft account. Yes, it can be done,"
I just did a fresh install of the fall update on a system. It's a lot less obnoxious than it used to be. Yeah, it still steers you towards a microsoft account, but the path to not do do that is now pretty clearly marked, where before at its worst, you practically had to "fail" to connect to the microsoft cloud before it would grudgingly offer to let you use a local account.
"Nor do I want WiF
Re: (Score:2)
Anyone who calls an OS that reboots uncontrollably for forced updates "stable" is flat-out certifiable.
are they sure (Score:2)
No other choice (Score:2)
The company I am working for took the plunge and is now delivering laptops with Windows 10.
One...Billion...Devices (Score:2)
Just bought a brand new Win10 laptop (Score:2)
It is a 12 GB machine, the pagefile was 2GB. I have a 1TB hard disk. In unix/linux side my swap disk has always been twice the RAM. OK raise it, still it was too slow, disk activity 100%.
OK find and disable one drive. Mild help, still over 90%
Find and disable superfetch. Ding ding ding! Pay dirt. Disk started idling.
These are not some crap ware loaded by the Vendor. IT is microsoft pushing useless things that leads to su
Re: (Score:2)
Doesn't make sense (Score:1)
Home users use mobile (Score:1)
Win10 best desktop OS says MS shill (Score:1)
What good job, a good job in maintain a monopoly on the desktop PC, seeing as no one has a choice in 'upgrading' to Win10
"I know this probably makes me sound like a MS shill"
Yes
"but having spent multiple years in the Linux desktop scene"
Appeal to authority
"the current windows OS is by far the best OS I've ever used".