Win10 hits its goal: One beeeeeeeelion monthly active devices

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Yes, that includes speakers and game consoles, but still… Yusuf Mehdi just posted on the Windows blog: Today we’re delighted to announce that over o
[See the full post at: Win10 hits its goal: One beeeeeeeelion monthly active devices]

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GreatAndPowerfulTech

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So that’s subject to 3rd party confirmation and how many years late! And that being accomplished after 7’s EOL on consumer PCs/Laptops makes for a hollow achievement for MS and 10, if in fact that one billion is true.  I’ve got 1 out of 5 laptops running 10 and the others are all dual boots(Windows 7-EOL/Offline and Mint 19.3/online) and that usage model for the 4 older laptops could be applicable to the 10(1809) Home laptop as well if MS keeps missing the QA/QC target with its monthly patches.

Mid 2018 was the original expected date for that 1st billion 10 installed devices and that target was announced by MS back in  July 2015 and so now it’s much later and only after 7’s EOL and by attrition mostly as far as I’m concerned. And some of those 10 devices can not be used for general purpose computing tasks. So on how many PCs/Laptops on 10 and 10 phones are no longer part of that I’d imagine but  4 out of 5 of may laptops are not using any MS OS while online and the one that’s using 10(Home) currently is kept offline waiting for DEFCON3 or higher. And really once Linux Kernel 5.6./5.7 becomes available for current Mint installs that one 10 Home laptop will be dual boot as well and maybe not as actively used online while booted into 10(Rarely).

MS needs to do a lot better with 10’s QA/QC and maybe get a consumer 10/LTSC variant before more folks get encouraged to dual boot 10 with some non MS OS option.

Really close to 2 years late and all that GWX/other nefariousness, along with the KB/Feature update pain, and will MS be able to stay above that figure longer term and no real indicator of the actual numbers of PCs/Laptops using 10 as opposed to other devices. So I’m just not impressed.

 

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Ulti P. Uszer

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It makes me laugh when they say that people have “Chosen Windows 10”.  Yeah, like what else besides Mac does the average everyday user have.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Tom-R, FakeNinja, Ulti P. Uszer, Nibbled To Death By Ducks

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I am not the Anon in the preceding post.
…..
1. Just remember: Do ~not~ trust Micro$oft. I learned that lesson back when Gates and Ballmer were trying to kill Netscape.
…..
2. My 6-year old Win 7 Pro PC died recently and IMO is un-repairable. Thus, I was forced to buy recently a new Win 10 Pro PC. I am still in a 14-day period in which I may return it, no Qs asked. The OS in some ways seems to be very poorly-designed. Example: It does not keep setting changes — icon size and placement, font sizes in apps — I’m not sure, but I think on reboots and/or shutdowns, and maybe either switching apps and returning to desktop window. Example 2: I created a restore point immediately after first boot. A few days and some Win Updates later, the restore point was gone. No notice to me, nor asking permission to do so. Example 3: I set a group policy prohibiting Win Update of drivers. 2 days later, the ****** PC had downloaded and installed a driver update.
…..
I am getting to the point, while I have done limited customization of the system, that I am thinking of a permitted install of Win 8.1 which I believe I have. And I have been a long-time Linux fan; if I keep using a M$ OS, I will not give up on Linux.
…..
What a poorly-made OS, in some respects, I believe Win 10 to be. And yes, I’m familiar with their recent item last week about quality testing being done by the “community” or similar; which I would refer to as the guinea pigs/ victims.
…..
Thanks, Woody, for all you have done to build this site.

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Steve, Tom-R, Cybertooth, Ulti P. Uszer, Nibbled To Death By Ducks, Elly, Charlie

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I am the Anon in the preceding post and have 4(out of 5) laptops dual booting Linux Mint 19.3 alongside EOL-Windows 7/7 Pro(7 never get allowed online). And the 5th laptop is getting the 10/Mint dual boot treatment as well as soon as Mint 19.3 gets offered with the Linux Mint 5.6/5.7 kernel and I’ll probably download a new Mint 19.3 ISO/image for that last/newest laptop. I’m really liking the different OSs(from different sources) redundancy that dual booting allows as well as the legacy support allowed for any Windows software that does not work on Linux.

And I’ve only been using 10(1803/1809) for month and am already disliking the lack of control over my Laptop’s OS/Updating processes and I’ll put a stop to that shortly. And the fist attempt from 10 trying to auto-update my firmware will be the last of that as that’s really a no no that can not be forgiven.

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Ulti P. Uszer, Nibbled To Death By Ducks, Cybertooth

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I wonder what the real numbers would look like today if three major industries – Medical, Finance, and Insurance – were not forced to leave Win 7 for Win 10 purely for compliance reasons.

I have to laugh when the stable and highly usable Win 7 is no longer viable just because a date has come and gone, while the ongoing mess called Win 10 has been nothing short of an ongoing stability mess for most organizations that have to support it.

Yes, we in the IT support community are not the mainstream users, and are more business focused, but none of my users seem to be “feelin’ the love” for Win 10 yet and keep asking me to put the lost features like a proper start menu back in.

For giggles – compare setting the default printer in Win 7 to Win 10.  4 simple steps versus a more convoluted 7 step process.  Genius!

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ryegrass, Ulti P. Uszer, Nibbled To Death By Ducks, Charlie

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“Medical, Finance, and Insurance – were not forced to leave Win 7 for Win 10 purely for compliance reasons.”

Those are all enterprise/volume licensing customers and can get the Enterprise/LTSC version of Windows 10 where IT departments/contractors can manage and disable all that the consumer cannot and they qualify for Windows 7 ESU and security updates for 7 until 2023. So 7/ESU-2023 if the company’s/entity’s mission critical software has yet to be vetted/certified for 10 and 3 more years to get that very expensive vetting/certifying of mission critical work done for Windows 10/Other OS options.

Care to guess which is more expensive Windows 7 ESU licensing costs($) or the costs($$$$$) of that vetting/certification for some Company’s/Entity’s very bespoke mission critical software to run properly at as close to 100% up-time as possible on any new OS/OS version! And there was a reason that some stayed on XP even after 7 was released, and the same extended XP support was purchased by many for the very same reason. If the mission critical software does not work then the company/entity can not function.

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You do understand that HIPAA compliance mandates that when Win7 went end of life it was no longer compliant.  Nothing more than a date in time and nothing to do with any actual vulnerability.

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Elly

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Show me the regs, USC/CFR, where Windows 7 Enterprise/Volume licensing, and receiving Extended Security Updates(ESU) until 2023, is not HIPAA compliant. Windows 7 Enterprise(ESU), sans the spyware baked into 10, is very HIPAA compliant.

Really any medical entity running any MS non Enterprise/LTSC OS is non HIPAA compliant in my view and I’ll not want my medical records on any consumer OS variant. And that’s just scare tactics to get more folks onto 10 and if that 10 is not Enterprise/Volume-Licensing/LTSC then that’s even more of a HIPAA risk.

Now how many millions is that big medical center supposed to spend to get its very bespoke mission critical(Very strict HIPAA compliant software requirements) vetted/certified for Windows 10 Enterprise/LTSC. Maybe there are still medical Windows XP users purchasing support from MS for their multi-million dollar CT/CAT/NMR scanner equipment, and some government health ministries as well for their administrative operations.

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Windows 10 OS share is no more then a drop in a bucket of water of World OS.

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Alex5723 wrote:

Windows 10 OS share is no more then a drop in a bucket of water of World OS.

Care to back that up with more than mere conjecture?

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There are about 3.5 Billion Android devices. There are +1 Billion iOS devices.
Billion of Web servers, smart TVs, routers, set-top boxes, …. run “linux”…
Don’t leave out ~200 Billion!! IoT devices none running Windows 10.

So, 1 Billion of Windows 10 is just.. nothing.

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Quite a few large numbers with precious little support for them. Ok.

Btw, if Windows 10 is such an insignificant operating system (if your numbers are right, 1 in every 204 systems runs Windows 10) then why is so much space wasted discussing it?

You could just switch and use one of the other operating systems that are, no doubt, completely satisfying in every way.

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Alex5723 wrote:

Don’t leave out ~200 Billion!! IoT devices none running Windows 10.

Quite a few are:

Windows 10 IoT (Internet of Things) is the edition you’re least likely to own but also one you’ve probably used more than you realize.

The average everyday user probably won’t download and use Windows 10 IoT, but that doesn’t mean they won’t encounter it. For the most part, if you’re not a developer, this OS is working for you in ways that you may not even notice. It could be powering the kiosk you used to order food at a restaurant or preparing your next cocktail.

What Is Windows 10 IoT, and When Would You Want to Use It?

66 compatible devices: Windows 10 IoT Hardware compatibility list
Compatible processors: Microsoft-enabled SoCs

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wavy

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Typical MS BS! One billion people have not chosen Windows 10, 1 billion people have been tricked into or forced into Windows 10.

Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie

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Ulti P. Uszer, Nibbled To Death By Ducks, Charlie

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I wasn’t tricked or forced, so that’s not true.

Microsoft can’t force anyone to start up or buy computers with Windows 10 installed.

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[samak]

So all those people who clicked X to close a window and found they were suddenly installing W10 weren’t tricked? The whole GWX campaign was all above board?
OK, not all 1 billion were tricked. We don’t know how many were. None of them chose W10.
I suspect most of the rest would have stayed with W7 if MS would’ve continued supporting it. Those are the “forced” people.

Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie

• This reply was modified 4 years, 12 months ago by samak.

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Ulti P. Uszer, Charlie, Cybertooth

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All the Microsoft bashing aside, in terms of “One Billion”, what does “widespread” mean in either numbers or percentage?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Had Microsoft maintained support for Windows 7, I would have continued with Windows 7 instead of moving to Windows 10 operating system. Getting the “special limited three-year edition” of Windows 7 which included locating a sponsor, filling out forms, and paying additional escalating fees seemed counter-productive.

I moved on. I don’t like it, but my name isn’t on the masthead either.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
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Ulti P. Uszer, OscarCP

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I moved to a Mac and to Linux (in dual boot with Win 7 in my old but still robust PC), keeping Windows 7 as backup for cases when I need to do some work using Windows, and also because of all the software and the data I have in there, that is not something I am prepared to do without. Observing now from the margins what seems to be going with Windows, I am rather pleased with my decision. One that has not slowed me down one bit from doing what I need to do every day and has got me, so far, into no more strife than any computer I have had to dealt with has ever caused me.

As G. Born explains in his article, the number “one billion” of ‘devices’ is probably a count arrived after “sweeping together” (with a ones and zeroes broom, I presume) all the things that are supposed to be able to run Win 10, not just PCs. I would add that I think it is a good article. Unless the unlikely happens and MS climbs down from its Cloud, I don’t see a really positive change coming in a year, or two, or three from how things are right now with Windows — even while I wish it turns out different, though. All I can say about the future, three years out from today, is that, in most other respects, it’s not going to be like today. How well is Windows going to fit within that future? I don’t know, but I don’t think the proper answer is “extremely well.” But the future will come, all by itself, and then we shall see.

 

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Ulti P. Uszer, Cybertooth

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[PKCano]

From the launch of Windows 10, our focus was on moving people from having, to choosing, to loving Windows. With the release of every new build of Windows 10, we have seen customer satisfaction improve as we have made fixes and added new capabilities and experiences. We are humbled that customers are choosing and loving Windows 10,

Maybe it’s the language and cultural gap.

Edit for content. Please follow the –Lounge Rules– no personal attacks, no swearing, and politics/religion are relegated to the Rants forum.

Ex Microsoft Windows (Insider) MVP, Microsoft Answers Community Moderator, Blogger, Book author

https://www.borncity.com/win/

• This reply was modified 4 years, 12 months ago by PKCano.

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For those interested, Gunter Born’s “One Billion” [English] column here:

https://borncity.com/win/2020/03/16/1-milliarde-windows-10-gerte-erreicht/#more-13704

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
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Elly, OscarCP, woody

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nope, I retired my 950 w10 phone so they’re 1 under a billion

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No problem, 0patch pro works just fine for W7 home users.

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Cybertooth

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[Nibbled To Death By Ducks]

…and more, as we all know, is better.

In the 14th century everyone in Europe had fleas, too. Did that make it great??

Numbers, schnumbers.

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330, Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Greenhorn
--
"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

• This reply was modified 4 years, 12 months ago by Nibbled To Death By Ducks.

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Charlie, Ulti P. Uszer

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It’s all attrition after these nearly 5 long years of 10 and it took Windows 7’s EOL on consumer devices to get there. It’s been years since the only OS on new PC/Laptop hardware was 10 and no other Windows OS option for any newly produced PC/Laptop hardware. That and GWX nefariousness among others after MS had little success in just giving it away for “free” for that 1 year(Get it “Free” before the offer expires) time limit  that never really expired.  It’s attrition for the most part that got the final numbers and no other Windows option once 7 went EOL for most folks.

Windows 8/8.1 was surreptitiously shunned by the CPU/GPU makers and MS for proper OS/Driver support in order to force folks in 10’s direction and that was planned even before 8/8.1 passed out of its first 5 years of mainstream support where 8/8.1 was still supposed to receive OS feature updates(Driver/OS support on new CPU/GPU hardware).  MS/Hardware partners effectively placed Windows 8/8.1 prematurely into its post mainstream support period and into the security updates only remainder of the 10 year full life-cycle OS support period and thus forcing folks to have to move onto 10 if they wanted all the new CPU/GPU hardware features support supported in Windows on any new PC/Laptop hardware.

So really after 7’s EOL, and in spite of 8/8.1’s promised mainstream support, 10 has really not been accepted more than cajoled and forced, by any means the MS could get away with, to make it all 10, and only 10, with no other MS OS Option for consumers. And really those active insider Beta testers numbers really should included with the purported 1 Billion+ Windows 10 end users as well, each and every month of every year since Windows 10 was announced. The insiders are actual Alpha testers and all of 10’s end users are the Beta testers and no way around that short of MacOS/BSD/Linux, and whatever phone/tablet OS/ecosystems are not from Redmond as well.

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Ascaris, Elly, Charlie

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Microsoft’s moves to try to get Windows 7 and 8 users to migrate to Windows 10 by offering them a “limited-time” free upgrade — an offer which still works for many customers, by the way, using valid product keys — didn’t have much of an impact on the total, as relatively few users got a new version of Windows via a manual update. (Most get it via a volume licensing agreement or via a new PC preloaded with a particular new operating system.”
Microsoft hits its promised one billion Windows 10 number two years later than originally expected

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To put this in perspective, there are 2.5 billion active Android devices, and it didn’t take a GWX/KB3035583 campaign of deception and coercion toward end users to make that happen.

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Maybe the article would read better if it said 10 was on one Billion. How many left 10 and went to Linux, Apple, or upgraded to Windows 7. I tried 10, learned about the BAD of it and upgraded to Windows 7. I had a test 10 but it current is on 8.1.

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anonymous wrote:

Maybe the article would read better if it said 10 was on one Billion. How many left 10 and went to Linux, Apple, or upgraded to Windows 7. I tried 10, learned about the BAD of it and upgraded to Windows 7. I had a test 10 but it current is on 8.1.

The headline said it is on a billion active devices.  If that is true, it would exclude former Win 10 devices (like the Acer Swift I am using now), since it is not checking in with the MS servers.  With the telemetry, they probably have a pretty good idea of how many there are.

But in the MS post:

From the launch of Windows 10, our focus was on moving people from having, to choosing, to loving Windows.

I don’t think so, Tim.

(No, he’s not actually named Tim.)

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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It might have been more meaningful to announce the number of (1) PCs and (2) servers now running Windows 10 (including multiple-server installations and server farms, counting as “one” each of these). Being also of interest, you could have added the evolution of these two numbers in recent times. You sell the OS, every single copy of it, so you probably know enough to provide this information.

But “Devices”? Really? MS: how very wide-open and also low in your expectations you have become!

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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What different opinion would you have reached?

What’s low about Microsoft’s expectations?

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Ironic how they use the word “chosen”… also, didn’t Microsoft predict they would reach this goal by 2016? How embarassing.

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