Posted on 05/06/2015 2:47:29 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
To meet its goal of putting Windows 10 on a billion devices within three years, Microsoft will have to turn every personal computer now running Windows 7 onto the new OS, then find even more to migrate, calculations from recent statistics show.
Microsoft staked out the ambitious plan last week at its Build developers conference. "Our goal is that within two to three years of Windows 10's release there will be one billion devices running Windows 10," said Terry Myerson, the chief of the firm's operating system group.
One billion. A big, big number.
For an idea how big, Computerworld used the user share data published by Net Applications to peg the number of PCs now running each still-supported version of Windows.
User share is a rough estimate of the percentage of the world's online users who ran a specific OS during a given month, and is tracked by Net Applications using visitor tallies to its customers' websites.
According to the California analytics vendor, Windows 7 powered 64.1% of all PCs running Windows during April. The 2009 operating system was, by far, the most popular on the planet, easily beating the second-place Windows XP, which accounted for 17.5% of all Windows PCs that month.
Together, Windows 8 and 8.1 powered 16.1% of all Windows personal computers, while the Windows Vista flop of 2007 was on just 2.1%.
Microsoft has put the number of Windows devices at approximately 1.5 billion, using that statistic several times last week when it laid out its 1-billion-in-36-months-or-less agenda.
With the 1.5 billion as a total, calculations showed that Windows 7 is on approximately 961 million machines, shy of the goal. Windows XP and Windows 8/8.1 tallied 262 million and 257 million, respectively. Meanwhile, Vista's share is about 32 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...
They won’t find one in my office.
They don’t include phones. Win10 phones will accept Apple and Android apps. That’s been a barrier to acceptance.
Embedded systems.
Since every PC running Windows 7 onward is going to be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10, I honestly think that it is quite possible to see a billion devices. I’ve got 11 of them to upgrade myself when the time comes.
Considering the vast improvement in quality of use that came with Windows 8.1 and appears to be expanded in Windows 10 - it seems an entirely achievable result. A plus being constant updates from then on out without having to buy a new version with each iteration.
Sure, Windows Phone owners will see an end of life for their devices. The same that Apple and virtually every other phone OS builder has; hardware moves on. As for desktops, I’m sure there is an end of life there as well - as memory and graphics expand, so shrink the number of compatible devices. But since Windows 10 seems to love to operate on a wide variety of platforms, it would not surprise me if it extends beyond the ‘operating life’ of how long XP lasted.
“Win10 phones will accept Apple and Android apps”
I believe Win10 PC’s will also.
None of those 1 billion devices will be in my home.
They have a better chance then the made up number of users on Facebook and Twitter etc. No way there are over 1 billion users of facebook.
The author is apparently unaware that Windows versions are currently running in hundreds of millions of commercial and industrial devices.
RE: The author is apparently unaware that Windows versions are currently running in hundreds of millions of commercial and industrial devices.
Yes, including (gasp) the Iranian nuclear enrichment centers !
“Win10 phones will accept Apple and Android apps”
I stand corrected. Win10 won’t run Apple and Android apps but the platform is designed so that those apps can be easily migrated to the Win10 platform.
MS hinted that they expect apps to be a major source of revenue hence the Win10 free upgrade.
I will have two and maybe more. Hope we will get a decent WinPhone in the deal.
“The author is apparently unaware that Windows versions are currently running in hundreds of millions of commercial and industrial devices.”
I am a few years past my knowledge base on commercial applications for windows.
As I remember, there was a special version of windows that was designed to run industrial devices.
.... Googling ....
Ahah! Windows Embedded Compact.
The W10 version is dubbed "IoT Edition".
Since it is a “free upgrade”, I will explore it. Hopefully it will be possible to just clone the primary drive and then upgrade the cloned drive. That way all that will have to be done to go back will be to swap the original primary drive back in. I am not that fond of “cloud” computing.
And most of the ATMs.
Use Macrium Reflect at http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
This is disk imaging software. You can create Macrium Reflect boot CD, boot your PC from Macrium CD, plug in USB hard drive and create an image of your drive.
After you trash your PC, just boot your PC from Macrium CD, plug in USB drive again and this time restore the image back on to your drive.
Before you use Macrium on your PC, it’s best to test and learn this software on an old PC that does not have any useful stuff.
I hope this helps.
The willingness of MS to trash their existing platform and adopt a completely new one is reason enough for me to predict they will not come anywhere close to their targets.
There’s a reason people keep their iPhones and iPads for years. They work and O/S updates usually add functionality, not take it away.
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