It has been five months since Microsoft released the latest iteration of its Windows OS- Windows 10. Microsoft had previously reported back in August that nearly 75 million devices were running on Windows 10 at that time.
The latest statement from Microsoft claims that the current number of devices that is running Windows 10 has reached the 200 million mark. Microsoft made this announcement on January 4 and also stated that the rate of Windows 10 adoption among users has nearly doubled since October.
The 200 million devices that are currently running on Windows 10 include PCs, tablets and smartphones. Microsoft also mentioned that 40 percent of the total number of devices currently operating on Windows 10 have been activated in the month of November after the Black Friday sales.
Windows 10 has already become the fastest adopted version of Windows leaving behind the likes of Windows 7 and Windows 8 by huge margins. Windows 7 has been outpaced by Windows 10 by 140 percent in terms of adoption.
Windows 10 was introduced by Microsoft on July 2015 and with this version of Windows, the company decided to divert from its general track of charging consumers for a brand new OS. Microsoft offered Windows 10 for free to those users who were using Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Even people who were using pirated copies of earlier versions of Windows were able to get their hands on a brand new copy of original Windows 10 without having to shell out a single penny for it.
The decision to offer Windows 10 for free was taken by the CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella. He thought of this strategy as a way to attract maximum number of people to the Windows 10. However, his decision was opposed by some and the whole matter ended up as a controversy. Prior to Windows 10, Microsoft has always charged consumers for a brand new Windows version.
So, naturally, Nadella’s decision was met with some opposition but he stuck to it and stated that offering Windows 10 for free would draw more takers for the latest version of OS from Microsoft.
He believed that this would definitely have a positive impact on all the aspects of the company’s business. He also pointed out that more number of people adopting Windows 10 would mean a more number of people having access to other offerings from Microsoft like Office 365 and Azure.
Some of the features which were missing in the Windows 8 were re-incorporated into Windows 10. One amongst them is the Start Menu which was sorely missed in the initial version of Windows 8. Much to the delight of users, the Start Menu is back in all its glory in the latest version of OS from Microsoft.
Apart from this, Microsoft has also revamped the security system in Windows 10. Some brand new security measures have been added to Windows 10 and for this particular reason alone, a number of business customers are upgrading their workstations to the latest version of Windows.
According to the latest stats report from Microsoft, a huge percentage of corporate customers are opting for Windows 10. Reportedly 76 percent of the total number of corporate customers are giving Windows 10 a go and ultimately sticking to it because of its improved features and better security. The number of Windows 10 devices used by businesses and schools account for over 10 percent of the total number of devices that run on Windows 10 currently.
It was reported in renowned website, that Windows 10 is currently holding a 9.96 percent share in the global operating system market. The Web traffic share of previous versions of Windows like Windows 8.1 and Windows XP showed a downward trend last month. The share of Windows XP in global operating system market currently stands at 10.9 percent and that of Windows 8.1 at 10.3 percent.