Microsoft gets ready to ring in the new year with 200 million Windows 10 installs
2015 has been very good to Microsoft. In spite of a shaky start with its new business model, as well as a few kinks the company is smoothing out to make sure consumers understand how their data is being handled, adoption rate of Microsoft Windows 10 has not slowed down, with the latest numbers, provided by WinBeta, indicating that the operating system has passed the 200 million installations mark.
According to NetMarketShare, Windows 10 is the fourth most popular operating system, covering 9% of all devices, across all operating systems, not far behind Windows XP, and Windows 8.1. Windows 7 is absolutely dominating the market, at 56.11%.
The data, however, doesn’t say much about how many machines are run within an enterprise, or small business, the latter of which represents a sizable chunk of a market notoriously slow in its upgrade cycle.
With that said, Microsoft has set itself a goal of 1 billion devices within 3 years. According to WinBeta, the new operating system has been adopted at a rate of 40 million new installs per month, which is likely to continue as long as the free upgrade is in effect. After that, the rate will likely slow down, while keeping in mind that new devices, both mobile and desktop, preloaded with Windows 10, will keep the numbers from falling.
Surface as a point of leverage
Microsoft has put considerable effort into its Surface line of products, with more surprises rumored by 2016, including a Surface Phone, a still mysterious smartphone that some speculate may go one step further than Lumia, by taking advantage of advanced specs designed for optimal performance as a desktop surrogate device, without the need for a Surface Dock, if you can believe that.
The Surface Pro 4, currently considered one of the best Windows tablets on the market, as well as the Surface Book, has set a trend for manufacturers to be more aware of the fact that consumers are calling for more performance, more portability and more battery power than ever, as well as higher screen resolutions. UHD and 4K are becoming the norm on mobile and desktop devices, as well as phones. With that in mind, Microsoft boasted Windows 10 from the start, as one of the few operating systems capable of supporting 8K resolution screens.
By that token, the Surface line will likely play an important role in furthering Windows 10 adoption, with more manufacturers building similar Windows 10 devices.