back to article Official: Windows 10 has hit the 400 million device mark

Microsoft’s self-installing Windows 10 operating system has reached the 400 million mark, the firm announced at its Ignite conference in Atlanta this week, up from the previous high of 350 million in August. This adoption rate means the firm’s self-imposed target of a billion devices by mid-2018 looks increasingly unlikely, …

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  1. hplasm
    Holmes

    How many

    reversions in those 400 Million?

    1. psychonaut

      Re: How many

      yes exaclty. ive done about 50 so far, so its actually no more than 399,999,950.

      businesses may be buying pc;s with win 10 on them, but i bet most of them get sent straight to the imaging machine for a lovely windows 7 repaint.

      1. azaks

        Re: How many

        >> businesses may be buying pc;s with win 10 on them, but i bet most of them get sent straight to the imaging machine for a lovely windows 7 repaint.

        Its actually 400 million active devices, but nice try anyway.

        No doubt when it hits 500m, 600m, 700m it will still be the unmitigated disaster, hated by all and only days away from the start of a rapid decline. I admire your tenacity in sticking to your rhetoric after being proven wrong time and time again - the adults that make the decisions just don't swallow your bullshit...

        1. psychonaut

          Re: How many

          no, they swallow MS's bullshit.

          yeah, i got my numbers wrong there. still, ive done 2 more this evening so thats something....

          im sitting on the small business coalface and i can tell you win 10 is a disaster. go 10 if you like, its your customers' funeral

          1. psychonaut

            Re: How many

            there we go...sage borked by win 10 update. not that sage have any great things to shout about, but any more evidence needed for the win 10 "oohh its great it works on my machine and i can do email and everything!" brigade?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How many

      12% apparently...

      https://blogs.which.co.uk/technology/promoted/one-month-left-should-you-upgrade-to-windows-10/

      I guess that's only the ones that know how to, as there isn't an annoying popup telling you how to revert back. It's likely to be much higher if Microsoft nagged them after a month with "do you want to roll back"...

      1. psychonaut

        Re: How many

        who are the fucktards downvoting this? SHILLS i tell you! SHILLS!

        1. Geoffrey W

          Re: How many

          RE: "who are the fucktards downvoting this?"

          Probably penguin angries for daring to call any version of windows lovely (Win 7 in your case). For shame...

          1. Fungus Bob
            Linux

            Re: How many

            "Probably penguin angries..."

            No such animal. We Linux users really do like Microsoft and Windows - they amuse and entertain us.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: How many

              Linux users remind me of the lift/elevator doors in hitch hikers guide - They generate a sense of smug contentment and superiority at a job well done, while being oblivious to how annoying they can be. I like to poke their buttons and watch them go up, and watch them go down, in their little linear ruts. They're adorable.

    3. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Re: How many

      Yep. The three systems that got downgraded to W10 are all now running Linux.

      No more Microsoft OS at all. The GWX debacle was the last straw.

      Be gone Microsoft, be gone and don't come back or (see Icon)

    4. Grifter

      Re: How many

      You will all succumb in the end. It is inevitable.

      1. psychonaut

        Re: How many

        you may be right.....fuck knows what im going to do after the midle of 2020. unless windows 9 comes out.

        i named my son, Rico,,after a penguin, so maybe theres a hint there

  2. excollier

    whoopee

    like the flu - it infects millions

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. bombastic bob Silver badge
        Thumb Down

        Re: Windows 10? So What?

        what about the 2D FLUGLY? what about the FORCED UPDATES? (and other irritating stuff, naturally).

        there are SIGNIFICANT differences between 7 and 10 that exceed "just the start [thing]", MOST of them VERY irritating.

        At least with PRO you can UPgrade it to 7 if you want, right???

        1. WP7Mango

          Re: Windows 10? So What?

          2D? What 2D? All my windows appear 3D with shadows. My Start menu has an Aero type effect, as does the Notifications bar on the right. Looks great.

          What about the forced updates? You can defer with the Pro version, but it's a good thing to make sure everyone is up to date.

          I've not come across anything irritating in Windows 10. I've come across some sandal-wearing nerds who think it's rubbish and spout FUD about it, but that's about the only irritation I have encountered.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Windows 10? So What?

            "What about the forced updates? You can defer with the Pro version, but it's a good thing to make sure everyone is up to date."

            OK, tell me where you can defer the updates then, or even be notified that they're waiting? Right now, my Pro version has removed all options of whether I want the updates or not. The only thing I can do is set a (no greater than) 12 hour period each day where it promises it won't restart.

            The only hacks I've seen are to disable Windows Update entirely (!), or set the connection to be a metered one, which only works if it's a wifi network, not ethernet.

            I'm actually really pissed off with MS over this one. My machine is mostly running 24x7 doing large transcodes etc and I've twice had it reboot itself in the last month. Win 7 is going back on this weekend.

            I hear your argument that it's good to make sure everyone is up to date. But I'm old and ugly enough to remember the crap patches that MS unleash on the world, and I'm cautious enough to want early adopters to find out if they work properly before they're allowed on my machine.

            1. Roland6 Silver badge

              Re: Windows 10? So What?

              The only hacks I've seen are to disable Windows Update entirely (!), or set the connection to be a metered one, which only works if it's a wifi network, not ethernet.

              How to set LAN as metered connection:

              https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-networking/how-to-set-an-ethernet-connection-as-metered-to/ecdaca08-d413-4a6a-9e33-b4afb337fc18?auth=1

              Not sure whether Win10 times out after n days and demands to be connected to an unmetered connection. However, be warned if you connect the system to an unmetered connection expect it to crash as it attempts to do 6+ months of updates...

            2. Alan Brown Silver badge

              Re: Windows 10? So What?

              "My machine is mostly running 24x7 doing large transcodes etc "

              For that, you want Linux or BSD - and as a nice side effect those transcodes will go much faster.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Windows 10? So What?

                "For that, you want Linux or BSD - and as a nice side effect those transcodes will go much faster."

                Thanks. Though I said transcodes etc :-)

      2. Avatar of They
        Meh

        Re: Windows 10? So What?

        I agree, I thought I would give it a go. I had a dell laptop with windows 10. After three hours of scurrying through all the areas to turn off, like the advertising ID and the "default to" the cloud settings, and the "local account" please settings and the EDGE online marketing area that is stored in the cloud, and the security settings to basic (so they can't dial in) And Cortana's laughable breaks DPA if you use it setttings, and whatever else I could find.

        I then had to unpick mirror.co.uk and candy crush that had been bundled to name a few.

        THEN I wanted to add a windows feature (hyper V). Or rather check it was there. And I found myself in DISM, or powershell to the non windows users. That is when I realised after five hours of making the laptop mine (most time was spent hunting the internet) I realised that I was in an OS on a command line.

        So it went back to the shop and I went back to Linux. Same experience without the hassles.

        It is probably brilliant and anyone not caring about things like privacy or the law, it is fine and pretty. To everyone else is just a few headaches you don't need.

      3. Carl D

        Re: Windows 10? So What?

        "So I can only assume that the W10 bashing here is by people that never, ever used the OS? I'm as guilty as the rest of you, I bashed W10 even though I never tried it. Now I've tried it. What's the big deal? Why all the objections if it's basically Windows 7 with a SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT start menu?"

        - AC.

        The big deal (apart from the privacy issues and things getting broken every Patch Tuesday) is that Windows 7 doesn't change all of it's settings back to MS defaults every time there's an update like 10 does.

        And, yes, I have used Windows 10 - for a short time.

      4. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: Windows 10? So What?

        I expect when you don't care about privacy or updates or compatibility problems because it's a work machine and that's usually taken care of for you then it's great. The rest is more-or-less fixable except the UI which was last in the queue when they were handing out themes.

      5. Ilsa Loving

        Re: Windows 10? So What?

        No, it's being bashed by people who know a hell of a lot more about operating systems than apparently you do.

        Unless you buy the Enterprise version, you basically lose control of your own computer. You lose your privacy.

        Furthermore, Microsoft has so heavily gimped Windows 10 that Windows 10 Home may as well be the equivalent of Windows 7 Starter edition. You can't even connect to a password protected network share with it, or do *anything* that requires authentication because they've completely disabled it. It's basically useless for anything more advanced that watching Netflix or playing Minesweeper.

        Windows 10 Pro is the equivalent of Windows 7 Home, and Windows 10 Enterprise (which costs $400-ish, give or take) is what you need to settle on if you want to keep what you were used to with Windows 7 Pro.

        And heaven forbid you update and the update destroys your install. Which happened to 1/3 of the people in our small test deployment.

      6. zen1

        Re: Windows 10? So What?

        I've used just about every OS microsoft has deployed since DOS 2.1, except MS-BOB and ME and I have to say that this one sucks the most. Plus, I was even less pro windows 10 once I received kb3185614. Once that sucker was pushed to my machine, I lost the ability to map any shared drives. The only way for me to recover was to remove that "fix" and disable automatic updates, because every time I rebooted, it took me 30 minutes or so to undo the damage it caused.

        So, while you are certainly entitled to your opinion, I can't say I agree with your glowing approval and would very much love to punch MS's CEO and the pinhead manager/director in charge of this piss poor excuse for an operating system.

        1. Alan Brown Silver badge

          Re: Windows 10? So What?

          Windows 10 is one of the very best recruiting tools for a Linux conversion that I can think of.

          That said, it's ok for a Consumer OS. Just don't expect to keep your privacy. If it's free than YOU are the prodict.

          1. Geoffrey W

            Re: Windows 10? So What?

            RE: "That said, [windows 10 is] ok for a Consumer OS. Just don't expect to keep your privacy. If it's free than YOU are the prodict."

            Errrr...How much did Linux cost you again?

          2. d3vy

            Re: Windows 10? So What?

            "Windows 10 is one of the very best recruiting tools for a Linux conversion that I can think of"

            I would disagree, Linux is fine if you have time to spend working out how to do things, or if you want to fiddle with the OS but its still not quite there for the consumer market.

            As an example, I have worked in IT for 15 years now mainly with windows, though I have also used linux/unix from time to time.

            I decided to give linux another go a few weeks ago, I spent about 20 minutes doing an install of mint, then about 6 hours trying to get mono develop to install, when it did install there were bits missing, After some digging around online I found a decent guide to installing it from the command line, the guide offered little explination as to what the commands did or why to run them, it was pretty much,

            1. Run this command,

            2. Add this repo,

            3. Run this command, ...

            Got it all installed and running, nuget package manager doesn't work, all the settings are right but something somewhere must be missing...

            I gave up on mint, and installed ubuntu, bit more luck there as it installed from the software manager.. All seemed good nuget worked, I could build a test console app.. Happy.

            So, the kids will want to play minecraft, lets get that going... It needs JAVA, Java isnt in the SW manager... Look online, sun no longer supports it on this distribution so you have to use Open JVM or similar... Cant remember what the problem with that was but it caused me to go back to a similar guide as before.. add this repo, install this package... Then I hit a brick wall, the guidence online was to download and compile some module for open JVM.

            You know what I did? I dropped back into windows, installed Xamarin studio (Basically Mono Develop), it took a double click and a few button presses. Minecraft was even easier.

            Linux has its place, Its great if you have a specific task and its been configured to do that task, if you want to play with the OS, or you have time to spare to learn how to bend it to your will.

            For me however, its not a suitable replacement, I'd much rather just get on with work rather than spending my life trying to get the machine configured correctly.

            Im sure that someone who knows what they are doing could have sorted the above issues without any problem then im sure mint would have met my needs perfectly, however thats the problem.. it doesn't "just work" its more difficult to get started with than its competition so its always going to fall short in the eyes of consumers who just want to switch their PC on and do stuff.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Windows 10? So What?

              @ d3vy

              There are linux distros - e.g. Mint - that simply install and work (at least on the various machines that I've tried). On the other hand it takes time to "move in" to a new Windows 10 machine.

              It is very strange to be in a situation where setting up Linux is less hassle than Windows.

              Unfortunately work is now issuing W10 laptops, but hey ho I'll only use mine to remote into the Linux box where I do my real work...

              1. Geoffrey W

                Re: Windows 10? So What?

                @AC

                Its a slightly odd response to claim that Mint "Simply install(s) and work(s)" when d3vy relates a tale of attempting to get that same Mint to work. Its almost as if you didn't read his post, but that can't be. If it always has worked for you then great, but it hasn't done that for me (or him). Likewise windows often does install and work but sometimes it doesn't. The biggest source of problems, it seems to me, in both operating systems come from device drivers which isn't entirely down to the OS. Can't say I've noticed Linux being less hassle to install than windows. In my experience windows enjoys better driver support than Linux but that isn't Linux's fault.

              2. d3vy

                Re: Windows 10? So What?

                @Anon.

                "There are linux distros - e.g. Mint - that simply install and work (at least on the various machines that I've tried). On the other hand it takes time to "move in" to a new Windows 10 machine."

                Have a look back at my comment, I was using Mint, and Ubuntu, two distros renowned for their ease of use.

                My point exactly is that if I cant get a tool working in what is meant to be the easiest version of the OS without resorting to the command line then something somewhere has gone wrong. Dont get me wrong, I like linux, if I didnt need to do actual work and just wanted to play around and learn the OS I'd be using it full time, however because I need to work Im going to be on windows for the forseable - simply because everything I need works in windows without hours of configuration.

      7. Roland6 Silver badge

        Re: Windows 10? So What?

        But then I got a new laptop at work, and against my wishes it has Windows 10 Pro installed.

        ...

        So I can only assume that the W10 bashing here is by people that never, ever used the OS?

        Whilst Win10 in desktop mode isn't too dissimilar to Win8, the big issue I've found is keeping it working, particularly with major build updates, such as Nov 2015's Cumulative update and July/Aug Anniversary update. For both of these updates, I've had clients with systems that had to have a full factory reset before they would update to a fully functional OS; only problem these systems had other applications that also needed to be reinstalled and reconfigured and user data that had to be saved and restored...

        Whilst it isn't perfect (and yes you do need iTunes to backup some stuff that doesn't get sent to iCloud), I do think Apple got the whole update process a whole lot better with iOS.

      8. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: Windows 10? So What?

        "Start menu is different, and with the big tiles I see this as a good thing for older people like me."

        If you're still working then you're almost certainly younger than me. I had the preview running briefly. The tiles were the first thing to go.

  3. djstardust

    Why oh why

    Would any sane person actually PAY for something that is riddled with ads, is in permanent Alpha, Beta, whatever and lacks features from previous versions?

    MS really need to have a think about this because as much as they wave figures around the only way is down for this rotten piece of adware, spyware, junk (delete as appropriate)

    It's funny when you visit JL or Dixons and look at PCs. The assistant tries their best for a sale but as soon as you ask about Windows 10 they sort of back down and admit it's rubbish. There are some nice machines around just now but there's no way I would buy one with Windows 10 on it. Full stop.

    Sky TV get away with charging a monthly subscription then adding advertisements. MS might not be so lucky.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why oh why

      What ads?

      1. Mage Silver badge
        Big Brother

        Re: Ads

        Only in Skype I think?

        The issues are: privacy, forced updates, rubbish GUI, poor compatibility with older windows programs (for some people the only reason the are not using MacOS or Linux).

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Ads

          ...unschedulable updates, lock-in, poor hardware compatibility, reduced functionality, rolling-alpha quality, black-box "security" [sic], advertising in the launcher-come-nagware, lockscreen-come-nagware and wherever else, gimped launcher...

        2. smot

          Re: Ads

          > Only in Skype I think?

          No - I get regular "notifications" asking me to try Office 365 for 30 days for free". Are these really notifications? I think not.

          The start menu is littered with soft ads - Candy Crush, MS Solitaire Pack, and a few other doorways which lead to items for sale.

          One may argue that I got Win10 for free, so MS are entitled to push ads. However the price of the laptop (or desktop etc) included the MS licence, and so is not really free at all.

          If it were just ads - offered in a small quiet corner of the OS - I might, just might, go with it. But it's the data gathering that accompanies it that really bothers me, so I use Win10 as little as possible, and certainly avoid Cortana.

          On a positive note, whilst I still prefer Win7, Win10 is miles better than Vista and 8.x.

          I mostly use Linux OSs these days, but need the odd (virtualised) MS device for apps that only work that way. If it weren't for my work, these VMs would go too.

      2. Annihilator

        Re: Why oh why

        "What ads?"

        Off the top of my head:

        "You don't have the latest version of Office..." (the Get Office 365 app, that despite removing 3 times has reborn - I'm fine with my still-supported Office 2013 thanks...)

        Candy Crush, Twitter, Minecraft and the fucking Daily Mirror appearing in the "life at a glance" section of the start menu

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Why oh why

          "Candy Crush, Twitter, Minecraft and the fucking Daily Mirror appearing in the "life at a glance" section of the start menu"

          Oh I thought any tech person would of removed that. Silly me.

          1. Annihilator

            Re: Why oh why

            "Oh I thought any tech person would of removed that. Silly me."

            Quite. I did. Several times. One of the many windows updates keeps bringing it back.

            1. psychonaut

              Re: Why oh why

              citation? theres not a wikipedia entry for it numb nuts. it happened to my customers, against my advice. do you think i am making this up?

              if you have a sample size of 1 pc, and win 10 works, happy fucking days.

              if you look after many hundreds of them day in day out, you might have a different opinion, like mine, which is based on what i see from a large number of pc's from individuals to companies with 30 odd machines in them.

              1. d3vy

                Re: Why oh why

                @psychonaut

                "citation? theres not a wikipedia entry for it numb nuts. it happened to my customers, against my advice. do you think i am making this up"

                Not at all, I was wondering what Business crippling event happened as a result of an upgrade from an older version of windows to win 10.

                My point was that I am not aware of anyone who has had problems with upgrades from windows 7/8/8.1 to 10.

                Give some examples of the issues that you have encountered that are unique to or caused by windows 10.. I am genuinely interested.

    2. WP7Mango

      Re: Why oh why

      OK, so I deleted as appropriate and ended up with this -

      "MS really need to have a think about this because as much as they wave figures around the only way is down for this".

      Not sure that makes any sense, since it appears to be going up in popularity, which reflects my experience in the work place (and outside of work). Not sure what all the fuss is about - I really like Windows 10 - much prefer it to Windows 7.

      1. psychonaut

        Re: Why oh why

        its not going up in popularity. its been force fed to johhny dickhead who has no idea how to stop it from installing, or where to buy a new machine that doesnt have it on.

        its crippled several small businesses that i know of who against my advice decided to "upgrade". then they had to pay me lots of money to sort it out. dfor that read "reinstall win 7, redo all the networking and file permissions, reinstall the security that it had removed"

        its a festering pile of shit,. the upgrade process is a joke and causes all sorts of headaches, the recent anniversary update also), file permissions, software, drivers... the inability to not have updates ....jesus, network drivers....theres a realtek nic that disconnects every 5 minutes on win 10. they only released a win 10 driver that doesnt fall over every 5 mins 2 months ago.

        it might be fine if you go browsing and check your yahoo email and use MSE but if you do anything else, expect trouble.

        cold dead hands win 7 middle of 2020 my

        rearrange to make a slightly coherent sentence.

        1. WP7Mango

          Re: Why oh why

          As a professional software developer, I'm much happier using Windows 10 than Windows 7.

          By all means keep your festering pile of Windows 7 shit. I'll gladly continue to enjoy the superior Windows 10.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Why oh why

            As a professional software developer, I'm much happier using Windows 10 than Windows 7.

            Would you be so kind and share with us, the low peasants, what kind of software you develop? Failbook apps? Candy crap clones?

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Why oh why

              > Would you be so kind and share with us, the low peasants, what kind of software you develop?

              I'd gladly chance a tenner on the answer to that being "Windows 10" ;)

          2. d3vy

            Re: Why oh why

            "As a professional software developer, I'm much happier using Windows 10 than Windows 7."

            From a dev point of view I find very little different between the two, personally I use 10, some clients provide me with win7 machines to work from.

            If you look up a few posts you'll see how well my foray into development on linux went...

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