14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 10 was officially launched on July 29, and since then more and more users have installed it, as Microsoft made it available in waves to those who are eligible for the free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.1.
And usage stats show that Windows 10 is heading in the right direction, with the new operating system outperforming Windows 8.1 in a pretty dominant manner.
These figures published by ComputerWorld and provided by StatCounter reveal that Windows 10 usage reached 3.2 percent on Wednesday, thus managing to improve the original figures on Day 1 by 0.6 percent. Stats show that usage is on the rise, although it had a few hiccups every once in a while.
As you can see in the chart below, Windows 10 performed much better than Windows 8.1, whose usage barely exceeded 0.5 percent in the first 7 days on the market. Windows 10, on the other hand, jumped the 3 percent milestone two times in the first week and settled at an average of 2.5 percent.
Figures likely to increase soon
Since Microsoft is rolling out the Windows 10 upgrade gradually, it takes more time until it reaches all users worldwide, so everyone expects not only usage but also the market share to skyrocket in the coming weeks and months.
Microsoft itself has a very ambitious goal to bring Windows 10 on 1 billion devices by 2017, so upgrading as many computers as possible is a priority for the next 24 months.
The free upgrade offer lasts until July 29, 2016, but the company will eventually make Windows 10 available for everyone eligible (a genuine Windows 7 or 8.1 license qualifies any computer for the Windows 10 upgrade), no matter if it detects compatibility issues or not.
The company hopes that it can address most compatibility problems in the coming weeks, but users who decide to upgrade despite such issues will be given options, such as contacting the manufacturer or the software developer.