14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft wants to bring Windows 10 on 1 billion devices by 2017, and there’s no doubt that the enterprise and education sectors are playing an essential role in this mission, especially because they usually upgrade hundreds of thousands of computers at once.
And this is exactly what the Kent School District is planning to do after originally piloting Windows 10 on a number of computers in K-12 schools.
Microsoft has proudly announced in a case study focused on the story behind the adoption of Windows 10 for some big customers that the Kent School District will deploy the new operating system on 26,000 devices in the school district by the start of the next school year.
270 million devices on Windows 10 already
The pilot program ended in January, and since then, the district has started installing Windows 10 on PCs in elementary school libraries.
“We’ve seen tremendous gains in a few specific students,” says Aubrey Buerstatte, Teacher-Librarian and Technology Integration Specialist at Horizon Elementary School. “One girl was always late. She slept through class, had difficulty with her handwriting, and was performing below grade level. Then her teacher helped her set up a OneNote folder and start doing her work on a Surface Pro 3 running Windows 10. She was able to organize and keep track of her assignments, and compose without worrying about her handwriting.”
At this point, Windows 10 is installed on 270 million devices around the world, according to Microsoft’s own figures, but if the same trend is maintained and more enterprises and schools jump on the upgrade bandwagon, then the 1 billion devices goal should be reached easily.
Redmond’s also planning to release a big update in the summer that will bring significant improvements on all devices running Windows 10, hoping that they’ll make the platform more appealing for everyone still in doubt that it’s the right choice for their business.