14 DAY TRIAL // Nearly 700 million users are running Windows 10 on their computers, according to outgoing Windows chief Terry Myerson.
Additionally, commercial usage of the new operating system has improved 84% year-over-year, Myerson said in his goodbye letter published on LinkedIn, and the Windows Insider program now counts no less than 15 million members.
“Xbox One is running a Windows 10 core, Surface is leading PC innovation, HoloLens is bringing breakthroughs to computer vision, our universal Microsoft store enables Xbox GamePass, Azure reserved instances, and Office distribution, and the OEM ecosystem is revitalized with profitable growth. Last year, we finished the year with over $8B in operating income from our segment,” Myerson says.
According to third-party data, while Windows 10 adoption is improving, this version still has a hard time overtaking Windows 7 worldwide.
Windows 10 vs. Windows 7
NetMarketShare figures show that Windows 7 is the number one operating system on the desktop with 41.61% share, while Windows 10 is the runner-up with 34.06%. Windows 8.1 is third and very far behind with 5.66%.
With Windows 7 reaching end of support in January 2020 and Windows 10 getting new updates, a switch of places is expected to happen in the coming months, especially as more enterprises complete the upgrade to the most recent version of Windows 10.
At the same time, Microsoft is also working on refining the experience with Windows 10, and new releases bring features that are more or less based on user feedback.
The company has pledged to a release schedule that includes two major OS updates every year, and the next one is queue is Redstone 4 projected to land in the first half of April. Windows 10 Redstone 5, on the other hand, is currently in the works and is scheduled to be released to systems running stable builds of the operating system in the fall.