14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has revealed that Windows 10 is running on more than 400 million devices across the world, and in a video rolled out recently, the company goes on to add that no less than 50 million are part of the business world.
There are no other specifics available at this point, but Microsoft is using this figure to show that Windows 10 is growing on all fronts, not only in the consumer world where the operating system experienced massive early adoption thanks to the free upgrade promo rolled out after launch.
Microsoft offered Windows 10 as a free upgrade to users of Windows 7 and 8.1 in the first 12 months after the July 2015 release, and the operating system continues to be free at this point for users with accessibility features enabled. This is an option that anyone can take advantage of, as the upgrade process doesn’t run any checks to verify and determine the assistive tech on a PC.
Windows 10 in the enterprise
On the other hand, Windows 10 is projected to grow at a much faster pace in the enterprise market this year, mostly because the majority of businesses are now finalizing the piloting stage of the operating system and preparing the transition to the OS.
By the end of the year, most enterprises should already start the migration to Windows 10, with analyst firm Gartner estimating that 85 percent of the businesses will be on the new operating system by December 31.
Microsoft has every reason to be pleased with the current Windows 10 adoption speed, despite the fact that it originally planned to bring the OS on 1 billion devices by the end of FY2017. On the other hand, the current pace makes it possible for Windows 10 to reduce the market share of Windows 7, the next operating system to reach end of support in January 2020.
Windows 7 is currently the world’s number one desktop OS with a market share that’s close to 50 percent worldwide.
