14 DAY TRIAL // The adoption of Windows 10 improves, although it happens at a slower pace than Microsoft expected, and new data shows that the operating system is getting closer to the target that the software giant set in 2015.
Windows 10 is now running on 800 million devices, according to new numbers shared by Corporate Vice President of Modern Life & Devices Yusuf Mehdi.
“Thank you to all our customers and partners for helping us achieve 800 million #Windows10 devices and the highest customer satisfaction in the history of Windows,” he tweeted on March 7.
Back in 2015, Microsoft set a target of 1 billion devices running Windows 10 by the end of FY2018, but the company later admitted that it would probably require more time to reach this goal. And as it turns out, this is exactly what happened, as the adoption of Windows 10 is improving slowly, especially after the company ended the free upgrade promo for Windows 7 and 8.1 users.
Free Windows 10 upgrade
Windows 10 was originally offered as a free upgrade to users who were running Windows 7 and 8.1 and performed the switch in the first 12 months after the launch.
The number of upgrades to Windows 10 is likely to increase in the coming months as we approach the end of support for Windows 7. According to Microsoft’s schedule, Windows 7 will stop receiving updates in January 2020, so customers are recommended to begin planning the upgrade to Windows 10 and complete the transition before the deadline is reached.
However, there’s a good chance Windows 7 would just become the new Windows XP, and many customers might just continue running it even after the end of support is reached. This obviously creates a major security risk, as vulnerabilities would remain unfixed, even if they’re actively exploited in the wild.