Despite Microsoft's increasingly aggressive tactics, Windows 10's growth continues to slow

JM Safe

Level 39
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Apr 12, 2015
2,882
Microsoft is largely unrepentant about pushing its new operating system so aggressively, and early in the year it will be marking Windows 10 as a "recommended update" in a bid to get larger numbers of Windows 7 and 8.x users to make the switch.

Since its launch, Windows 10 has been gaining usage share at a steady, if rather unexciting rate, but there’s a clear downward trend that shows users of older operating systems are in no hurry to upgrade.


The latest desktop OS usage numbers from NetMarketShare show yet another dip in Windows 10’s fortunes. In December the new operating system gained 0.96 percentage points, going from 9 percent to 9.96 percent. With a normal operating system, grabbing 10 percent of the market in just five months would be viewed as a solid start, but this is a free operating system following the unpopular Windows 8, so you would expect growth to be much faster. For comparison, in the same time frame back in 2009, Windows 7 had claimed 12 percent of the market and it wasn’t free.

The slowing of growth for the new OS is quite clear. In September, Windows 10 grew by 1.42 percentage points, in October it grew by 1.31 and in November it increased its share by 1.06 percentage points. As we saw, in December the new OS grew by 0.96 percent. For an operating system that’s not only free but being pushed ever more forcefully onto users, that trend has to be a worry for Microsoft.

Most other versions of Windows lost share in December. Windows 8 went from 2.88 percent to 2.76 percent for a decline of 0.12 percentage points. Windows 8.1 went from 11.15 to 10.30 for a drop of 0.85. With both flavors combined, the tiled OS now stands on 13.06 percent, down 0.97 percentage points.

Windows 7 remains by far and away the most popular operating system with 55.68 percent of the market, dropping just 0.43 percentage points in the month.

That just leaves Windows XP which rallied a little at the end of the year for a minor 0.34 gain. It still has 10.93 percent of the market.

Will Windows 10’s growth continue to slow in 2016? We shall see starting next month.

Thank you all for reading ;)

Source: Despite Microsoft's increasingly aggressive tactics, Windows 10's growth continues to slow
 

DracusNarcrym

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Well-known
Oct 16, 2015
970
Well, I guess physics laws may also apply metaphorically in software distribution tactics: Every action has a reaction. Especially when it comes to aggressive such tactics.

Anyway, Windows 10 working fine here, no problems to report. I will however, nag again about the atrocious privacy policy in Windows 10. Other than that, all's fine. :D
 
H

hjlbx

It is rumored that M$ is trying to develop a forced method of W10 upgrade that will circumvent all the recent utilities designed to prevent W10 upgrade... like GWX Stopper... plus force it on users that are blocking automatic Windows Updates.

M$ is quite miffed about W10 upgrade "under-performance"...

NOTE: Someone mentioned M$ can amend the XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1 EULAs such that users are required to accept the W10 upgrade; user will have no choice.
 
H

hjlbx

I think going forward, M$ will just shorten support for W7, 8, and 8.1. In that way, they will accelerate W10 adoption - but it will take years instead of their planned 12 months.

Problem with W10 is that it was released in an "unfinished" state - and people don't want to deal with the problems\fallout from an unpolished OS.

Most people expect absolute stability from softs... so they know an unfinished soft is nothing but nonsense since it is apt to cause problems.

I just cannot understand why soft vendors don't get that concept and apply it in their development and releases.

Like W8.1, it might take 2 or 3 years to fix all the more troublesome bugs\problems in W10... so most users adopt a "wait-and-see" posture.
 
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ifacedown

Level 18
Verified
Jan 31, 2014
888
Well, if MS will take away the consumer's right to not upgrade, then maybe that is already a violation against human rights. Am I correct in any sense? Thanks.
 
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H

hjlbx

Just analyze the current high-level rhetoric...

One centralized OS (W10) !

Ban all other OSes (XP, Vista, W7, W8/8.1, Linux, etc) !

Ban "unbreakable" encryption !

Ban VPNs !

Ban, Ban,..., Ban !

Anyone with the least bit of intelligence can see, if it all comes to pass, where this ultimately leads.
 

ifacedown

Level 18
Verified
Jan 31, 2014
888
Well, it's good to know that Linux developers always find ways of installing Linux even on systems that MS make hard to install Linux.
 
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jamescv7

Level 85
Verified
Honorary Member
Mar 15, 2011
13,070
Well as usual that's already an invisible desperate 'move' for Microsoft, they are having a target to reach the percentage however better yet do their homework instead.

Sometimes they should back always on their plan on how to improve Windows 10 for better perspectives.

The OS itself is nice indeed, however for newer machines that already optimized however other users still complain due to incompatibility which totally a problem until now.

+ Many firms prefer well reliable OS than attempting to upgrade for possible loss.
 

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