In recent weeks, most of the news about Windows 10 has centered on its privacy issues and update information, but despite that, Redmond has plenty of reasons to celebrate. To be precise, about 75 million. Through Twitter and an official blog entry, Microsoft confirmed that the new operating system has seen just over 75 million activations in less than a month, exceeding its previous versions.
The numbers behind the success
Some might think the key word is "free". Others might say it's the desire to leave Windows 8 behind. Either way, Windows 10's numbers have the weight Microsoft expected. According to Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of marketing at the company, Windows 10 is already on more than 75 million devices, but there's a very important detail: these are "activated copies". In other words, Microsoft is not counting OEM licenses intended for manufacturers, which will be preinstalled on new systems. More than 90,000 unique models of PCs, tablets, and hybrid systems compatible with the update have received it, and in some cases, those devices were manufactured in 2007, a notable proof of advances in requirements.
Comparison with previous versions
By way of comparison, Microsoft needed six months to reach 100 million licenses for Windows 8, and even then it never came close to surpassing the market share dominated by Windows 7, which, by the way, reached 90 million licenses eight months after its launch. Another statistic that seems to have caused a lot of satisfaction in Redmond's halls is that with the arrival of Windows 10, downloads through the official store multiplied by six, and streaming time from Xbox One to the operating system already equals 122 years of gameplay.
Windows 10's presence extends to 192 countries, and the best part for Microsoft is that the numbers can only keep climbing. First, we shouldn't forget that free access to the operating system (with a valid license as a base) will remain open until July 29, 2016, and a good portion of users who decided to postpone installation will likely do it later, once Windows 10 has smoothed out some of its rough edges. And second, Redmond's master plan is for Windows 10 to be on one billion devices by 2018. With such update possibilities, the hardware market might not move much, but the first change had to come from the software side, and so far, Windows 10 is delivering.
