Windows 10 is Two Years! A little Throwback and future look.

Jul 29, 2017

Windows 10 is two years. Hip hip hurray! It has been two incredible years since the official launch of Windows 10. How has it been received and what’s the way forward?

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Microsoft windows consumers didn’t take too well to a disruptive Operating system in Windows 8. The aftermath showed the world was just not ready for a touch first era, even though mobile(touch) devices had been on the rise. I remember windows 8’s reception was like Windows Vista  all over again and Microsoft had to act very fast. What was wrong? PC keyboard and mouse users thought it wasn’t user friendly. Maybe Windows 8.1 did some good but consumers of the product weren’t impressed thus far. 

Microsoft then introduced the Windows Insider program. Program was to allow signees test in advance early builds of the OS and provide an input. I think it was a very brave move, getting users involved in building process. Taking feedback from diverse users of various functionalities and shaping up an operating system that works like they want. We’ll most times Microsoft introduces the feature and we tell them what we think. Other times we tell them what we want in and they try and come up with it.

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Windows 10 was officially announced on September 30th 2014 and released on the 29th July 2015. Just 24 hours after availability it had been upgraded on 14 million devices. The number increased to 75 million upgrades by the end of July 2015. That  maybe encouraged Microsoft to want to see it running on over 1 billion devices before or by 2018. We’ll that hasn’t been the case and Microsoft have had to say that isn’t going to happen.
By October 9th 2015 there were 110 million Windows 10 users with 1 billion visitors to the Windows 10 app store. Microsoft also recorded the highest user engagement with over 11 billion hours on Windows 10 in December 2015. In November 2015 the fist major update to Windows 10 was available. 

Windows 10 is two years what now?

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Fast forward a year after, the Anniversary Update was out and looking very impressive. It wasn’t feature rich but included a lot of bug and under the hood fixes. At Build 2016 we were told Windows 10 was running on 300 million active devices. By Build developer conference 2017, 500 million monthly active users. Windows 10 currently has a market share of about 37% and Windows 7 still holds over 40%. Microsoft tried to force help consumers upgrade, by automatically triggering it. Those who saw this and raised the alarm cried foul and Microsoft stopped in their tracks.

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Looking at its adoption rate i believe we will have about 600 million active/ monthly active devices by the release of the Fall Creators Update 2017. The Fall creators update will see more features included with lots of tweaks as mentioned at the May Event. There’s going to be a wowing look with the introduction of Microsoft’s fluent design.

The consumer focus hasn’t been all personal and home users. The business community have been well catered for, you know them with this extra security stuff, lol. Well Windows 10 has been built to be the most secured Windows yet. There’s even an insider program for IT administrators and professionals. With their feedbacks Microsoft has made it possible for IT admin to delay, schedule and plan roll outs. 

Windows 10 is two years, Way forward?

It’s been great seeing there are over a billion Windows Insiders now helping build the best Windows yet. Insiders even want more build and quicker to try out. Windows 10 cuts across a range of platforms not only PC. From Xbox,  Mobile, Mixed reality, IoT and more. Microsoft still courts developers and hopes Windows will be the best platform for all developers. The confusion of Universal Windows Platform and one core seems to be fizzling as Microsoft try’s to make it’s plans clear to developers. Hopefully the app gap isn’t an issue anymore. 

Windows 10 is two years and the dream to build an operating systems for the new generation still holds. Building an OS that is a more human way, as in the video will be a challenge. Mostly because as you plan for a new generation the old still exists and transitioning both isn’t that easy. But strides are being made each day in that direction. An example is what happened when there was a rumor about the end of Microsoft Paint. Paint 3D is a more feature rich version of its old compatriot but the world still has a soft spot for old paint.  

I’m sure there’ll be more to this story as we move along. It sure will get better and better because folks like you are helping build it. What has been your experience so far with Windows 10, share with us.? 

 

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