Windows 10: One Year On
ANALYSIS: After a year of Windows 10, it’s time to take a look at the best and worst of the operating system in preparation for August’s anniversary update
The Ugly
For a minority of users, however, Windows 10 heralded a technological apocalypse. Microsoft recently had to pay out a £7,600 bill to a woman who said her computer was left unusable after she was forced to upgrade to Windows 10.
Teri Goldstein, of Sausalito, in the San Francisco Bay area, alleged her computer began attempting to download Windows 10 soon after Microsoft released it as a free upgrade in July of last year.
Microsoft has also had to change its latest Windows 10 pop up after users discovered attempting to cancel the upgrade by clicking on the red ‘X’ actually initiated the upgrade process.
Windows 10 allows users to roll back to their previous system for 31 days, but after that period expires they are stuck with Windows 10 whether they want it or not.
Microsoft provides instructions on how to decline the updates and turn the notifications off in a support site article, while a program called Never10 is available from a third-party developer that blocks Windows 10 update prompts.
“We’re continuing to listen to customer feedback and evolve the upgrade experience based on their feedback,” Microsoft said in a statement.
Despite this, users have still been blasted with an onslaught of Windows 10 pop-ups in preparation for the free upgrade expiry on July 29.
Windows 10 – the stats
- 350 million active devices
- 22 percent share of personal computers
- 12 percent share all platforms
- 63 percent of IT pros said the free upgrade was the biggest driver for implementation, according to Spiceworks
- One billion devices by 2018, but…
One billion devices?
But Microsoft will not hit its self-imposed deadline of getting Windows 10 installed on one billion devices by 2018, the company has admitted.
In a statement to ZDNet, Windows marketing chief Yusef Medhi revealed that the target will be extended, mostly because of originally overestimated Windows Phone sales.
“Windows 10 is off to the hottest start in history with over 350 million monthly active devices, with record customer satisfaction and engagement,” he said.
“We’re pleased with our progress to date, but due to the focusing of our phone hardware business, it will take longer than FY18 for us to reach our goal of 1 billion monthly active devices.
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