Slashdot Mirror


Microsoft Claims 110M Devices Now Run Windows 10 (computerworld.com)

New submitter enterpriseITrocks writes: Computerworld reports that Windows 10 is running on 110 million devices, citing stats provided by Panos Panay, the chief of the Surface team. It's the first time since late August that Microsoft has provided usage stats for Win10 at a time when the new OS was running on 75 million machines. From the article: "Microsoft's 110 million described those running Windows 10, not downloads, the company confirmed. A spokeswoman declined to describe how the company tracks uptake, but presumably it does via Windows 10 activations, which it could easily tally from its logs."

171 comments

  1. try me by rawtatoor · · Score: 0, Troll

    Windows 10 isn't supposed to be installed on any devices!

    1. Re:try me by fyngyrz · · Score: 0

      There are over a billion computers in use (as of 2008... probably more now.) OS X 10.10 (10.11 is literally only days old, so...) seems to be on 4.91% of the OS X machines out there based on browsing stats and this thing.

      That's 49.1 million machines, if I didn't slip a decimal place somewhere.

      Not too bad. :)

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    2. Re:try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MSX is 100% better than Windows 8.1. This is a FACT. There are ways to disable all the telemetry if you don't want them to "spy" on you.

    3. Re:try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's 5 % of 5 %. It's important to get the maths right.

    4. Re:try me by bloodhawk · · Score: 2

      maths fail. it is not 4.91% of a billion machines. it is 4.91% of their market share, which is less than 100,000. So at best that is 4.9 million, in reality much much lower.

    5. Re:try me by LVSlushdat · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sure, you can disable the telemetry.. I have a laptop drive with the released version of 10, which I "castrated" with one of the tools available to do the job, and after watching what the system "talked" to afterwards, via an instance of rpcapd on my router, I could find no traffic to/from the many "telemetry" addresses that an UN-castrated install would be talking to, so, at least until MS decides to throw an update out which turns all the spyware features BACK ON, this install of 10 is safe to use... Of course I trust MS about as far as I can throw them, so its just a matter of time before they re-set all the systems that have disabled the spyware "features"... Which is why I'm sooo thankful I dumped Windows after I retired in 2010.. The *only* reason I have a copy of 10 and did the testing I did, is because I'm kind of the local "geek" and get asked about Windows quite a bit...

      --
      THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
    6. Re:try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not too bad. :)

      The real statstic, which I have yet to see:

      1) Percentage of Win7 machines that went to Win10 who refuse the downgrade or opt out of the preloading downgrades because fuck telemetry, fuck mandatory updates, and fuck mandatory crash reporting.
      2) Percentage of Win8.1 machines who upgraded because telemetry was less bad than the damage done by the Win8 UXtard ightmare.

    7. Re:try me by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

      That would lead to a great upswing for the Zilog Z80-processor then if MSX is getting an upswing!

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    8. Re:try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's true that MSX is better than Win 8 (SymbOS vs. Metro? no contest.) However, we don't use Z80s anymore. R800s are much better.

    9. Re:try me by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      [...] 4.91% of [...] 100,000 [...] is 4.9 million

      What were you saying about a maths fail? ;)

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    10. Re:try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      think that qualifies as a typing fail not a maths one as it is obvious what he meant. Still a fail though!

    11. Re:try me by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Out of interest, if you just decline everything and turn off everything in the privacy screen, does Windows 10 actually send anything that isn't commonly sent by other operating systems?

      Install/uninstall telemetry - iOS and Android keep track of that, for device restores and app store integration. At least the Windows 10 app store is fully optional.

      Voice/handwriting sent to MS - disabled via privacy options, also standard for iOS and Android when doing voice/handwriting input.

      Search queries sent to MS - standard for Google search on Android. Not sure about iOS/OS X, does the "spotlight" thing include web results? The privacy setting to turn this off appears to work as expected.

      Wifi password sharing - Android backs up encrypted passwords to Google's cloud if you enable backups, presumably iOS does too as it allows you to fully restore your device. This setting is double opt-in and not opting in seems to disable it as expected.

      There is some other telemetry stuff going on too, most of which seems to be related to Windows Update. Again, I'm not sure that is anything particularly special, since both Android and iOS check for malware on your device and the other kind of stuff Windows appears to be doing.

      I'm not very happy about this stuff and will block it of course, my point is merely that Windows 10 does not appear to be out of the ordinary these days and rather than ranting at Microsoft we probably need to be thinking more generally about private computing. Stallman gets more right every year, it seems.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    12. Re:try me by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      What a crappy insulting and sad little post you've written there.

      btw a Windows installation is something useful/needed even if once in a blue moon, if only to chkdsk an ntfs drive.

    13. Re:try me by Pseudonymous+Powers · · Score: 1

      Shill... real fake

      You think he's shilling? Shilling for who? Shilling for some company that markets a telemetry blocker? By being kind of vague about everything? By not naming any names whatsoever?

      Maybe you mean he's shilling for Microsoft, by saying that their particular brand of data cancer is sometimes survivable with expensive and careful treatment? By saying, twice, that he suspects that Microsoft, black-hearted as they are, will immediately undo his fixes with the next release?

      Or is he shilling for Linux? Yeah, okay, I'd buy that. But isn't being a Linux shill on Slashdot like being a Mormon missionary who's trying to convert the Tabernacle Choir? Plus, can you really shill for something that nobody charges for?

      Is he a shill because he claims to be a geek with too much time on his hands? Because this is such an implausible backstory for a Slashdot user?

      If this guy's a shill, he's the most amazingly subtle shill I've ever heard of. My God, this means they're learning! Of course, it's so clear now, this is just phase one of his master plan. In the grim future of shilling, we won't be able to tell who the shills are, because they won't actually be shilling for anything!

      I can see only one solution. We must, as a group, immediately condemn this "geeky" "retiree" for the fraud he is, on the say-so of an anonymous tipster. Slashdot needs to suspend his account, immediately!

      Wait... wait... am... am I a shill? Please, comrades, tell me, I must know!

    14. Re:try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems that since Edward Snowden's whistle-blowing everybody has double upped their

      own spying activities and is even proud of it.

    15. Re: try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The complexity and subtlety of your anti-shill shilling is chilling. I am afraid.... very afraid.

    16. Re:try me by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

      .. I have a laptop drive with the released version of 10, which I "castrated" ...

      Are you saying that the telemetry data reporting is the testicles of Windows 10?

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    17. Re: try me by Pseudonymous+Powers · · Score: 1

      "Your chilling willingness for shilling is killing us!"

    18. Re:try me by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      No, it isn't 4.91% of their OS market share. It's 4.91% of all the machines on the net, of which Windows and OS X are both going to be pretty much mostly there. Read again. "Desktop Operating System Market Share" -- OS X has 4.91% of the desktop market against other operating systems and the billion computers is a likely very conservative number for "desktop market."

      Your fail, fails, I think.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    19. Re:try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What they really meant was that they have verified to have pushed the preemptive 10 updates on 110 million unsuspecting pc's. If no one disables their crap, I did {win7pro on a brand new tablet}, 10 will simply take over. FUCK YOU Msuck.

    20. Re:try me by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      The privacy setting to turn this off appears to work as expected.

      How did you come up with that conclusion? I have both web search and Cortana disabled. Cortana is actually disabled forcefully as "not available in my country". Yet if I hit the windows key and type something I straight away start sending data to bing.com. Now regardless of whether this contains any usable data at all the expectation is if its disabled it won't communicate, and since Microsoft hasn't come up with any explanation of the format of what is being sent we can only assume the worst: information specifically identifying the machine.

      Now as to your comparison to "other operating systems" please actually compare it to operating systems. What you're comparing it to is phones, which if you look back you'll see we complain just as much about. "Other's do it" is not an excuse, especially if those "others" are an order of magnitude different in scope of personal data or priority of their service, i.e. my phone doesn't handle highly sensitive banking information (at least MY phone doesn't), my computer does. If you run AOSP you don't get any of this endless telemetry data. If you run any flavour of Linux or Unix you don't get any of this endless telemetry data. If you run prior versions of Windows you don't get this either as long as you've sanitised your windows updates.

    21. Re:try me by MarioJE · · Score: 1

      Well, it produces a bunch of data which can be used to identify the machine, and it gets released somewhere every now and then, so the comparison is appropriate.

    22. Re:try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's see. Read the links here http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=8136977&cid=50684439

      Then once you read those fact laden articles... ask yourself... who wants to lie about spying on the globe via Windows?

      Really, blahblahblah telemetry blocker app shill... blahblahblah linux shill (no such thing as Linux shill, it's free)...

      Or is he shilling for Linux? Yeah, okay, I'd buy that.

      Again, there is no such thing as a Linux shill. You can go download that shit for free and install it as many times as you want to over and over if you wanted to on every device you own over and over and over. Print out the Windows license agreements that talk about "you may use this on one device per license" and set them on fire... and warm your home.

      Software is all much better on Linux and even BSD.

      This poster here said:http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=8136977&cid=50685159

      btw a Windows installation is something useful/needed even if once in a blue moon, if only to chkdsk an ntfs drive.

      NTFS is a 1993 fucking filesystem. It sucks ass. It is a weak piece of shit. It has been surpassed in speed, stability, and data integrity many many times in Linux and BSD worlds. Not to mention decades of Microsoft not willing to share access to their filesystem from other filesystems... Not to mention if you use their 1993 filesystem encryption add-on "bitlocker" you give them your keys with Windows 10. Enjoy your upgraded experience idiots lol.

      Fuck all you shills don't waste my time. You can still keep your Windows and install Linux a bunch of ways. You will say fuck Windows very quickly if you use both. Microsoft knows this, hence.. this is our last OS .. Windows the the backstabbing global spyware last edition. It's around for games until game companies get off of Microsoft's dick and compile to run on Linux like they do for PS4. It is not a technological hurdle to do so, it is licensing Jew shit from Microsoft. See movies below.

      Everybody in cyberspace from governments to supercomputers to space stations to search engines to websites to international retailers like Amazon have all moved to Linux.

      If you want to use Windows 10 and install all of their patches and just become one with Microsoft's 110 million botnet... do it. Your problem. Just do it knowing you are doing it you stupid fucks. You may as well pretend Fox News has your solution to Windows backstabbing you too with some free app. Notice how they didn't say HEY Microsoft tracks and keystroke logs computers globally now including the wifi password sharing and cortana hot mic features.

      Notice what they do, and what they don't say.

      You can also go read these:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_litigation

      Then go watch a movie based on Microsoft:
      (Antitrust 2001)
      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218817/
      (Pirates of Silicon Valley)
      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/

      And when all is said and done, come back here with more limericks.

      "Your chilling willingness for shilling is killing us!"

      Eat more fish.

    23. Re:try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you specified a SPECIFIC version of OS.X, there is no fucking way a specific version of OS.X makes up all of their market share.

    24. Re:try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a crappy insulting and sad little post you've written there.

      btw a Windows installation is something useful/needed even if once in a blue moon, if only to chkdsk an ntfs drive.

      Nice appeal to emotion Goldbergstein. Here's what that post isn't:

      1) crappy
      2) sad

      But you lie. I am picturing you whirling chickens right now. Is whirling chickens over your head insulting? Should you whirl chickens while running American citizens 18 trillion into debt? Whirl chickens and send troops to kill and die over sand people?

      Tell me about crappy and sad again. Then let's discuss insulting, you might be right about that.

    25. Re:try me by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      I am picturing you whirling chickens right now. Is whirling chickens over your head insulting?

      I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm tempted to steal this for my sig. It has a certain insane poetry to it.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    26. Re:try me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am picturing you whirling chickens right now. Is whirling chickens over your head insulting?

      I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm tempted to steal this for my sig. It has a certain insane poetry to it.

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11866467/New-York-judge-rules-that-Jewish-chicken-whirling-ritual-can-continue.html
      https://encrypted.google.com/#q=yellen+bernanke+greenspan+jewish
      https://encrypted.google.com/#q=jewish+suck+baby+penis

      That's who run the World Reserve Currency (known as the US Dollar/Petrodollar/FRN) via the Federal Reserve. (named Federal but it's not federal, it is privately owned) ... and Hollywood, TV News, and a lot of other poor poor sad Holocaust victim organizations including lthe vast majority of propaganda conduits. Social media too. Big banks and hedge funds too. More.

      http://www.usdebtclock.org/

      Welcome to Earth 2015.
      13 million or so out of the 7 billion people on Earth think you are supposed to be like cool with it unless you have "Semite issues" and shit. I know zero people personally who care about what is or isn't Semitic. Everybody I know hates having their countries bankrupted though. Insanely poetically, they don't tell you any of this via mass media but they could since they own it.

      HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM? Who could this anti-Christian cult be?

  2. Loaded title. by Njorthbiatr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    With how aggressively they pushed it is there any reason to be skeptical?

    1. Re:Loaded title. by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Exactly. 50M devices ran the Storm botnet, so it's not an unusual install base for a forced-on-you piece of crapware.

    2. Re:Loaded title. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I also want to know if they are accurately showing uninstalls and rollbacks. I downgraded one of my computers to Malware 10 and immediately rolled back.

    3. Re:Loaded title. by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 2

      Exactly. I keep a Win 8.1 image around to see what the scumbags are up to, and after having uninstalled and hidden their updates related to Win 10 they actually unhid them and had those "optional" updates checked so that if I didn't do the research they would be re-installed again. All this says is that 100 Million or so people have no idea what they are getting into with this garbage, and / or clicked on the icon to make it finally go away for good. This is tantamount to me running around and throwing garbage in all the neighbors yard, and throwing it back when they remove it until they finally give up, and then claiming: "Hey look! All my neighbors chose to have garbage in their yard! There needs to be an investigation into this, which equates to yet more unethical if not illegal behavior on the part of Microsoft.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    4. Re:Loaded title. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well idiot W10 is a fine operating system, a true improvement even over W7, so if your pathetic fuck-faced bias keeps you from a better experience...

      Honestly, can you possibly be more of a drooling asshole of a fanboi who lacks the intellect to do anything but an ad-hominem attack?

      I burn all my mod points on down-voting a short-list of neckbeards.

      Why, no, apparently .. you're fixated on being a crusading douchebag who pretty much reacts on instinct.

      Congratulations, you are a pathetic two year old spoiled brat with no ability to think for yourself.

      I bet you'd sound sweet crying into your pillow like the punk you clearly are.

      Honestly, shut the fuck up if you have nothing intelligent to say.

    5. Re:Loaded title. by dwywit · · Score: 2

      Well idiot W10 is a fine operating system

      No, no it's not. My income since 29th July has increased, mainly due to sorting out issues caused by Windows 10.

      I'm not objecting to it for obvious reasons, but to call it a fine operating system is just incorrect.

      If you're going to push a "free" upgrade to people, and boast of its improvements and superiority, you'd better make sure that commonly-used programs (such as Google Chrome) migrate seamlessly, or at least leave a message or log about things that went wrong, so i don't have to spend hours diagnosing the problem.

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    6. Re:Loaded title. by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 3, Interesting

      after having uninstalled and hidden their updates related to Win 10 they actually unhid them and had those "optional" updates checked so that if I didn't do the research they would be re-installed again.

      They've also yet again pushed out the Win10 nagware update, KB 3035583, and marked it Important to it's automatically (re-)installed even if you got rid of it the previous times they've forced it on you. This was within the last day or two, so check your PC to see whether it's been re-infected recently.

    7. Re:Loaded title. by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 0

      I smell sour grapes.
      The download was pushed to people but nobody forced them to click through and do the update. This is the best Windows to date so it is better than whatever version they were running before, and it's free. So why wouldn't people happily click the upgrade button?

    8. Re:Loaded title. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed, odds are those are just the number of machines of users who don't know how to block microsoft's backdoors. You can probably add another 10% to that easily!

    9. Re:Loaded title. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let me guess, when you heard about the Snowden leaks, you were the one crying "OMG, someone really does care about me"?

    10. Re:Loaded title. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You get the retard of the day award. Congrats! Don't forget to take your pills next time.

    11. Re:Loaded title. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      this ridiculously high figure no doubt includes:

      every volume license for desktop windows, as they're automatically eligible for (and paying for) windows 10 even if the user/enterprise chooses to load windows 7 pro (or another version) instead.

      product on shelves.. such as all the unsold surface, tablet, and phone hardware.. the manufacturer has already paid for windows 10 on these..

      every device running pre-release versions, or trial/evaluation versions.. those are all still legit licenses.

      every device running pirated (who the fuck would do that?) versions... since software makers grossly overstate the scope of pirated software use, this figure must be in the 10s of millions, at least.. but they still 'count' for windows 10 marketing statistics purposes.

      and maybe includes:

      presold licenses and/or commitments to purchase by major oems, who negotiate high quantity deals in exchange for basement per-pc cost.

      windows 7 and 8 desktops with the windows 10 downloaded, either with or without user's authorization. (windows 10 is "on" them, just not 'in use').

    12. Re: Loaded title. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My income is up 10%. I am looking to make a fortune out of the Windows10 goldmine.

    13. Re:Loaded title. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well idiot W10 is a fine operating system

      No, no it's not. My income since 29th July has increased, mainly due to sorting out issues caused by Windows 10.

      I'm not objecting to it for obvious reasons, but to call it a fine operating system is just incorrect.

      Whatever. Glad you're able to make an income off of the stupidity of others, but for those of us who can think for ourselves it really is a fine operating system.

    14. Re:Loaded title. by cjjjer · · Score: 1

      Takes a fanboi to know a fanboi...

    15. Re:Loaded title. by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Somewhere on his blog, Raymond Chen wrote about getting ready for Windows 95. He drove a truck to a software store and bought one of everything to test on W95. He put in work-arounds for bugs in third-party software that hurt things in 95 but not earlier. He took it as a personal affront if he couldn't get some arbitrary bit of Windows 3.1 software to run on 95.

      Got a feeling Microsoft's lost that attitude?

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    16. Re:Loaded title. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They've also yet again pushed out the Win10 nagware update, KB 3035583, and marked it Important to it's automatically (re-)installed even if you got rid of it the previous times they've forced it on you. This was within the last day or two, so check your PC to see whether it's been re-infected recently.

      I gave up and disabled automatic updates after the last round of Windows 7 updates which were there SOLELY for telemetry and Windows 10 upgrades, and not for actually, you know, fixing security issues with the system. It's unfortunate to say that Microsoft is now completely untrustworthy with their updates and their interest is in making updating Windows 7 too much of a pain and hassle, in the hopes you just give up and move to 10 whether you actually like Windows 10 or not (I don't, despite my attempts). This is NOT the way to motivate people to upgrade.

      Now, I just run a manual update every so often and check to see what's offered, and do a Google check for their KB numbers to see if they're actually legit updates or not. At some point, unless Windows 10 improves significantly and addresses issues I have with it then I'll have to advance my backup Linux option.

  3. How did it happen? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    Accidental install

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:How did it happen? by davester666 · · Score: 1

      I got pregnant accidentally.

      Same thing.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    2. Re:How did it happen? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      *Sex by surprise*?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    3. Re:How did it happen? by davester666 · · Score: 1

      What the hell is THAT doing in there!

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    4. Re:How did it happen? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      How else do you get pregnant accidentally?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    5. Re:How did it happen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Accidental sex -> https://img.memecdn.com/sex-isnt-an-accident-use-condoms_o_953578.jpg

  4. Well of course they know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    with all the baked in spyware, they know _everything_ about windows10 usage, including every user's secrets and confidential data.

    1. Re:Well of course they know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They even know you anon.

    2. Re:Well of course they know by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      Indeed. It cracked me up when I read "A spokeswoman declined to describe how the company tracks uptake". They have like million methods available.

  5. Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thank you for the generous offer of a *FREE* downgrade from my current Windows Ultimate version to Windows 10 Pro but I'm not interested. I've already overpaid for what I've got and FU if you think you can downgrade me to the adware riddled privacy invading crap you are currently peddling.

    1. Re:Thank you but NO! by batkiwi · · Score: 0

      Where are there ads in windows 10?

      Serious question, I haven't seen any.

    2. Re:Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Clearly you've missed the articles where Microsoft have pushed apps out to Windows 10 users specifically to spam notifications such as "Get Office" as the most aggressive offender.

      There are also the obvious examples of adverts in the Music, Video, Xbox and Store apps encouraging you to buy the corresponding media.

    3. Re:Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are tons of them. Just look on the start menu and how long it takes to open to download all of them.

    4. Re:Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Click the start menu. Also any of the built in games (pretty much the only reason to get ultimate) have them. Because they are no longer built in and you have to download them.

      Having been using win10 for about 2 months now. It is 'ok'. But it has some rather rough edges. Win7 I had maybe 3 games of my 700 or so that did not work from XP. That number is considerably jumping up very quickly. They basically borked securom (which is a good thing) but now I cant play those games. Some of the games do not even have cracks for them.

      It is OK. But not really worth jumping from win7 if you are ok with it.

    5. Re: Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This! I'm using a 56k line at home(stupid Seattle), and the first time I click on the start menu, it usually takes several minutes to appear.

    6. Re: Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you really not seen a screenshot of the start menu? Mine has more than a dozen ads. Also, Windows uses a ton of bandwidth to download them.

    7. Re:Thank you but NO! by dwywit · · Score: 1

      Live tiles.

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    8. Re: Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you never took the time to learn how to remove the live tiles that you don't want on the start menu?
      Modded flamebait.

    9. Re: Thank you but NO! by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      Exactly, I realize that Slasdot has been a hotbed of anti-microsoft hate from day one, but just blabbering sounds sily.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    10. Re: Thank you but NO! by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      Huh? That's pretty interesting. I wonder how much testing Microsoft did over slow Internet links.

    11. Re: Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They can't develop or test from outside the office so not that much until the products are released. After that, a lot of Microsoft employees, like my roommate with our ISDN line at home, use their products with slow connections and are disappointed.

    12. Re: Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Have you really not seen a screenshot of the start menu? Mine has more than a dozen ads. Also, Windows uses a ton of bandwidth to download them.

      Mine has zero, because it is quite easy to configure. I can understand criticizing for pushing this on clueless users, but I didn't know there was so many clueless users on Slashdot as this thread implies.

    13. Re: Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This! I'm using a 56k line at home(stupid Seattle), and the first time I click on the start menu, it usually takes several minutes to appear.

      Why don't you turn live tiles off or remove the tiles you don't want there?

    14. Re: Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Liar. Going upstairs to tell your mommy you think something on the internet is flamebait is not modding.

    15. Re: Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It downloads the content for the live tiles even if they are disabled.

    16. Re: Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      M$ doesn't do testing any more. They don't need to with 110 million unpaid beta testers.

    17. Re: Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It downloads the content for the live tiles even if they are disabled.

      The post above caimed that they slowed down the Start menu a lot. That does definitely not happen if you remove them from the start menu. My Win10 start menu is as snappy as Win7 start menu. Many of these apps can also be completely uninstalled from the system (I have), and will then not download anything at all. Also, any sources on live tiles downloading content even if turned off? This did definitely not happen on Windows 8, turning live tiles off stopped their "live" data usage.

    18. Re: Thank you but NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should read up the chain a bit.

      Where are there ads in windows 10?

      Serious question, I haven't seen any.

      Have you really not seen a screenshot of the start menu? Mine has more than a dozen ads. Also, Windows uses a ton of bandwidth to download them.

      Mine has zero, because it is quite easy to configure. I can understand criticizing for pushing this on clueless users, but I didn't know there was so many clueless users on Slashdot as this thread implies.

      Your statement isn't relevant to the initial question.

  6. I'm waiting for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Windows 11

    I was going to upgrade to Windows Nine, but they cancelled that one

  7. New Surfaces by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

    I wonder how many of those are new Surface computers ready to be shipped.

    1. Re:New Surfaces by omtinez · · Score: 2

      Zero, since they are only counting devices activated through the Windows Store

    2. Re:New Surfaces by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      surface devices don't activate till after purchase. So no unsold devices or unsold oem devices or unsold anything is generally included in these numbers.

  8. Normally I'd say "well how do they know for sure?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then I realized it's Windows 10 we're talking about here...

  9. and... by Tablizer · · Score: 0

    and only 13 know it.

  10. Amazing news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Apple is in REAL trouble now. OS X is stagnant, the iPad has flatlined and the Surface is quickly eating its marketshare. Apple's lone strength is the iPhone but even that is now under threat with Microsoft's amazing new phones they just announced and the upcoming iOS and Android compatibility layer. Windows on every platform is poised to reclaim what little ground it has lost and do in both Apple and Linux/Android once and for all.

    1. Re:Amazing news! by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      Yeah, just like Intel is poised to claim the mobile CPU market with their latest Atom chips.

      It's a good effort, but it's too late.

    2. Re:Amazing news! by labnet · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You must be a paid shill.
      Microsoft has bad karma; it is the great squid aka the Goldman-sachs of the computer world. The mobile space is the first time the consumer has had a chance to stick it to the man, although a lot of us are still suffering Stockholm syndrome.

      --
      46137
    3. Re:Amazing news! by narcc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's the most foolish argument I've ever seen. "It's too late".

      Apple and Google were "too late" to the smartphone market. Microsoft was "too late" to the game console and tablet markets. It hasn't stopped them from being incredibly successful.

      Market leaders change all the time. Why do you think now is the first time in history where the market is settled and new players don't stand a chance of succeeding?

    4. Re:Amazing news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      True, cos the biggest problem I seem with the majority of android phones in the market, they won't be getting any O/S upgrades and they get old real fast.
      People are seeing the new version of android come out, finding apps on the store that won't install on their old version, and wondering why they are now expected to throw away a perfectly good phone and buy a new one with the new O/S.
      Its at that point I imagine a lot of android holders may start to wonder if a different brand may be better for long-term upgrades, where you don't have to feel so bad about pouring shed-loads of cash into a shiny new phone, cos hopefully it won't be a pile of crap within a year or two.
      Not saying that all android devices are being artificially aged, but many brands are not kept up to date with upgrades and become vintage before their time.

    5. Re:Amazing news! by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 2
      True, cos the biggest problem I seem with the majority of android phones in the market, they won't be getting any O/S upgrades and they get old real fast.

      Well MS has solved that one: After the experience of forced upgrades to Windows 10, most people will be desperately trying to avoid anything resembling an upgrade for the rest of their lives.

      You would be surprised how many people buying low end Android phones have never used an app, and probably can't even spell it. They buy phones to make phone calls (Oh, the horror of it). Many would love to return to an old style Nokia, if only Nokia were there to sell them one. A lot buy used Nokias on Ebay - check the price of an E52.

      Most people who care about upgrades will probably know abut CM by now anyway.

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    6. Re:Amazing news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nokia's smartphones were a different kind from Apple's and Google's smartphones. They share a lot, but the difference was in usability/accessibility.
      The console market is incredibly volatile and depends not as much on the hardware as the titles it offers. By comparison the App store for their gadgets is practically barren.

      Personally, I hope they do kick some dust in the air, since Apple is getting too entrenched and Google stagnating, with everyone else making halfhearted attempts. But I won't hold my breath.

    7. Re:Amazing news! by sootman · · Score: 1

      > the Surface is quickly eating its marketshare

      Citation needed.

      > Windows on every platform is poised to reclaim
      > what little ground it has lost and do in both Apple
      > and Linux/Android once and for all.

      There are about 1B Windows computers in the world vs. about 2B smartphones and tablets. How exactly is losing two-thirds of computing devices "a little ground"? We are a long, long way from the old "95% Windows, 5% Mac" days.

      Thanks for the funniest post I've read all week.

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
    8. Re:Amazing news! by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Eh? They can't really lose what they never had. They never really had the phone market. They did have the tablet market back before it was popular. They could have had the phone market but they're idiots and I'm kind of glad they don't. I assume they're still strong on the desktop but I don't pay much attention any more. I don't actually have any MS software installed. Well, I think mono is installed.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    9. Re:Amazing news! by g01d4 · · Score: 1

      mobile space is the first time the consumer has had a chance to stick it to the man

      I think it's the first time the consumer has had a choice unbiased by what was being used at work. Well, maybe the second time if you count game consoles. Microsoft fully and successfully leveraged the PC business mantle handed to them early on by IBM. The consumer 'never went wrong' buying for home what was being used at work. Same interface, work at home &c.

    10. Re:Amazing news! by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Having "the tablet market back before it was popular" is an odd way of putting it. Microsoft produced expensive tablet-style computers running an operating system (XP) that was not well-suited for it. Those things were very niche - a few people found them great, and most weren't interested. The tablet market now is one with tablets less expensive than regular computers, running OSes designed to run on them, with software designed for them. Microsoft was not in that market at all before, IIRC, Windows Phone 7.

      Similarly, Apple created the market for the easy-to-use smart phone. Other smart phone companies adapted or suffered badly.

      I don't understand how Microsoft was supposed to claim the phone market. They produced what some people think an excellent OS for their phones (I don't like the way it looks, but that's me), but it really has nothing exceptional. Their compatibility layers mean that you can buy a Microsoft phone that will do the same things as an Android phone, basically. They gave up on having Office exclusive to their OS, a sign that they didn't expect much.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    11. Re:Amazing news! by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      It's too late because they tried and didn't even make a dent.

      Of the few manufactures they've convinced to use their chips, they've only done so in a small line of products.

      The smartphone market was a niche before Apple and Google came along. The phone market was dominated by feature phones with a fe high-end Nokia phones and Windows based business oriented smartphones and pocket PC's

    12. Re:Amazing news! by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      It's too late because they tried and didn't even make a dent.

      Yep, just like Apple did with the Newton?

      There are plenty of cases where people have tried something before and failed due to technical or social reasons. The Atom lost on technical merits and they are getting stronger by the day.

      Also claiming that Google and Apple were releasing smartphones is utter nonsense. Google and Apple release phones. That's it. They displaced the standard phone and marketed a device at standard people who already had such a phone. If anything their biggest battle was actually the smart phone market which was dominated by Blackberry and in the hands of corporate types the world over. That wasn't as sparse a market as you think, and even less so when you consider they were fighting PDAs at the same time.

    13. Re:Amazing news! by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      Blackberry was not doing so well. They were trying to recover from patent lawsuits because apparently "push email" was a patent-able invention in USA.

      It was hard to sell Blackberry's after the patent lawsuits started in 2003ish.

      They almost went bankrupt in 2005/2006, just before the iPhone came out.

  11. Kinda makes sense by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    School has started. just as many Win7's could of been sold if that were the os installed.

    1. Re:Kinda makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's could HAVE, not could of.

    2. Re:Kinda makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look, I would of spelt it correctly hadn't I been in a bad hurry. I know my English very well!

    3. Re:Kinda makes sense by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 1

      Historically about 20 million per month. This is more than 50 million per month which easily makes it the most successful launch of any OS in history. It's already more popular than OSX. It was probably more popular than Linux in the first day.

    4. Re:Kinda makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not about spelling, it is about grammer.

    5. Re:Kinda makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who in the right mind install windows anyway..its the frog story... boil da sucka slow....

    6. Re:Kinda makes sense by JazzLad · · Score: 1

      Now it's about spelling: it's spelled grammar. ;)

      --
      "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
    7. Re:Kinda makes sense by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 1

      Who? Almost everyone.

    8. Re:Kinda makes sense by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      Historically about 20 million per month. This is more than 50 million per month which easily makes it the most successful launch of any OS in history. It's already more popular than OSX. It was probably more popular than Linux in the first day.

      Actually everybody I knew local and distant were beta testers for Windows before it's Win3.1 release (I was Amiga). The number of people who had Win3.1 installed before it's release was pretty much everybody but the few working with OS/2 - as I saw it..

      Yep I'd agree with your assessment.

  12. Re:I'm waiting for [Windows 11] by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just install Windows 8.0 and then Windows 3.0.

  13. Not only have I not "upgraded" to Win10 by Snotnose · · Score: 1

    I haven't applied any patches since I learned they're adding their spyware to Win 8.1 updates. Makes me nervous, but I'd rather trust my habits and firewall than Microsoft.

    1. Re:Not only have I not "upgraded" to Win10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's pretty hilarious that you think you're in any way protected from the mountain of zero day exploits available, to any of the entities that would care, out there.

    2. Re:Not only have I not "upgraded" to Win10 by Snotnose · · Score: 1

      I run a pretty locked down openWRT, I trust that more than Microsoft.

    3. Re:Not only have I not "upgraded" to Win10 by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      I haven't applied any patches since I learned they're adding their spyware to Win 8.1 updates. Makes me nervous, but I'd rather trust my habits and firewall than Microsoft.

      Sounds ridiculous. Why not just switch to Linux to Mac at that point?

    4. Re:Not only have I not "upgraded" to Win10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if you are not going to switch to windows 10 yet, you dont need to switch to linux

      im going to be running win10 and debian in my next pc, but im going to be running neither on this machine. The idea is, since windows 10 will spy on you, i only need it for gaming, everthing else will go on the linux side, no emails will be open from the windows side, no browsing will be done, i wont even have to mess with the disabling of tracking stuff since it will only be used for a particular thing: gaming

      the only thing im going to need to do is encrypting the hard drive thats going to run linux, that i havent researched how to do it yet

      i will also not buy a single other product they make to make them clear i dont like their dickhead moves, even tho windows phones for example, are good phones and i have one old lumia, i will not buy win anything ever again if they dont fix their OS. Instead of buying the cheapest winphone i can find on the store, which is all that i would need, im going with the cheapest droid, because even tho google spies too, they dont fuck up all your desktop in the process (microsoft next dick move is removing control panel, im not going to go fishing inside the registry to do simple stuff, sorry, not interested)

    5. Re:Not only have I not "upgraded" to Win10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exploits only work if they can get through to my computers, which they can't thanks to my firewalls and AV.

  14. *Billions* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Actually there are many more computers out there. The vast bulk run Android and iOS.

    Windows trolls hate it, pretend they're not computers, but they are.

    I think if Android becomes multi-window (our tablets are Note 12.2s, but there isn't a good multi-window desktop sized device for Android yet) and keep the high res, 8 core+, all the same features we have on the tablets, the remaining PCs will be switched over too.

    Leaving 1 PC (mine running Eclipse) as the sole PC.

    Think about it for a second, do you really think we'd have mostly Android devices, and yet upgrade desktop devices to a piss poor touch interface simply because it can run legacy software? Why?

    1. Re:*Billions* by dreamchaser · · Score: 1

      Why? Because many, many organizations have invested heavily in legacy software.

    2. Re:*Billions* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah Android and its great long-term support upgrade cycle....
      Windows 10 was available for free to anyone running Windows 7, so they could have a computer as old as 2009. Google can't even bother to get its latest version of Android running on its reference device from 3 years ago.

    3. Re:*Billions* by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
      Who is going to pay to replace my hardware that is controlled by software that only runs on Windows XP? I have a computer controlled embroidery machine (made in Y2K) that would cost £5,000 to replace. There are no updated drivers, and the software to control it requires XP. I run XP on the machine that controls it (Manuf 2006).

      Currently working fine, why would I want to upgrade?

      Not being a "millenial", I do not think 2009 is very long ago. That is the year I moved house, and this is still my "new house". Hell, I still use a P4 at work.

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    4. Re:*Billions* by perryizgr8 · · Score: 1

      I agree that Android devices are computers. But iOS? Nope. They are special-purpose appliances built to run software that comes only from the iStore. Until I can access a terminal right on the device, write a C program, compile it with the GNU compiler, and run it right there, it is not a 'computer'.

      --
      Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
  15. Probably not real numbers by qubezz · · Score: 1

    I wonder how many of these "activations" or windows 10 installs are people doing what I've done to over a dozen machines - "upgrade" from Windows 7 just to lock-in the permanent Windows 10 activation for that PC in the Microsoft servers during the free year.

    I guarantee Microsoft hasn't captured the "telemetry" of uninstalling (where they have you put in the reason you are going back) for any of these, because then I blow away the Windows 10 with the original disk image, make sure that all of the GWX ads, unapproved "update agent" auto downloading and multiple spyware telemetry updates are removed from Win7, and disable the windows update service. Then I blackhole any machine that tries to connect to the "vortex" telemetry servers through the firewall.

    1. Re:Probably not real numbers by omtinez · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Not only has Microsoft captured the "telemetry of uninstalling" but it's also some of the most exhaustively examined data. As far as I understand it, the main reason for rolling back appears to be driver issues.

    2. Re:Probably not real numbers by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 1

      Lol. Lets be generous and give you a million people that have purchased Win10 systems and downgraded them to Win7. It's not true because these are usage numbers but whatever. That's still 109 million installs in roughly two months which makes this the most successful launch of any OS in history.

    3. Re:Probably not real numbers by jawtheshark · · Score: 1

      I do the same.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    4. Re:Probably not real numbers by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Similarly, I wonder how many of those were intentional. The malware downloads W10 and pops up windows saying that the free upgrade is only for a short time, with a convenient button. I've never before felt like I could install an OS by clicking on the wrong thing.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  16. I don't believe that many people successfully... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    upgraded! Maybe they're counting upgrade attempts. As is well documented, there are more than a dozen serious errors that prevent the upgrade from working. Also, Microsoft requires you to successfully install every current update in order to be allowed to upgrade. That's just too many moving pieces to work reliably. I haven't been able to get the upgrade to work on any of my five Windows systems at home because of previous updates failing.

  17. activations by shaitand · · Score: 2

    "presumably it does via Windows 10 activations, which it could easily tally from its logs"

    That would be my guess as well but doesn't tell you if any of them kept Windows 10.

    110 M uses having installed windows 10 is not the same as converting 110M users but MS would spin it that way to helpconvince others people liked 10 and convince developers to target it.

    Someday Microsoft will change tactics and try to just play well within markets instead of trying to use manipulation to get ownership of them... I may not live that long but it would be nice to see.

    1. Re:activations by CoderFool · · Score: 2

      activations doesn't mean machines running windows 10. I have three machines that I 'activated' with windows 10, but only one still running it. one win7 machine I have I upgraded to win10, but it kept crashing, and then automatically reverted itself to win7 (weird, but cool, though I had a win7 backup I could have used). one win8 machine I have I upgraded, but enough software (even though supposedly win10 ready) broke when I went to win10 that I reverted it to win8. The third, formerly win7, is still running win10 and doing fine. If they are counting activations as running copies, they are way off.

    2. Re:activations by Solandri · · Score: 1

      "presumably it does via Windows 10 activations, which it could easily tally from its logs"

      That would be my guess as well but doesn't tell you if any of them kept Windows 10.

      Actually, given how invasive Win 10 is, I'm inclined to believe Microsoft knows exactly how many systems are actively running it for daily use. In fact, I'd say that's a statistic they're tracking internally day-to-day since they seem to be staking a lot on their ability to monitor how you're using the OS.

  18. Numbers. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In other news, Microsoft is expecting to sell 110M devices running Windows 10 in the next quarter. :-)

  19. Can't help but wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How many of those are on devices owned by MS? 109.9M?

  20. The world's largest botnet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is Microsoft up to?

    1. Re:The world's largest botnet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Glad M$ made their creepy window logo, with scanning light shining in through the window. Made me want Windows 10 even less than I ever did.

  21. you are asking for more bad behavior in the future by Endymion · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Scare quotes around spy? Your contempt towards people who think they should own their computer, not Microsoft, in duly noted.

    You claim that since it's possible to disable Microsoft's spyware ("telemetry"), people should use Windows 10 instead of 8.1 (or, presumably, any other earlier version of Windows. For the moment, i will assume that you indeed have the ability to find 0all of the ways Microsoft is harvesting data (including supposedly "anonymized" statistics), and have some sort of method (or free time) to police all the forced updates in the future that may try to re-enable those features. I will also assume that Windows 10 is, as you say, "100% better", even though this is a situational claim that depends a lot on subjective opinion.

    So Microsoft releases a version of windows that is actively hostile to it's users. You could choose the capitalist response and resisted upgrading punish them in the market until released a product people wanted ot buy. You could have chosen to avoid the problem by using a different vendor (or no vendor. You could have simply decided that your data is more important than shiny baubles and stayed with an earlier version of windows. You could have even taken a different approach an appealed to Microsoft (as a politician, as a journalist or even simply as a customer) to release a version of Windows 10 (perhaps at a higher price) that didn't have the features you don't want and will have to spend time removing. All of these options signal correctly to Microsoft that maybe they shouldn't be so brazen and presumptuous with user data in the future.

    Instead, you choose to pay Microsoft (either directly with cash or indirectly with your data and privacy. By choosing to reward Microsoft for their decision to make Windows into spyware., you are conditioning them to continue adding spyware to their products. By choosing to shield Microsoft form the costs of cleaning up their own mess by paying your own time to "disable all the telemetry", you bias the feedback they receive even further towards "more spyware".

    Of course, I'm being a bit presumptuous. You didn't actually claim to have disabled telemetry yourself, so the better interpretation of your comment is that you are an apparatchik - a true believer that truly believes the "features" provided in Windows 10 are worth more than the your future privacy.

    Eventually, Microsoft will release yet another version of windows (they've always love their service packs) that you finally offends even the sensibilities of the apparatchick. Maybe you finally woke up to the full breadth of what they are collection. Maybe you finally got tired trying to find all the new laces they hide their "telemetry" spyware every time new patches show up on Windows Update. You will be very annoyed, but remember, you asked for that future by staying with Windows. You asked to be spied on when you continued to pay them. Well, I hope you enjoy the consequences. of those choices.

    --
    Ce n'est pas une signature automatique.
  22. uh huh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do they remove the one's who updates to Windows 10 only to go back to Windows 7/8 afterwards ???

  23. M$ .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... Is full of it. Next please.

  24. Re:I'm waiting for [Windows 11] by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, no, no.... That's not complete...

    Install Windows 8.0 and then Windows 3.0 and THEN all the spyware and adware you can find...

    Now it's finally done...

  25. It will include people like me by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    Booted my dual-boot computer into Windows to try the free upgrade out of curiosity. I usually use Windows once a year, to update my satnav maps (and cure them for not having a linux update option)

    1. Re:It will include people like me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They assume that Linux users prefer to update all of their maps by hand using a text editor and anyway when has a company prioritised Linux Drivers, let alone Linux drivers that cant read road signs or maps.

  26. Including these still in stock? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These = phones + computers.

    1. Re:Including these still in stock? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, all 6 MS Phones were counted.

  27. Re:I don't believe that many people successfully.. by ByzantineAlex · · Score: 1

    Really ? Five systems failed ? Wow.... I'm speechless. I have 2 of 2. Without any effort. I must be extremely lucky.

  28. 110M Devices Run Windows 10... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... and like the 3 BILLION or so devices that run Java...

    ... they all do it poorly.

  29. Re:I don't believe that many people successfully.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Given that your 0 for 5 upgrade record is far below the normal user's experience, I would say you're doing something wrong. Or you've just got a lot of really messed up hardware.

  30. Definitely a slowdown by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My take away was that Microsoft tried throwing out some big numbers hoping nobody actually did the math. I think its clear Windows 10 adoption has slowed even though Windows 10 is free, many with Windows 7 or 8 with auto Windows updates on got Windows 10 install files downloaded to their device and most likely prompted to install Windows 10 many times. But like with any huge group of devices some will upgrade fine while others have huge issues. Even a company like Apple which designs, engineers and develops its own devices cannot get away from dealing with failed upgrades to operating systems. I myself had issues both with Windows 10 and Apple's OS X El Capitan. Neither would work with some peripherals I have and the third party companies won't be fixing them to work with either OS indefinitely. I think both operating systems are perfectly fine and work well and are stable in themselves. But if shit don't work it don't work.

  31. I believe it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Indeed. They have it installed on 100 million Windows phones before putting them in a landfill.

  32. i'm not impressed by Skapare · · Score: 1

    if it had been 110 billion i'd still not be impressed. in the vast majority of cases, it was not chosen. so my question is, in how many cases was window 10 chosen over somthing else?

    --
    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  33. 110M? That's... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...a really big botnet

  34. You got it wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What microsoft wanted to say is that 110 devices now run Windows 10 version M.

  35. Of course Microsoft knows who's using Win10 by hyades1 · · Score: 0

    Why wouldn't they? When information starts pouring into their servers about every keystroke you made, your bank account password, how many times a day you wank and what your second cousin had for breakfast, what else could it be but Win10 ratting you out.

    Or maybe a NSA back door.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  36. If they are counting activations... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It probably won't be accurate. A lot of people I know, myself included, installed Windows 10 and then removed it within a day or two.

  37. Re:I don't believe that many people successfully.. by wbo · · Score: 1

    Also, Microsoft requires you to successfully install every current update in order to be allowed to upgrade

    That is not true at all. If you want to use the option to automatically upgrade to Windows 10 then you do need quite a few updates installed but if you download and use the you can upgrade an existing Windows 7 or Windows 8 install regardless of what updates have or have not been installed.

    Indeed, Microsoft recommends that you use the Media Creation Tool on systems that are having problems installing updates or for systems that don't have reliable Internet connectivity. As long as you choose the "Upgrade" option in the installer and the existing Windows 7 or 8 install is activated you won't have to enter a product key.

  38. Yes, but is is running well? by Simulant · · Score: 4, Informative


    Not as well as 7 on most of my devices. I will admit it does work fine on single use machines like my HTPC but, even my Surface continues to annoy me with bugs and inconsistencies. They should make unifying (or perhaps completely duplicating functionality) the schizophrenic control panel situation a priority... I absolutely hate the "touch friendly" controls. Toggle switches are an abomination.

    1. Re:Yes, but is is running well? by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

      On my personal computer, I have been running Windows 10 Insider version on the fast ring and I have had very few problems with it. Mostly the issues were related to application compatibility but that was also before Windows 10 was generally released. After release, and official Windows 10 drivers and updates starting coming out these problems dropped off completely.

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    2. Re:Yes, but is is running well? by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      This is a problem with Windows 10 in general - vast areas of empty white space on a PC because it has a widescreen monitor which a mobile phone doesn't. Metro tiles which may make sense for a touch device but are just awful for a PC. Calling everything "apps" instead of programs (a bugbear of mine). And IMHO a terrible visual refresh that sucks all the colour out of the icons and replaces them with monochrome line art (icons are white-on-blue or white-on-red or white-on-green, settings screen icons are blue-on-white or blue-on-grey, etc.)

      How anyone can call this an improvement on windows 7's UI I don't know.

  39. Re:you are asking for more bad behavior in the fut by CimmerianX · · Score: 1

    Ya - What he said!!!!

  40. If they want to or not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    is the rest of the sentance!

  41. Remember Vista etc.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Listen, I do have two WIN10 Boxes I will only use when someone calls for help....one is the free update and the other is the MSDN forever Alpha...
    Point is the Planet isn't going to 10 yet, and when it starts to we'll get more of this nonsense that what is more popular is obviously better.
    I just can't believe that MS stock isn't in the toilet after all the things we've concluded from their new OS.
    It's just as if they stopped caring if we found their spyware. Sad really.The only selling point is that it's a little better than 8.1 but compared to 7 Fails.
    https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

  42. I have tried installing it on 5 computers so far by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Informative

    Three were Windows 7 and 8.1 systems. Win 10 went through all the installation motions, with the multiple reboots and auto-downloading a long series of Windows Updates. After all that, the final boot...came back into the old version of Windows without any indication of what Windows 10 objected to in the user's configuration.

    The fourth was a new-in-box Dell Inspiron that came with 10 installed. The setup screens went by routinely until I got to the "Set up a Microsoft Account" step. It required the user's email as the ID, and this user had only one, which he has used for years, but the installer rejected that address on grounds of "Invalid domain" whatever that means. Support told me "That happens all the time" and advised getting a new Gmail address to use, but the user didn't want to complicate his life by doing that. So I backed up to the preceding install screen so I could opt for "Set up without a Microsoft Account." Doing this caused the Windows installer to crash hard, requiring that I restore the entire thing from the recovery partition and start over.

    The fifth Windows 10 install was into a fresh VMWare Fusion image on my own iMac under OS X 10.11. It worked first time. Now I'm advising everyone who really wants Windows 10 to either wait a year as usual until it becomes usable, or get a Mac, install VMWare, and set up a Windows image.

  43. Re:I have tried installing it on 5 computers so fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow. Incompetence is the only explanation there. How can you mess up 4 installs? Also, support suggested you get a Gmail address? Sounds unlikely.

  44. Still only 10% of what Java runs on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if you believe Oracle...though why would you?

  45. Re:I have tried installing it on 5 computers so fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My one Windows 10 upgrade was flawless from the DVD. I'm scared of the download method, though, mostly because I've wasted hours trying to convince Windows 10 to *not* install on my Windows 7 PCs. Worse, Windows Update offered the Get Windows 10 App *again* this week, this time as an Important update, in case I didn't take enough punishment the first time around.

    If you didn't install from ISO, this seems to be a good starting point.

  46. Math error, apparently by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    Lemme see. Sigh.

    2nd link says OS X 10.10 has 4.91% of overall market share, which they figured from browsing stats, which seems to me to be a sane proxy for the vast majority of computers running Windows and OS X both.

    This link says there were over a billion computers out there (in 2008, no doubt more now, but I used the 1,000,000,000 figure anyway.)

    So. 1,000,000,000 * 0.0491 = 49,100,000 computers running OS X 10.10.

    Maybe I'm just being (repeatedly) dense but I don't see the problem with the math. You (or anyone who cares to correct me) can be snarky if you like and I won't complain, but would you please point out where I went wrong?

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  47. The productization of the customer will continue.. by istartedi · · Score: 1

    The productization of the customer will continue until morale improves. Nadella is doing everything I feared he would.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  48. Pulled that one off no sweat. by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    LOL predictable I think is the word best used here.

  49. Re:I have tried installing it on 5 computers so fa by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    The failed upgrades were all auto-installs performed using Microsoft's published procedure, starting from that little System Tray icon in 7/8.1 that invites the user to try the new version out. What's happening is that the current, early-release version of 10 detects something in the hardware configuration it doesn't like, and fails without letting anyone know what the problem was, so that the user will just blame himself, rather than Microsoft. As time goes on, I'm sure the Windows 10 install will be updated to include more of the similar-like-snowflakes possible configurations of PC.

    And yes, the "Invalid domain" bug in the setup for Microsoft Account rejects so many perfectly good email addresses that Support actually recommends signing up for a new Gmail address a a workaround.

  50. but how many of them know they are? by mlemley · · Score: 1

    given the reports that it is auto-downloading without permission?

  51. Re:I have tried installing it on 5 computers so fa by vandamme · · Score: 1

    That Dell should run Linux just fine. 20 minutes or so to install. The hard part is thinking up a user name and password. You'll have to reboot once, too.

  52. Re:I have tried installing it on 5 computers so fa by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    Yes, after spending the time restoring the installer from the recovery partition, setup from the "No Microsoft Account" pathway was routine. You just have to know beforehand that your email address will be one of the magic addresses that you cannot use to set up a Microsoft Account, and that you therefore have to use the strongly-discouraged "No Microsoft Account" option.

  53. Re:I have tried installing it on 5 computers so fa by vandamme · · Score: 1

    You missed the part where I said I installed Linux.

  54. Re:I have tried installing it on 5 computers so fa by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    If only I could convince more of my IT customers to go the Linux route on their PCs. Instead, any horrible experience with Windows tends to result in getting a new Mac, with the still perfectly good PC being given away to the thrift.

  55. Re:I have tried installing it on 5 computers so fa by Smurf · · Score: 1

    Now I'm advising everyone who really wants Windows 10 to either wait a year as usual until it becomes usable, or get a Mac, install VMWare, and set up a Windows image.

    To be fair, they could also install VMWare on their current Windows 7 (or 8?) machine and set up the Windows 10 VM in it.