350M Devices on Windows 10 - On Pace for 1B by 2018.
On June 28, Microsoft's Terri Myserson confirmed Tuesday Aug 2, 2016 as the release date for the Anniversary edition of Windows 10 for PC, Mobile and xBox.
In that press release Terri mentioned that in the 11 months since Windows 10 initial release that some 350M devices are now running Windows 10. That is obviously a combination of new devices plus those who took advantage of the free upgrade from Windows 7 and 8/8.1 and Enterprise upgrades.
That keeps MS on schedule to meet their goal announced last year of having 1B devices running Windows 10 in 2.5 years.
Another key takeaway from the announcement today is that the free upgrade offer from Windows 7 & 8/8.1 to Windows 10 ENDS on July 28 - 11:59p. So just a few days before the release of the Anniversary Edition.
So if you are interested in Windows 10 - please do NOT wait. Upgrade NOW if your machine qualifies and is capable of running Windows 10 and then you'll get Anniversary Edition for free. If you wait until Aug 2, you'll end up paying for Windows 10.
One of the biggest changes in Microsoft's approach to Windows is now what many call Windows as a Service. Meaning, versus the old days of a 3 - 4 year gap between major releases of Windows with Service Packs and Patches galor in between - Windows is now going to have a rhythm of milestone releases on a 6 - 9 month basis that will be delivered as full upgrades.
Even intermediate releases between milestones will be delivered that way. So get used to it. The old days of installing an OS, then patching, patching, patching until the next major release are dead. Thank God.
As a person you has performed some 40 of these updates in the last 6 months as a Windows Insider - this approach is far superior to the old individual patch release method that MS has used for the previous decade.
The Anniversary Edition is actually the 3rd milestone release. The initial Windows 10 release (Build 10240) was based on the Threshold milestone, followed by Threshold 2 (Build 10586) in November - just 4 months later. We are now on the Redstone branch where Redstone 1 (now called Anniversary Edition) releases on Aug 2 and Redstone 2 is planned for late March / early April of 2017 to coincide with release of new hardware.
I applaud MS for taking this approach as it keeps Windows much fresher, allows new features to be added more quickly and really improves the upgrade and recovery process. I still feel that MS needs to improve their transparency and communication about what's coming in each new milestone, but overall I like this approach.
With the free upgrade period ending, the next big challenge I see is how MS is going to monetize the Windows as a Service model versus the OEM model that has driven Windows sales and licensing revenue for years.
Under today's OEM model, if you buy a new personal machine, Windows 10 Home is included in the price with Pro being an optional upgrade. And that is a traditional perpetual license. Meaning, that the machine will be licensed and supported for Windows 10 throughout the life of Windows 10 - just like all previous Windows editions before it. The question then becomes ok what is the life of Windows 10 - so how many branches will be included ?
The one big change now with Windows 10 is that MS is doing a much better job of associating your Windows license with your MS account. This allows better support for recovery and in theory portability - so the ability to move a license from one machine to another. I also applaud this change as it was always a pain in the ass to manage multiple MS license keys.
But that still does not answer the question of the subscription model. The only concept that I can see, is that sometime in the next few years that MS will offer a subscription for existing Windows 10 users to get to Windows 11 and beyond.
The interesting question will be is when under the new branch model will MS declare the next branch to be considered Windows 11 and require the subscription to get the update. The potential here is that MS could effectively shorten the major Windows version cycle from 3 - 4 years to 2.
Bottom line is this, Windows 10 is now a year old, it's arguably the best overall OS that MS has ever made and in my opinion is worth upgrading to. The fact that some 350M devices are already running it in less than a year speaks volumes. If your considering upgrading, don't wait, take advantage of the free upgrade and upgrade now.
In that press release Terri mentioned that in the 11 months since Windows 10 initial release that some 350M devices are now running Windows 10. That is obviously a combination of new devices plus those who took advantage of the free upgrade from Windows 7 and 8/8.1 and Enterprise upgrades.
That keeps MS on schedule to meet their goal announced last year of having 1B devices running Windows 10 in 2.5 years.
Another key takeaway from the announcement today is that the free upgrade offer from Windows 7 & 8/8.1 to Windows 10 ENDS on July 28 - 11:59p. So just a few days before the release of the Anniversary Edition.
So if you are interested in Windows 10 - please do NOT wait. Upgrade NOW if your machine qualifies and is capable of running Windows 10 and then you'll get Anniversary Edition for free. If you wait until Aug 2, you'll end up paying for Windows 10.
One of the biggest changes in Microsoft's approach to Windows is now what many call Windows as a Service. Meaning, versus the old days of a 3 - 4 year gap between major releases of Windows with Service Packs and Patches galor in between - Windows is now going to have a rhythm of milestone releases on a 6 - 9 month basis that will be delivered as full upgrades.
Even intermediate releases between milestones will be delivered that way. So get used to it. The old days of installing an OS, then patching, patching, patching until the next major release are dead. Thank God.
As a person you has performed some 40 of these updates in the last 6 months as a Windows Insider - this approach is far superior to the old individual patch release method that MS has used for the previous decade.
The Anniversary Edition is actually the 3rd milestone release. The initial Windows 10 release (Build 10240) was based on the Threshold milestone, followed by Threshold 2 (Build 10586) in November - just 4 months later. We are now on the Redstone branch where Redstone 1 (now called Anniversary Edition) releases on Aug 2 and Redstone 2 is planned for late March / early April of 2017 to coincide with release of new hardware.
I applaud MS for taking this approach as it keeps Windows much fresher, allows new features to be added more quickly and really improves the upgrade and recovery process. I still feel that MS needs to improve their transparency and communication about what's coming in each new milestone, but overall I like this approach.
With the free upgrade period ending, the next big challenge I see is how MS is going to monetize the Windows as a Service model versus the OEM model that has driven Windows sales and licensing revenue for years.
Under today's OEM model, if you buy a new personal machine, Windows 10 Home is included in the price with Pro being an optional upgrade. And that is a traditional perpetual license. Meaning, that the machine will be licensed and supported for Windows 10 throughout the life of Windows 10 - just like all previous Windows editions before it. The question then becomes ok what is the life of Windows 10 - so how many branches will be included ?
The one big change now with Windows 10 is that MS is doing a much better job of associating your Windows license with your MS account. This allows better support for recovery and in theory portability - so the ability to move a license from one machine to another. I also applaud this change as it was always a pain in the ass to manage multiple MS license keys.
But that still does not answer the question of the subscription model. The only concept that I can see, is that sometime in the next few years that MS will offer a subscription for existing Windows 10 users to get to Windows 11 and beyond.
The interesting question will be is when under the new branch model will MS declare the next branch to be considered Windows 11 and require the subscription to get the update. The potential here is that MS could effectively shorten the major Windows version cycle from 3 - 4 years to 2.
Bottom line is this, Windows 10 is now a year old, it's arguably the best overall OS that MS has ever made and in my opinion is worth upgrading to. The fact that some 350M devices are already running it in less than a year speaks volumes. If your considering upgrading, don't wait, take advantage of the free upgrade and upgrade now.
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