Microsoft waves the white flag, says it won't hit Windows 10 installation goal on time

[Shawn Knight]

Microsoft’s lofty goal to hit one billion Windows 10 installations just three years after its debut was apparently a bit too optimistic.

When probed on the matter by ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, a spokesperson for the Redmond-based company noted that they are pleased with their progress but due to “the focusing of” its phone hardware business, it will take longer than originally anticipated to reach the one billion monthly active devices goal.

If you recall, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson set the mark at Build 2015 just ahead of Windows 10’s summer launch. The one billion installation figure was to include all devices running Windows 10 including desktop PCs, tablets, notebooks, Windows Phones, Xbox One consoles, HoloLens headsets, Surface Hub conferencing systems and IoT devices.

Windows 10 got off to a hot start as it found its way to more than 300 million devices by May of this year so what caused Microsoft to dismiss the goal, you ask?

Back in March, Myerson conceded that Windows 10 Mobile would no longer be a focus for Microsoft over the coming years. This is the primary reason why Microsoft won’t hit its 1B goal; having to rework its overreaching Windows 10 upgrade prompt tactics has only steered it further off course.

In related news, Microsoft’s free Windows 10 upgrade offer ends July 29. If you haven’t yet upgraded to Windows 10 and are planning to do so free of charge, your time is ticking.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/65606-microsoft-waves-white-flag-wont-hit-windows-10.html

 

[amstech]

I have already upgraded my PC to 10 then downgraded so my key has been activated as a Windows 10 upgrade key. I have a Windows 10 USB ISO and will install it whenever I please. After a year or so when DX12 takes off and I get a new GPU I will upgrade then.

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/windows-10-will-microsoft-charge-you-if-you-need-to-reinstall/

People who have upgraded to Windows 10 will be able to download media that can be used to clean install Windows 10 from USB or DVD. There will be no need to purchase a new copy of Windows 10 provided it is being installed on the same Windows 7 or 8.1 machine that was upgraded to Windows 10. The installed version of Windows 10, Home or Pro, will be the same as the version they upgraded to.

When installing Windows 10, users will be able to skip the requirement to enter a product key and Windows 10 will activate automatically online.

 

[Kibaruk]

The auto activation surely is a good thing, I did loose a couple of keys for older versions of windows when had to reinstall it a couple times on the same machine.

It was a big goal to reach, however to date I don't see all the hate for W10, I've been an early adopter for all windows alike, since 95 to ME and so on and I'm not sure if I've been extremely lucky to not run into any of the issues people tend to describe, or is it me not forcing it to fail.

 

[Lurker101]

Ironically, it was Microsofts big push to get everybody on Windows 10 that stopped me from installing Windows 10. I was actually tempted to move from Win7 until Microsofts highly aggressive and deceitful tactics kicked in which raised my suspicions about why the big push and why shouldn't I just stick with 7 if it suits my needs.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

MSFT got 5 installs from me - now all Win 10 - but not sure I am really liking all of it - some of the W10 stuff is obtrusive.

 

[BrianMontanye]

If you have already upgraded your key to Win 10 and gone back to 7, don't change your hardware much. The 10 keys are still bound to hardware ID's on your system. If you change the mobo, you will lose the upgrade. I don't believe it is tied to just the key. I ended up changing proc/mobo/memory and lost activation. I had to wipe, reinstall 7, activate win 7 key again, then upgrade to 10. So be careful

 

[noel24]

Who's surprised, really? Big corpo treating their customers like *****s gets a hiccup. Really, one billion is an actual number of people in the World that can afford a new PC/phone every second/fourth year. Who would really believe they all switch? I got friends who make more than triple than Me and couldn't name their OS. They do fine with XP/Vista/7 and don't wanna hear of a hassle of changing to some ad/spyware filled M$ 10something. Really, I was made to reinstall XP last year, cause a neighbour saw no need to upgrade to 7/8 since she uses her PC to nothing else than read news and cooking recipies 2 hours a day. What could go wrong? Well, I suppose not much. And 7/8 licence costs money. Well, as for Me, I won't upgrade 7 for now, as everything works, so why bother?

 

[psycros]

The auto activation surely is a good thing, I did loose a couple of keys for older versions of windows when had to reinstall it a couple times on the same machine.

It was a big goal to reach, however to date I don't see all the hate for W10, I've been an early adopter for all windows alike, since 95 to ME and so on and I'm not sure if I've been extremely lucky to not run into any of the issues people tend to describe, or is it me not forcing it to fail.

How would you "force it to fail"? By actually trying to use it to its full extent? Because that's where 99% of the errors and general bad behavior in Windows 10 are coming from - people trying to do things with it that they've had no trouble accomplishing with previous of Windows. That's a clear fundamental design failure on Microsoft's part. But hey, as long you don't need to install any new drivers or any *old* applications or games (most of which have problems with Windows 10) AND you don't mind having random files uploaded to Microsoft's servers then I guess you have nothing to worry about.

Ironically, it was Microsofts big push to get everybody on Windows 10 that stopped me from installing Windows 10. I was actually tempted to move from Win7 until Microsofts highly aggressive and deceitful tactics kicked in which raised my suspicions about why the big push and why shouldn't I just stick with 7 if it suits my needs.

For me it was that along with the fact that literally NOTHING works right on it, and it constantly reverts your preferences to use Microsoft apps, allow Microsoft spying and generally behave like an autistic kid on acid. DirectX 12 isn't going to make one bit of difference unless you have a high-powered GPU..and only if its less than two years old. That's a very small segment of the PC user base, so for most of us there is every reason to NOT migrate to an OS that is inferior in every way to what came before.

 

[SirGCal]

They try to hack people to 10 without their permission, try to push people to 10 freely, etc. and they still can't make it. AND if they:
1) did not force updates
2) did not become the worlds worst data collection software

I would have done it in a second. I'll stick with 7 again for the time being...

 

[Mikael_r]

There's definitely some critical flaws with W10. Chrome takes forever to open on my laptop, and right-clicking on a file to 'copy' or whatever freezes/crashes the file explorer. There's no reason for bugs like that to exist after release.

 

[Kibaruk]

Hack to update? Well I'll be damned but if it were any other company, you would probably be saying that people are stupid for not reading...

I have had no problem with old software or having to install special drivers for anything W10 related... but that appears to be a magical copy only I have.

There's definitely some critical flaws with W10. Chrome takes forever to open on my laptop, and right-clicking on a file to 'copy' or whatever freezes/crashes the file explorer. There's no reason for bugs like that to exist after release.

Yeah this is super common behavior I assume.

 

[Victor38077]

Does this mean that Windows Phone will be phased out?.

 

[Darth Shiv]

If you have already upgraded your key to Win 10 and gone back to 7, don't change your hardware much. The 10 keys are still bound to hardware ID's on your system. If you change the mobo, you will lose the upgrade. I don't believe it is tied to just the key. I ended up changing proc/mobo/memory and lost activation. I had to wipe, reinstall 7, activate win 7 key again, then upgrade to 10. So be careful

Traditionally for hardware changes it was no problem to ring them and activate using a code provided from their phone support.

Terry Myerson is the person who drove the malware style upgrade push as well as making the now ill-fated install milestone. MSFT's greatest strength has always been their installed user base but he has lost an enormous amount of trust - just look at the recent Win10 upgrade articles all over tech sites. > 50% of any Microsoft Windows articles are focussing on their malware style tactics to upgrade. That has to be undermining their credibility and market perception.

Myerson clearly is not the right person to take the operating system forward. He is an absolute PR disaster.

 

[EClyde]

Got 10 on my moldy laptop. With Classic Shell it's OK...on the surface

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Microsoft screwed themselves with their incredibly aggressive and invasive behavior trying to get windows 10 on as many devices as possible. Their utter fumbling of mobile windows 10 devices further hurt the brand, and their multiple screw-ups with the windows store isnt helping either.

 

[poohbear]

Was on windows 7, then on to windows 8.1, and in May upgraded to windows 10. Love it and there's no going back to the older windows. It's solid & faster than win 8.1 and win 7. so I'm sold. (I upgrade din August 2015 and felt it just wasn't ready, but in May 2016 it was cake).

 

[DaveBG]

With the spyware fiasco embedded in windows 10 once the free offer is gone there will be more uninstalls than installs. People who were tricked will start installing windows 7 at update state pre windows 10 release (late 2013). There are ISOs that are on that state you just install and disable/delete the update service.

 

[BSim500]

Sad thing is they probably would've hit their target if Windows 10 tiles UI was an optional theme, if they stripped out the spyware BS & forced updates, and if they weren't so persistently hostile to their own customers throughout. Except the "free-ness" of the OS highlights we aren't the customers. The new customers are the advertisers & "app" writers for whom traditional users are simply the new "monetized channel" peasants. And W10 isn't even "free" if you have an OEM license and change your motherboard after the "free" period ends.

MS still can't grasp that although this is "no worse than Google / Apple" (the usual excuse bandied about), many PC users do have a long term higher expectation of trust & privacy when creating sensitive documents in full applications costing hundreds of $ and production machines in general vs a $60 tablet bought for watching funny cat videos on Youtube...

 

[DAOWAce]

I'm sure the deceitful business tactics and castration of the familiar Windows we know and merging mobile and desktop OSes sure had nothing to do with it..

If people want to upgrade and something is FREE; they'll upgrade.

If they don't want to upgrade, don't ****ing force it on them.

Too bad they're going to force their hand with future hardware too, with Windows 10 being the only OS with support going forward. Intel's done it before too with Vista, deprecating it while still supporting XP, so I expect them to do the same. Except this time, 7 doesn't have a 3% install base like Vista did, so they'd be shafting millions more people.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Hack to update? Well I'll be damned but if it were any other company, you would probably be saying that people are stupid for not reading...

I have had no problem with old software or having to install special drivers for anything W10 related... but that appears to be a magical copy only I have.

There's definitely some critical flaws with W10. Chrome takes forever to open on my laptop, and right-clicking on a file to 'copy' or whatever freezes/crashes the file explorer. There's no reason for bugs like that to exist after release.

Yeah this is super common behavior I assume.

And luckily you have tested *all* Windows applications and PC hardware for us... thanks for that. It's OK guys, Kibaruk has checked everything.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Microsoft screwed themselves with their incredibly aggressive and invasive behavior trying to get windows 10 on as many devices as possible. Their utter fumbling of mobile windows 10 devices further hurt the brand, and their multiple screw-ups with the windows store isnt helping either.

Unified architecture not working on Win 7 was a big failure. If they made a framework installer for Win 7 like Java or .NET, it would have been awesome and had a massive opportunity to gain traction across the board.

Now unified architecture is competing with .NET which ironically is a far better unified development platform due to open sourcing, so again, Microsoft has shown they just don't know how to show true leadership.

 

[Frixx]

Microsoft realized they can't rape their way to one billion.

 

[batsdude]

Nope. Uh uh. 10 is NOT going to happen. I did an "upgrade" from 7 ultimate, purely so I could check out how to help people revert to 7 (and there are a LOT of them!). I also ran several progs to see how they were being invasive and was astounded at the resources being used by 10 to report everything from key logging to site visitations. I repair, pen test, and secure/restore systems, and I am back to 7 with my security in place. MS seriously needs to back off the Google owns you thing and realize that to do biz with people, people need to trust them. I do NOT trust MS anymore than I trust Googoo. What a nightmare they've created for themselves. Glad it's not mine.

 

[vincentyu]

If you have already upgraded your key to Win 10 and gone back to 7, don't change your hardware much. The 10 keys are still bound to hardware ID's on your system. If you change the mobo, you will lose the upgrade. I don't believe it is tied to just the key. I ended up changing proc/mobo/memory and lost activation. I had to wipe, reinstall 7, activate win 7 key again, then upgrade to 10. So be careful

Is your 7 an OEM license that comes with the PC or a full version bought separately?

 

[BrianMontanye]

Full version, separately. I build my own so its not one that came with the PC, so to speak.