Windows 10 is now installed on 500 million active devices

[Shawn Knight]

Microsoft started hump day on solid footing by announcing that there are now more than 500 million active devices worldwide running Windows 10. CEO Satya Nadella revealed the milestone during his keynote speech to kick off the annual Build developer conference in Seattle.

The Redmond-based company initially set out to get Windows 10 on a billion devices within the first three years but conceded last July that it may have been a bit too ambitious. Still, adoption of its operating system is forging ahead at a respectable rate.

Windows 10 at the end of March 2016 had just north of 200 million active device installs. That figure climbed to 300 million as of May 5, 2016, before hitting 400 million this past September. Looking at the latest numbers, we see that it has taken around seven months or so to add an additional 100 million installations.

Sources reportedly familiar with the company’s plans tell The Verge that Microsoft is loosely targeting 550 million active devices by the end of June and 575 million by the end of September.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, only around 141 million of its 500 million Windows 10 devices – roughly 28 percent – utilize Cortana on a monthly basis. Worse yet, as PCWorld highlights, it’s unclear if those using Microsoft’s digital assistant are relying on it for questions, setting reminders or simply using the search box as a generic Start Menu replacement.

In related news, Microsoft said 100 million people per month are using Office 365’s commercial subscription services. Furthermore, 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies are now utilizing a portion of the Microsoft cloud.

Microsoft Build 2017 runs through May 12 at the Washington State Convention Center.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/69264-windows-10-now-installed-500-million-active-devices.html

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

"roughly 28 percent – utilize Cortana".
That many??? I'm sure M$ must be inflating that figure by about 10000%. Why would anybody ever consider such using such a thing? Each to their own I suppose.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

"roughly 28 percent – utilize Cortana".
That many??? I'm sure M$ must be inflating that figure by about 10000%. Why would anybody ever consider such using such a thing? Each to their own I suppose.

well remember, cortana is by default turned on for anything you search for in the search bar.

So for all we know, MS is saying 28% of their customers use the search bar, and cortana can search from the search bar, ergo cortana is being used by 28% of users.

 

[Greg S]

The search bar kind of sucks on Windows 10 honestly. Very disappointing.

 

[Nobina]

Windows 10 is now forced onto 500m active devices.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

well remember, cortana is by default turned on for anything you search for in the search bar.

So for all we know, MS is saying 28% of their customers use the search bar, and cortana can search from the search bar, ergo cortana is being used by 28% of users.

Yeah. All the screenshots I see of machines running W10, there's a white rectangular block on the taskbar. I'd assume that's Cortana. Mine doesn't have that, just a magnifying glass, even after the installation of the latest version. I was easily able to uninstall Cortana with the built in Windows un/installer, no fancy registry tweaks required.

 

[CrazyDave]

well remember, cortana is by default turned on for anything you search for in the search bar.

So for all we know, MS is saying 28% of their customers use the search bar, and cortana can search from the search bar, ergo cortana is being used by 28% of users.

Yeah. All the screenshots I see of machines running W10, there's a white rectangular block on the taskbar. I'd assume that's Cortana. Mine doesn't have that, just a magnifying glass, even after the installation of the latest version. I was easily able to uninstall Cortana with the built in Windows un/installer, no fancy registry tweaks required.

As far as I am aware Cortana is region and language based, and there are not actually not that many regions and languages supported at this stage. Obviously MS has covered the main user bases (Americas and Europe) and there will be more to come in future. You live in a region that is not supported. For those you have a burning desire to use Cortana, they can always change their region and language to US or UK to activate her.