Windows 10 stats: 75 million devices, 6x more app downloads per device

So how is Windows 10 doing? Microsoft has been rather tight lipped until now about the operating system's overall distribution and related figures. The only figure that Microsoft released was that Windows 10 was running on more than 14 million devices after the day the operating system launched.
Almost every person I talked to agreed that the free upgrade offer helped fuel the usage share rise of Windows 10 significantly but without official figures, it was not possible to compare it to the performance of previous versions of Windows.
This changed yesterday when Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group, went on a Twitter writing spree and posted information about the operating system.
According to him, Windows 10 has been installed on more than 75 million devices almost one month after launch.
How does it compare to previous versions of Windows?
Microsoft sold 100 million Windows 7 and Windows 8 licenses in the first six months after launch. If you consider Windows 10's current performance, it is clear that it will beat those easily.
One needs to take into account though that Windows 10 is offered as a free upgrade while Windows 7 and 8 were only offered with discounts in the beginning.
It is clear that the free offer is giving Windows 10 a headstart and that it will -- very likely -- beat both previous versions of Windows when it comes to usage share in the foreseeable future.
Windows Store
Mehdi revealed that Windows Store application downloads are six times higher per device on Windows 10 than on Microsoft's previous operating system Windows 8.
It is unclear if Windows 8 includes Windows 8.1 or if Windows 8 downloads have been counted exclusively.
It is clear nevertheless that users seem to use the Store more than on Windows 8. Considering that the apps offered in Store are nearly identical to those offered on Windows 8, it is unclear why that is the case.
Microsoft launched a re-designed Store in Windows 10 (which I don't like a lot due to limitations in regards to discovering new applications) which may have contributed to that as it puts the focus on high quality apps.
Remaining
The remaining "fun facts" are not nearly as interesting:
- Windows 10 is running in 192 countries.
- More than 90,000 unique PC or tablet models have upgraded to Windows 10.
- Including some devices from 2007.
- More than 122 years of gameplay have streamed from Xbox One to Windows 10 devices.
- 10 million achievements unlocked: Microsoft Solitaire Collection, Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition.
- In response to "tell me a joke", Cortana has told over half a million jokes since launch.
- Over 2000 organizations vying to win the global partner slot in 'UpgradeYourWorld.
Now You:


What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277