Windows 10 Approaches 8% Of PC Market Share

Microsoft’s Windows 10 OS went on sale in late July and thanks to an aggressive push by the company, the OS is now installed on 7.94% of desktop PCs. This figure, which is growing at a steady rate, is the result of the company offering the OS as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and 8.1 users and making it easy for those users to upgrade their current install via Windows Update.

For the month of September, the figure was 6.63% and for August, 5.21%, which means the 7.94% for the month of October shows that users are adopting the OS at a sizeable rate.

Last week, Microsoft announced that they would be making the Windows 10 upgrade files a recommended update via Windows Update instead of an optional update. This change, while it will not automatically install the OS, will download the bits on to your machine unless you turn off automatic downloads and update your machine manually each month.

Microsoft’s install base of Windows 10 will continue to grow during November as the company will be pushing the OS out to its Xbox One console that will add millions more users to the OS. Also, the company will be releasing its Lumia 950 and 950XL that will run the OS as well although both of these additions should not impact this number as this figure is for desktops only.

Another notable figure to be watching with these monthly data points is the market share that Windows 7 commands. For the month of October, the OS had 55.71% of the overall PC market which is down since August which was 57.67%; Microsoft is trying to avoid having Windows 7 become the next XP that stuck around far longer than its intended shelf life.

The goal for Windows 10 is to be installed on one billion devices within three years of the release of the operating system. Microsoft is hoping that this massive install base will drive developers to its app store where they can use Universal apps to target consumers on the desktop, phone and Xbox One.