Report: Windows 10 Version 1809 Usage Doubles

The latest AdDuplex report shows that the Windows 10 October 2018 Update has finally started rolling out in significant numbers. But its usage still lags dramatically behind that of its predecessors.

“Out of more than 100,000 [Windows 10] PCs surveyed, only 12.4 percent run the October 2018 Update,” the latest AdDuplex report notes. “While this number is almost double of what we’ve seen last month, it’s still far away from the dominating April 2018 Update.”

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Windows 10 version 1803—which is acquired by installing the April 2018 Update, still commands over 80 percent usage share among Windows 10-based PCs, AdDuplex reports. This could lead to a strange situation in which a very large percentage of the user base jumps directly from Windows 10 version 1803 to version 1903 (19H1), since that latter release is expected in just 2-3 months.

“The October 2018 Update has been growing steadily [in usage] over the last couple of months, but it clearly needs to accelerate [deployment] in February or be scrapped altogether in favor of going straight to 19H1,” AdDuplex explains of this unique issue.

In related news, usage of all new Surface PC models has fallen month-over-month, which may be a first. For example, Surface Go is still the fourth most-popular Surface PC by usage, but it commands only 9 percent of the user base, down from over 12 percent in December. AdDuplex says this is related to a seasonal bump in December from the holidays, when new users are “setting them up and exploring new apps.” So this month’s look is likely a more accurate reflection of the user base.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 10 comments

  • JeffFerguson

    29 January, 2019 - 9:29 am

    <p>I have a Windows 10 Pro installation in a virtual machine that I use for work. It's still on 1803. I wonder if it will be one of the installations that jumps from 1803 to 1903 … ?</p>

  • blackcomb

    29 January, 2019 - 9:54 am

    <p>People barely got 1809 installed and they're getting ready for another build. It's crazy. I'm on LTSC unbothered.</p>

    • NoFlames

      29 January, 2019 - 12:19 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#400283"><em>In reply to blackcomb:</em></a><em> I have to have the latest and greatest for the developer focused features they have added and I also use Edge exclusively. So LTSB is boring and lacks many of the refinements of the latest versions.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • warren

    29 January, 2019 - 10:34 am

    <p>1809 is still not being delivered to a lot of Windows 10 Home systems for whatever reason.</p>

  • justme

    Premium Member
    29 January, 2019 - 10:41 am

    <p>Not sure what to think. Recently reimaged my SP3 with the Windows 10 recovery image. SP3 recovery image is 1709. Windows update Installed numerous updates, then 1803 (and several other updates) failed to install. Windows update never showed 1809. I was able to get to 1809 only by going out and seeking it.</p>

    • NazmusLabs

      29 January, 2019 - 11:27 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#400299">In reply to JustMe:</a></em></blockquote><p>As having own a Surface Pro personally and having had also reimagined my family’s surface devices, might I offer a suggestion from my personal experience?</p><p><br></p><p>My suggestion is to not use the recovery image in most cases and just use the Media Creation tool to get the latest Windows version ISO. From personal experience, I’ll tell you that it’ll save you a lot of time and work. I’ll explain.</p><p><br></p><p>But I’d still keep a local copy of the Surface Recovery image backed up. More on that im just a bit.</p><p><br></p><p>See, having been built by the same company, your surface device will grab all the latest firmware, drivers, optimizations, and every other component of the recovery image straight from Windows update right after a clean install of Windows.</p><p><br></p><p>Essentially, by using the ISO, you will not only start off from the latest build from the get-go but you’ll be down-streaming the latest 2018/2019 firmware directly from Microsoft rather than installing the old version of the firmware frozen in time in the Recovery image and needing to update them anyway.</p><p><br></p><p>A bonus benefit of the ISO is that you don’t even need to use a USB stick. Just double-click to mount the ISO, and run setup.exe straight from Windows. You’ll have the option to either keep your files or do a clean install.</p><p><br></p><p>And about keeping that Recovery image I mentioned earlier, it’s still a good idea to keep a local back-up of it. That way, you at least have an offline copy of your Surface’s entire driver and firmware package, which can be handy if you ever need to reimage your Surface and you don’t have access to the internet to grab the latest updates immediately after install.</p><p><br></p><p>Having imaged my Surface using both the Recovery image and the reference ISO in the past, I can confirm that the end result will be the same, but the ISO is far easier and more streamlined!</p><p><br></p><p>Cheers!</p>

      • justme

        Premium Member
        30 January, 2019 - 10:00 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#400320">In reply to NazmusLabs:</a></em></blockquote><p>Good advice and well recieved, thank you. In my case, I have generally either used the Windows 8 backup partition, or downloaded the W8 recovery image. This time, I was inspired to install the W10 version by the banter between Paul and Brad over the W7 pending end of life. I needed to do it because of some old partitioning issues (I was triple booting once upon a time) I was just living with. I didnt consider using the Media Creation tool largely because I didnt want the hassle of Microsoft potentially telling me my Windows installation was not valid for some reason. (yes, it is their hardware, and no, I do not trust Microsoft to not screw up their own activation process). All of that said – Windows update still didnt show me 1809, which I thought it should have, given my hardware is a Surface and 1809 is supposed to be widley available.</p><p><br></p><p>In any event, thanks again, I will remember this for next time.</p>

  • MutualCore

    29 January, 2019 - 3:18 pm

    <p>As evidenced by 1803 usage share, if MS hadn't f-ed up 1809 it would be at 60% by now. I guess most 1803 will end up upgrading straight to 1903.</p>

  • 6e80a240

    30 January, 2019 - 1:43 pm

    <p>Surface pro 4 user and I have not received the update. </p>

  • faustxd9

    Premium Member
    05 February, 2019 - 10:16 am

    <p>On my HP laptop (Spectre) it took a BIOS update from HP before I was able to upgrade to 1809 a few days ago (BIOS updated on 25 Jan). I am wondering both what the issue was and is something similar affecting other PCs? If that is the case, some machines might never get the update if the hardware manufacturer doesn't provide an update. Based on forum threads it was causing issues upgrading to anything past 1809 even if you did the direct install via media. </p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC