It’s Official: Windows 10 Accounts for Over 5 Percent of All PCs in Use

It's Official: Windows 10 Accounts for Over 5 Percent of All PCs in Use

Data from NetApplications confirms that Windows 10 is off to a great start, with over 5 percent of all PCs currently using Microsoft’s latest desktop OS. However, Microsoft Edge—the new web browser in Windows 10—is off to a less auspicious start. And I think I know why.

First, the numbers. You may recall that Microsoft recently announced that Windows 10 was in use on over 75 million PCs just a month into its availability. And that I surmised this was a tremendous success—perhaps a historical success—because this represents actual usage. Real customers were really able to successfully upgrade to, and use, Windows 10.

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So how do NetApplications’ numbers stack up?

According to the market research firm, 5.21 percent of all personal computer users (PC and Mac) were running Windows 10 in August 2015. According to Microsoft, there are over 1.5 billion people using Windows. And 5.21 percent of 1.5 billion is—wait for it—78.15 million.

(This confirms my faith in NetApplications. I find their usage measurements to be more accurate than those of competing firms such as StatCounter. As does Microsoft, by the way.)

NetApplications also chimed in on Microsoft Edge, the new web browser in Windows 10. If every single Windows 10 user were using Edge, the browser would have over 5 percent usage share in August. But it doesn’t. Instead, Edge accounted for just 2.03 percent of browser usage, less than half of its potential.

Why is that?

Simple. Most of the people who are using Windows 10 are, or are supported by, people who are technical by nature. And that audience would be quick to figure out, as I have, that there are just too many missing features in this browser, for now. So they continue using other browsers, like Chrome or Firefox. As they should. (Or, they’re normal upgraders who already had a browser preference.)

I love it when things make sense. And both of these usage figures—Windows 10’s, and Edge’s—make sense.

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