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Microsoft's number hasn't budged since the fall, but data from metrics research firms indicates that there's been at least modest growth in the past few months. by ken mingis
TO HEAR Microsoft tell it, Windows 10 has been stuck at the 400-million-user mark since last September. But is that really the case? It's true that the growth of Windows 10 slowed last year after the software vendor finally ditched a free upgrade program that helped spur users of older versions of Windows - especially Windows 7 and 8-to upgrade before having to cough up money.
That slowdown was easy to see: User share grew by about 12% a month from January to May 2016; it slowed to about 10% a month through August; and then fell to 2% a month from September into January 2017. (User share is an estimate of the percentage of all PCs running an operating system; Computerworld relies on data from metrics vendor Net Applications to calculate the portion of all Windows PCs running Windows 10.)
Aggressive Tactics
The early 2016 growth spurt was aided at least in part by the company's aggressive - some would say overly aggressive - efforts to push Windows 10 onto devices running older...