Windows 10 1080p
It’s been almost a month since Microsoft launched Windows 10 with its free upgrade offer. Judging by current figures, customers have flocked to take advantage of the new OS. Yusuf Mehdi, corporate VP of the Windows and Devices Group, released some facts and figures about the OS last night, and the results are impressive. According to Mehdi, more than 75 million devices are now running Windows 10. That’s not quite the same wording as in late June, when Mehdi tweeted that more than 14 million people had actually installed the operating system, but it’s still a solid figure.
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Mehdi also claims that some devices manufactured as far back as 2007 have been upgraded, with 122 years of gameplay streamed between the Xbox one and Windows 10, and 10 million collective achievements unlocked. The Windows Store has reportedly seen 6x as many downloads per device than Windows 8, which isn’t particularly surprising. The Windows 8 Store was a trainwreck in the original operating system and only modestly improved in Windows 8.1.Microsoft has tried for years to crack down on fake apps and spam guides that exist to hoover information off your PC rather than provide any kind of useful service. Given how low store usage likely was before, it’s not clear how much of an improvement this is — but any progress is better than the status quo.

The persistent issues

Clearly, the persistent issues around Windows 10’s privacy and disclosures have yet to damagethe operating system’s uptake. It’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft addresses any of them in its upcoming Threshold 2 update (currently expected to drop this fall). There’s a sizeable group of people with real issues and concerns around the operating system, at both the individual and the corporate level. Microsoft’s new update policies are particularly problematic, since it’s currently extremely difficult to know exactly what any given update does or changes about the operating system.
Hopefully Microsoft will respond to these criticisms with changes that give users more control over what information the operating system shares and offer more information when it comes to patches and updates. From where we sit, the situation is simple: Microsoft can make these changes preemptively, before something goes catastrophically wrong with a cumulative update, or it act preemptively, assuage the legitimate concerns of users, and offer better troubleshooting information to those who need it.
Ironically, one point in Mehdi’s own tweetstorm reflects this need. According to him, Windows 10 has been installed on more than 90,000 unique devices (meaning different system types). Android and OS X never ship on such a variety of systems, much less rigs from 2007. The chance of something going wrong at the corporate or individual level is too high to continue issuing updates that contain zero information on what, exactly, is being patched or updated.
 and Windows 10: The biggest problems, gripes, and missing features so far.