Windows 10 has come in for criticism, but it has clearly been a massive success in terms of pure numbers, with 200 million people downloading the upgraded operating system.

There have been bugs, with computer support teams in London experiencing heavy demand from users who have hit glitches when installing the new system and migrating their old files on to new systems. There are benefits, however; as Windows 8 was lambasted for its apps screen and the new system, which remains free until July 2016, the return to a start menu icon is a major step forward on its own.

Windows 10 was only launched in late July and more than 40 million people installed the OS that was designed to unite every Windows device, including smartphones and tablets. More than 40 million users have downloaded and put the system into action every month, and the press team reported 110 million downloads by October alone.

The goal is simply mindboggling: 1 billion installations within three years. Of course once the company introduces a charge for the system, which it plans to do in the middle of next year, the rate of installations will decrease significantly. With a three-year plan, we can expect Windows 10 to be around for a long time in some form or another and there might not be a major update for a while.

Of course Windows 10 will be refined over the course of the coming years and Cortana could well take centre stage as Microsoft attempts to emulate the mighty Siri. One interesting development that has been predicted is a more sophisticated version of the annoying ‘Clippy’, the paperclip that offered its help with even the most basic tasks. The new version is expected to utilise far more advanced technology and make context-based suggestions that will actually be a welcome intervention.

Syncing across devices will always be a major USP of Windows 10, but for that to be effective Microsoft has a lot of ground to make up in the smartphone market. It has been left behind by Apple and Samsung, as well as several others, and recently declared it would go all out to create a revolutionary phone that will mark a quantum leap forward. Only time will tell if that turns out to be the case and the whole smartphone and PC market turns on its head.

Windows 10 upgrade by bossco licensed under Creative commons 5