Microsoft Windows blog post data "corrected" not because it lost 400 million users!
As the Windows 10 life cycle comes to an end, Microsoft is actively promoting users to upgrade to Windows 11, but for those who still want to continue using Windows 10, Microsoft also offers other options such as paid.
Recently, ZDNet discovered a noticeable detail while studying a blog post published by Microsoft. The article begins with: "Windows is the most widely used operating system in the world, with more than 1 billion monthly active devices." From the surface, this data is quite considerable. However, if you compare it with the data released by Microsoft in the past, you will find that there is a clear gap. Microsoft claimed in 2022 that Windows had 1.4 billion active users, while in 2021 this number was 1.3 billion.
This data change has triggered many speculations from the outside world. Some people think this may be just an error caused by data rounding; but some people believe that Microsoft may have lost at least 400 million monthly active users in the past three years. Given that Microsoft no longer mentions the 1.4 billion figure, most media prefer to agree with the latter view. However, Microsoft has quietly ended these speculations recently.
Microsoft updated that blog post, revised the statement of "over 1 billion" to "over 1.4 billion", and admitted the revision in the editorial notes at the end of the article. This move confirms that Windows did not lose hundreds of millions of active users in the years since the launch of Windows 11, but also reflects that the number of monthly active users of Windows has been weak and has been in a relatively stagnant state over the past period.
The reasons for this situation may be of many aspects. For example, Windows 11 and its new feature, Copilot, has received a mediocre response in the market, which may have affected the growth of the number of users to some extent. However, there is currently no authoritative and convenient channel that allows the outside world to quickly obtain such statistical data. In the past, Microsoft would regularly share interesting data and facts about the company and its products on its "Microsoft Digital" website, but now the site has ceased operations and will be redirected to the Microsoft News page when accessed. This allows media and consumers to understand the current situation of Windows and other products through relatively obscure channels such as Microsoft's blog posts and shareholder letters.
