It took barely five days for Microsoft to set the record straight over who’s the boss in the market for office productivity suites. A record that was made crooked by a former staffer who switched over to Google and now happens to head G-Suite.
The company, which created the world’s first office software 25 years ago, has gone to town announcing the presence of Windows 10 on one billion devices across the world. Of course, how the feat was achieved less than a week after Google announced a milestone of 2 billion active users for its G-Suite is a mystery.
No prizes for guessing! Today’s media statement by Microsoft puts Google’s G-Suite boss Javier Soltero firmly in his place for suggesting that the milestone he shared with the media was in no way comparable to what Microsoft has achieved in this space over the years. Without actually saying so, Microsoft brought out the fact that Windows 10, launched in July of 2015, has half the number of users that G-Suite has garnered ever since it hit the market in August of 2006.
“Today we’re delighted to announce that over one billion people have chosen Windows 10 across 200 countries resulting in more than one billion active Windows 10 devices. We couldn’t be more grateful to our customers, partners and employees for helping us get here,” says a blog post by Yusuf Mehdi Corporate Vice President, Modern Life, Search & Devices.
And yet, the announcement in itself isn’t surprising as with Windows 7 getting practically pushed into the dustbin, enterprises had but little choice than to upgrade to Windows 10 if they wanted the latest security fixes and feature updates. And, Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has also been more than aggressive in this regard, stating time and again that the company would be focusing on enhancing customer experience with each subsequent release.
The one billion number that Microsoft went to town about need not indicate the market’s love for Windows 10, as the pushy campaign and the resultant embarrassments caused by the bugs each update brought with it made more headlines. Which is why we believe that Microsoft’s latest announcement is just a counter to Google’s statement on its user base.
Make no mistake though! Windows 10 is mission critical for Microsoft now as it covers not just PCs or the Xbox console but also the tablet market into which the company has enthusiastically focused in recent times. The Windows 10X for the dual screen Surface Neo could be something even Apple may end up becoming envious of.
