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Windows 10 spreads in Germany

August 17, 2015

Microsoft's new Windows 10 is now running on about every 10th PC in Germany, a leading online stats portal has said. Market penetration is thus far above global levels weeks after downloads became available.

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Windows 10

Recent debates about data protection issues in Microsoft's new operating system haven't prevented many Germans from installing a copy of Windows 10 on their computers.

According to the online analysis portal StatCounter, the new OS ran on 9.93 percent of PCs in German households on August 15, that is some two weeks after Windows 10 was made available for downloading.

Globally, only 6.19 percent of computers ran the operating system in mid-August, with Windows 7 remaining the undisputed market leaders by a wide margin with a market penetration of over 50 percent both globally and in Germany itself.

New hardware, new software

Two days after Windows 10 became available, the system ran on 14 million computers worldwide, a far cry from the Redmond-based company's goal of getting Windows 10 onto one billion devices within three years.

German IT experts argued the initial success of the new operating system in Europe's economic powerhouse had a lot to do with the fact that a large percentage of PCs in households and companies across the nation were older than five years, with many having considered buying new hardware for a long time.

They said the appearance of Windows 10 and the possibility of a free upgrade had provided some added motivation for many customers to move on.

hg/sri (AP, dpa)