Windows 10 update on half of all devices in first month

The most recent update to Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system has been installed by half of all users within a month.

AdDuplex, which runs an advertising platform for Windows 10 apps, said in a report that the take-up rate for the update, known by its codename 1803, was faster than any other previous one for the OS.

“With 50 percent market share in just one month 1803 (aka April 2018 Update) is the fastest spreading Windows 10 update by far,” it said.

“[By contrast] it took [the] Fall Creators Update twice as long to cross the 50 percent line, and [the] Creators Update was under 50 percent for about three months.”

AdDuplex said that it collected the OS version data from around 5000 official apps that use its ad-serving software.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, users of newer model Surface devices such as Surface Books and the Surface Pro 3 and 4 were more likely to have updated their device operating systems.

“Surface Laptop is a notable exception with only 37.3 percent [of users having updated],” the company said.

“Another thing to note, in previous releases, Surface Pro 3 was often behind the other Surface Pro models but in this case, it is leading the pack.”

The numbers are likely to exclude at least some enterprise users, given a long-term trend for enterprises not to install Windows updates immediately upon release.

They also may not point specifically to the popularity of the particular update but to an aggressive strategy in the way it is distributed.

Windowsreport said earlier this week that device owners that had chosen to delay the installation of OS updates, under an option called ‘semi-annual channel’, were being pushed the 1803 update anyway.

“These systems are specifically designed to bypass the upgrade until it’s declared fit for business use,” Windowsreport noted.

Microsoft has not yet released its own statistics around what version of Windows 10 is most prevalent across its installed base.