Windows 10 Demand Strong Initially, Partners Wait For Enterprise

It's only been out since Wednesday, but Microsoft said there are more than 14 million devices running Windows 10.

In a Microsoft blog Thursday night, Yusuf Mehdi, a Windows vice president, said the new operating system has seen "unprecedented demand."

The folks at Dell claim the Round Rock, Texas, company offers more Windows 10 devices in U.S. retail than any other manufacturer.

[Related: Windows 10 May Win Over The Critics, But Can It Win Over The Enterprise?]

In a statement to CRN, Dell said its research indicates that Dell's Windows 10 devices accounted for roughly 46 percent of U.S. shelf space as of Wednesday, compared to 17 percent for Hewlett-Packard and 1 percent for Lenovo.

Windows 10 is, perhaps, the most significant product launch for Microsoft since Satya Nadella became CEO last year. Under Nadella, the company's focus has shifted toward the mobile market and cloud computing.

Still, channel partners reached by CRN said that while Windows 10 is a big deal for Microsoft, it might be a while before it is adopted widely among their customers.

"Lots of noise, questions, but it'll take some time for that to transform into orders," said Stephen Monteros, vice president of business development at Ontario, Calif.-based Dell partner Sigmanet.

Paul Neyman, president of Houston-based Waypoint, a Dell partner, also said he expects it to be some time before enterprises begin deploying Windows 10 widely.

"The OS will probably be deployed as system refreshes for those who want the latest version," Neyman told CRN by email.

"But I still have plenty of clients that are happy with Windows 7 and continue to purchase that with new hardware over Windows 8.1. I rarely see folks doing a big corporate refresh to get everyone to the latest version across all systems. The work to test and deploy doesn’t seem to match the benefit. Once they are comfortable the new OS will run in their environment and be supported by their applications and devices they start ordering OEM."

PUBLISHED AUG. 3, 2015