Two years late, Microsoft announces that it has exceeded a billion machines on which Windows 10 is installed. Despite this “slight” delay, It remains the most used desktop operating system in the world. It’s far ahead of macOS and Linux.
Last September, Microsoft announced that it had reached 900 million users worldwide. It took only 5 months to reach a decisive milestone. And the announcement is official, since it comes from the Italian site of Microsoft. Windows 10 is today installed on a billion devices.
Windows 7 may probably contributed in Windows 10 success
It is therefore through its Italian site that Microsoft sends a “billion thanks” to its users. When Windows 10 was released in 2015, we remember the announcement of Microsoft which envisaged reaching the billion machines “within 2 to 3 years”. Despite the success of the operating system, the Redmond giant had to quickly lower its claims and in 2017, there were “only” 500 million users.
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It is now a reality: the billion is reached. In this figure and if we rely on Microsoft’s statements of 2015, the company includes both PCs and tablets like the Surface, but also the Xbox One game console and its different versions (Xbox One S and Xbox One X). Because the console is also running Windows 10. Originally, Microsoft even took into account smartphones running Windows 10 Mobile, but the number of users who still use this type of smartphone is in free fall, we imagine that ‘it doesn’t weigh very much in the balance.
The recent abandonment of Windows 7 on the part of Microsoft has also probably helped to cross this milestone. Especially since it is still possible to migrate for free from Windows 7 to Windows 10. In short, Microsoft has done everything to accelerate the adoption of its operating system. See you in a few years for the 2 billion, who knows? It is very possible.
[Update, 9:52am]: a company spokesperson has told Wccftech that the “latest official number” is still 900 million devices.