Microsoft Announces 700 Million Devices on Windows 10

Microsoft Continues To Add Users At Steady Pace

When Windows 10 first launched, Microsoft had ambitious plans for their new operating system. Unfortunately, those plans haven’t turned out quite the way they’ve wanted them to. The initial goal was to hit 1 billion installed devices within 3 years. Despite that, Windows 10 has been the more successful version of Windows to date. This past month, the operating system finally hit 700 million installed devices.

The new numbers come after a long road of installation. Windows 10 has come quite a long way since its early days. 100 million was quite easy to hit and 200 million followed soon after. After a year or so 400 million came. The couple of million of users has been quite a bit slower, especially since the end of the free upgrade, with 600 million coming just earlier this year. This is quite good considering Microsoft intended mobile Windows to be a big part of that 1 billion goal. Microsoft has since largely shelved mobile Windows 10 for phones.

Windows 10 Faces Down Windows 7

So far, Microsoft is still largely competing against itself. The only challenger on the desktop is Windows 7 which just barely manages to win out on overall marketshare. At the same time, Microsoft still wants the OS to do even better. For one, once everyone is off 7, developers may find UWP more enticing. While it is more modern and secure, it also may give Microsoft a greater degree of control over software delivery.

As the free upgrade is over, new users will most likely come from new systems or system upgrades. Most Windows 7 users will probably continue to use it until support ends in 2020. With options to continue support for longer, it remains to be seen what will happen then. As Windows 10 is the “final Windows”, everyone will likely be on it some point in the future. The only difference is that a 10 today won’t be the same 10 in the future.