Just ten days ago it was widely reported that Microsoft had broken through 50 million downloads. Barely two weeks later, it’s added half as many users again to the rapidly growing operating system.
The figure represents the first time that Microsoft has publicly revealed usage metrics for Windows 10. Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President for the Windows and Devices Group, tweeted a series of statistics about the launch earlier today, opening with “More than 75 million devices running Windows 10 – and growing every day.”
Mehdi continued to say that Windows 10 computers are being used in “virtually every country on the planet”. 192 nations from across the globe have activated copies installed as Microsoft has been heavily pushing the upgrade with large-scale worldwide marketing campaigns.
Devices built in 2007 have been upgraded to Windows 10, even though many of them may struggle to run the new software efficiently today. In total, over 90,000 unique models of desktop computer, laptop and tablet have been upgraded.
Each upgraded device has downloaded six times more apps from the Windows Store than when running Windows 8, a sign of Windows 10’s success relative to its unpopular predecessor. Cortana, recently named as the most-loved feature of Windows 10, has told over 500,000 jokes to users saying “tell me a joke”.
Collectively, over 10 million Xbox achievements across Microsoft Solitaire Collection and Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta have been earned by gamers. Xbox One owners have streamed over 122 years of playtime to Windows 10 devices using the Xbox app.
The figures suggest that Windows 10 has been well received and has at least persuaded users to upgrade. The Windows Store in particular seems to be performing well and is already seeing much healthier download rates than with Windows 8. More downloads will attract more developers, creating a better Windows ecosystem for the future.
Microsoft has big ambitions for Windows 10 and is hoping to see a total of one billion installs over the next two years. While that may not prove to be possible, the all-new operating system seems to have had a good first month.
