Microsoft Boldly Boasts Windows 10 Now Running On 270 Million PCs Worldwide

There’s no question that Windows 10 is a fine operating system, and in many ways a huge improvement over Windows 7 and Windows 8.x that came before it. Throw in the fact that Microsoft has made Windows 10 a free upgrade for those aforementioned operating systems (at least for the next four months) and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that customers have been upgrading at a furious pace.

In January, Microsoft announced that there were over 200 million PCs running Windows 10. Today, at the Build conference, Microsoft announced that it has over 270 million active users on Windows 10, which is quite an impressive feat after just 8 months on the market. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella proudly proclaimed that Windows 10 is "off to the fastest start in Windows history,” far outpacing the adoption of Windows 7, which was seen as a blessing following the tumultuous reign of Windows Vista.

It should be noted that the 270 million figure also includes Xbox One consoles (or at least those running the New Xbox One Experience) and Windows 10 Mobile devices. However, those two hardware categories are a small drop in the bucket compared to the reach of Windows 10 on PCs.

Visits to the Windows Store have also jumped from 3 billion in January to over 5 billion currently. To add to Microsoft’s numbers-heavy analysis, users have spent a total of 75 billion hours in Windows 10.

We should also mention that Windows Chief Terry Myerson got a subtle dig in at Apple during Microsoft’s Build keynote. Last week, Apple Marketing Chief Phil Schiller made mention of the fact that 600 million PCs are more than 5 years old, and called the stat “very sad.” Myerson took the high road in addressing Schiller’s low blow, firing back, “We welcome everyone to Windows 10, whether you have a new PC, a five-year-old PC, or a brand new Mac."

Now if only Microsoft and Myerson would do something about Windows 10’s penchant for rogue installs on Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines…