In 2015, Microsoft employees expected Windows 10 to be on 1 billion devices by the end of summer 2018. Today, March 16, 2020, senior Microsoft executives said they just missed that goal.
Former Microsoft operating system group leader Terry Myerson announced the initial goal of 1 billion devices for Windows 10 at Build 2015. Myerson and the Microsoft team said that the 1 billion devices included all kinds of devices that could run the operating system (OS), such as desktops , laptops , tablets, Windows phones , Xbox One game consoles , Surface Hub video conferencing systems , HoloLens holographic glasses, and various IoT devices. At the time, employees said they expected the majority of those 1 billion devices to be PCs and tablets .
A year later, Microsoft executives admitted that it was unlikely to reach the goal of 1 billion devices by 2018.
Also, Microsoft's past efforts to encourage Windows 7 and 8 users to upgrade to Windows 10 by offering them a free upgrade for a limited period of time didn't have much of an impact overall, as relatively few users received a new version of Windows through a manual update. Most people usually get a new version through a new computer that comes pre-installed with a specific new operating system.
Yusuf Mehdi, Vice President of Modern Life, Search and Devices, said that today over one billion people have chosen Windows 10 in 200 countries, resulting in over one billion devices running Windows 10.
Additionally, Microsoft employees said that as of today, the company has 17.8 million registered users testing Windows Insider, however, only a small percentage of them regularly test Windows 10 updates before they are released. Finally, Windows 10 is currently “running” on more than 80,000 different computer models.
