Windows 10 Reaches 400 Million Devices, Still Off Target

In a news release about Windows 10 and Office 365, Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 has reached 400 million device activations. This follows a very strong upgrade campaign, where Microsoft was offering Windows 10 for free to any consumer with Windows 7 or 8. It was such a strong campaign that some users got tired of Microsoft's constant Windows 10 sales pitch.

The operating system has long taken over being the primary operating system for gamers according to the Steam Hardware and Software Survey. Windows 10 64-bit is installed on 47.44 percent of machines, up 2.77 percent from the previous month. The next closest operating system is Windows 7 64-bit with 28.74 percent, followed by Windows 8.1 64-bit with 8.57 percent.

Microsoft recently launched the Play Anywhere initiative, which allows players to buy a game on the Microsoft Store or Xbox One and receive that title on the opposite platform. You need the latest version of Windows 10 for Play Anywhere to work, and Microsoft is hoping that having PC versions of Xbox One-exclusives will entice players to move to Windows 10. The first games in Play Anywhere are ReCore and Forza Horizon 3.

While this is a solid milestone for Microsoft, it's off target from the company's previous contention that the OS would reach 1 billion activations by 2018. The 400 million is 50 million ahead of the 350 million activations announced back in July of this year, a rate that put the company well below 1 billion in 2018. At the time, a Microsoft spokesperson explained that cutting the Windows Phone plans had severely impacted that number.