Microsoft reports that there are 1 billion active Windows 10 installations

Microsoft reports that it has reached the milestone of 1 billion monthly active Windows 10 devices. That number was realized five years after the release of the operating system. In addition, there are now 17.8 million test users for the Windows Insider Program.

With the announcement of the number of 1 billion active Windows 10 devices, the use of the operating system seems to be growing at an accelerated pace. Based on Microsoft’s figures, 200 million active Windows 10 installations would have been added in one year. Last year, the company reported that there were 800 million devices; the year before, the counter stood at 700 million Windows 10 installations. In July 2015, the developer made Windows 10 available.

In 2015, Microsoft revealed that its goal was to have 1 billion installs by 2018. This not only involved installations on desktop PCs and laptops, but also on Internet-of-things devices and tablets. When it turned out in 2016 that this target would not be achieved, Microsoft scrapped that target. It is not known what the distribution is between the different device types.

The growth in the number of installations is probably related to the discontinuation of Windows 7 support in January of this year. Companies and other organizations in particular have made the switch to Windows 10 in the run-up to that moment.

Microsoft also reports that there are now 17.8 million Windows Insiders. These are users who have indicated that they want to run early versions of the operating system in order to be able to test the software. Three years ago, that counter stood at 10 million.