Windows 10 now running on 600 million devices: Microsoft

Microsoft on Wednesday announced that more than 600 million devices running its Windows 10 operating system. The company had reported hitting 500 million active Windows 10 machines in May 2017.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the milestone at the company's annual shareholders meeting.

"The number is up from the 500 million devices touted by Microsoft earlier this year, but it's still well short of the company's original goal of one billion Windows 10 devices within two to three years of its 2015 release," GeekWire reported late on Wednesday.

The company had initially estimated that it would have 1 billion devices running Windows 10 by the end of 2018. The estimate, however, was revised last July with the company acknowledging that it would "take more time" to hit the 1 billion mark.

It took the latest Windows OS almost 27 months to hit the milestone. Microsoft devices include PCs, tablet PC, Xbox One gaming consoles, HoloLens mixed reality headsets along with Surface devices and phones.

Windows 10 was built in a very different way from its predecessors so that it could be regularly updated with not only fixes but also with new features.

Microsoft has released four major updates for Windows 10 so far which are the "November Update", "Anniversary Update", "Creators Update" and "Fall Creators Update".

One of the reasons behind slowed adoption is believed to be Microsoft's decision to stop free upgrades to Windows 10. The company earlier this month announced that it will be ending free Windows 10 upgrade to accessibility users on December 31.