Free Windows 10 downloaded 75 million times

A total of 75 million users have downloaded Windows 10 to their personal computers and tablets in the first month of its release, Microsoft has said.

Microsoft-Windows-10-Photo-AFP

A total of 75 million users have downloaded Windows 10 to their personal computers and tablets in the first month of its release, Microsoft has said.

Microsoft's goal of providing Windows 10 for free was to ensure large-scale early adoption by users, which has been a success so far.

Windows 10 was released four weeks ago and 14 million machines had upgraded to the new operating system within 24 hours.

In comparison, it took Microsoft six months to sell 100 million licenses for Windows 8, and it's clear the free aspect of Windows 10 is driving higher adoption rates.

Microsoft's Windows marketing chief Yusuf Mehdi revealed the figure and some more interesting statistics about Windows 10 on Wednesday.

More than 90,000 unique PCs or tablet models have been upgraded to Windows 10 in 192 countries. More importantly, Mehdi revealed the Windows Store for Windows 10 has seen six times more downloads per device than Windows 8.

"Most of the Windows 10 downloads are being done by consumers upgrading from Windows 8," Al Gillen, an analyst for IDC, told The New York Times. Nearly 140 million consumers worldwide installed Windows 8, IDC estimates.