Windows 10 now on 75 million devices

SAN FRANCISCO — Nearly a month after its launch, Microsoft's pivotal new operating system has found a home on 75 million devices.

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's vice president for marketing for Windows and devices, announced the milestone in a flurry of tweets Wednesday, noting that the OS is "running in 192 countries, virtually every country on the planet."

Windows 10, which is being offered to consumers as a free upgrade, is considered a linchpin in CEO Satya Nadella's ongoing effort to remake Microsoft as a nimble technological leader in a new cloud- and mobile-first world. The system's adoption is seen as critical to shoring up a consumer and enterprise user base to which the Redmond, Wash., company call sell its various services.

Windows 10 launched on July 29, and two days later had hit 14 million downloads. Among the key features arriving with Windows 10: the addition of digital voice assistant Cortana, a new Web browser called Microsoft Edge and the ability to stream games from the Xbox One video game console to a Windows 10 PC.

At a recent company developers' conference in San Francisco, Microsoft's executive vice president Terry Myerson said the lofty goal for Windows 10 was to be loaded onto a billion devices by 2018.

Mehdi's tweets took the form of a Top 10 list. The 75 million download milestone claimed the number one spot, while other highlights included the fact that even owners of 2007 devices were upgrading (#4) and that Cortana has told half a million jokes after being so prompted (#7). Mehdi wrapped up his Twitter blast by thanking celebrity Windows 10 downloaders Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kim Kardashian and Lady Gaga.

Follow USA TODAY tech reporter Marco della Cava on Twitter: @marcodellacava