Microsoft wants its new Windows 10 operating system on "1 billion devices."
That's what Terry Myerson, Microsoft's vice president of operating systems, said at the company's Build conference Wednesday. Microsoft just might get there, since it'll offer Windows 10 as a free upgrade in the first year. If the company has its way, Windows 10 will be on almost every device imaginable.
While the event was far from the first preview of Windows 10 we've seen -- Microsoft announced the OS last September -- it may have been the boldest declaration yet of the company's intent to put the platform on any device that could possibly run it.
Seriously: Windows 10 could be everywhere you look. According to CNET's Carrie Mihalcik and Nick Statt, "Developers will write to a single code base, allowing them to create so-called universal apps that work on any device so long as that device runs Windows 10, including phones, tablets, PCs, the Xbox One game console, TVs, ATMs and even the new HoloLens virtual-reality headset."
Part of the strategy announced Wednesday are new tools that will allow app developers to easily convert Android and iOS apps to Windows programs. These Windows apps are intended to run across all devices -- including the HoloLens, Microsoft's upcoming virtual reality headset, which was also demoed Wednesday.
To mark the occasion, Microsoft released a new preview build of Windows 10 Wednesday. Interested parties can sign up for the Windows Insider Program and test out the new operating system before its official release later this year. Fair warning: It's a bit technical to set up.
Various forms of Windows -- mostly Windows 7 -- remain by far the most popular operating systems on desktop computers worldwide. But Apple's Mac OS X has been on the rise recently, and Windows Phone is a distant third to Android and iOS in the smartphone marketplace.