Windows 11 has hit 1 billion users just a hair faster than Windows 10 did
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I think this has more to do with the EOL dates of the previous operating systems.
Windows 10 was released in 2015, but Windows 8.1 received updates through to 2023 (more than seven years after Windows 10 was released). Even Windows 7 was supported until 2020.
Windows 11 was released in 2021, but support for Windows 10 ended four years later.
Companies generally upgrade when they're pushed to do so. Adoption rates probably have more to do with EOL dates than any other factor.
That said, my upgrades to Windows 11 were pretty painless. I changed a few settings to make it more familiar, and can barely tell the difference from Windows 10 for most tasks.
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Tablets fill this need for many users.
Unfortunately, they come with their own share of limitations. But flexibility and simplicity are invariably at odds.
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Turns out that when new hardware comes preloaded with something, it tends to increase user count regardless of whether or not the users actually like it.
If my gaming PC hadn't come preloaded with it, I'd gladly still be using Windows 10. Then again, if I want to do anything useful on that machine, I boot my Ubuntu drive. Otherwise, just open Steam and Discord and get to playing.
If my gaming PC hadn't come preloaded with it, I'd gladly still be using Windows 10. Then again, if I want to do anything useful on that machine, I boot my Ubuntu drive. Otherwise, just open Steam and Discord and get to playing.
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I think with tools like Start11 and O&O ShutUp10 (works for 11 too), you can get Win11 to a point where it might be tolerable by brute-forcing much of the crap out of it.
But of course you shouldn't have to!
That said, heck, I've been forcing my Windows 10 to look like 7 with some XP(!) for years now, courtesy of Start10 and the fact that MS left the Quicklaunch bar hidden in one of the directories but accessible. Combined with Fences leaving a clean UI with an OS that does one thing: start apps and let me get to files. Period.
They removed Quicklaunch entirely in Win11. That was the final straw to say "nope".
But of course you shouldn't have to!
That said, heck, I've been forcing my Windows 10 to look like 7 with some XP(!) for years now, courtesy of Start10 and the fact that MS left the Quicklaunch bar hidden in one of the directories but accessible. Combined with Fences leaving a clean UI with an OS that does one thing: start apps and let me get to files. Period.
They removed Quicklaunch entirely in Win11. That was the final straw to say "nope".
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Let's ignore that it really is just broken, that conversation probably doesn't need to occur again.
What does it fix? What benefit does it bring users over 10? Why does it need to exist as a mandatory replacement for 10, instead of updating 10 with the relatively few technical benefits?
(I mean, aside from the fact that Windows manages to be both monolithic and a spaghetti mess, with a horrifically bad update process compared to pretty much anything else current.)
The answer, so far as I can tell, is "AI".
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yea it also f'd up multiple displays in a recentish update (couple months). i had it set perfectly so my secondary display (27 inch MSI, wall mounted) that sits above and to the left of my main 39" ultrawide curved display and covers about the leftmost third of the bottom display was perfectly aligned, and when you'd reach the top of the bottom display, unless you were in the left third of that bottom display, the pointer would stop at the top of the 39" ultrawide. That update happened and now it completely ignores the alignment other than knowing it is above. So now even if I'm all the way on the right hand edge of the bottom 39" display, nowhere NEAR the wall mounted MSI, if I push my cursor to the top of that display, it no longer stops, it just pops up to the wall mounted display's
right hand side. I've tried setting this up again from scratch; no dice.
Perhaps they should stop letting their shitty AI write their Windows updates and bring humans back into the fold. And hire another 2 QA engineers for every developer. Automated testing is great and all, but there is no substitute for having real users also test and report issues.
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Once upon a time, that nearly was Windows, if you had adequate hardware. My daughter's old Win 7 (originally) laptop - 4GB RAM, 1st gen i-5 CPU - pretty much Just Worked out of the box, with minimal setup hassle. That computer, with a change from HD to SSD, also Just Worked after upgrade to Win 10 (carried over most of the Win 7 settings). Granted, it was a bottom-fisher in terms of performance, so it had only a basic software load (no games beyond PySol and Yahtzee), but it worked. Finally broke down in an unfixable (as a practical matter) way shortly after 11 came out, at over 10 years old.
Accepting the requirement for a MS Account (which I already had anyway to get Onedrive (free tier until recently) to work, my current Lenovo laptop is mostly annoyance-free with its OEM Win 11 install. Not completely, though, and some recent facepalms (loss of essentially all keyboard shortcuts in File Explorer after 25H2? Ahem, accessibility?) leave me wondering if anybody is in charge of the AI that does updates.
Linux? I have and use it (Mint with Cinnamon). Fine for work where the software is similar or identical cross-platform (like Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, Gnucash, and a few others, which I use in both platforms), which is the majority of what I use a computer for. But as a total Windows replacement it fails for me primarily because the Windows compatibility layer (WINE) is just a pain to set up in Mint (is it better in some other distro?). I have tried many times, and it Just Does Not Work in a comprehensible fashion. Unfortunately, a fairly bulletproof compatibility layer is necessary to run Windows software (see: Canvas 17 GIS, Diamond Cut, Open Rails for instance) that has no acceptable Linux equivalent, if total replacement is needed/desired. The "bulletproof" part is still mostly missing. A few other annoyances, too, that are more preference than function (System Monitor vs Task Manager, for instance), linger in Linux, especially if GUI use is desired rather than command-line. I am not a sysadmin though I can use the command line in a limited fashion (for instance, using the Onedrive client).
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The outcome of the article is just a consequences of more PCs. Linux just hasnt gained traction with regular/noob users, Macs are cost prohibitive for some and people are scared of buying used for some reason so your option just ends up being the preloaded win 11 on cheap devices
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we bought new workstations because of Windows 11. from a manager perspective, it's additional costs. However, the staff loved it because they were no longer working on Intel 6th gen i5 machines through Intel 8th gen machines which were only getting slower and slower as software got more advanced.
Now they're on 12-14th gen Intel machines with some AMD machines sprinkled throughout.
As for myself, I was an early adopter of Windows 11, and it does do some things better especially from an IT perspective. And it's different enough that going back to a Windows 10 system is a little jarring (some features were replaced with Windows 11 equivalents so I had to remember the Windows 10 equivalents).
Now they're on 12-14th gen Intel machines with some AMD machines sprinkled throughout.
As for myself, I was an early adopter of Windows 11, and it does do some things better especially from an IT perspective. And it's different enough that going back to a Windows 10 system is a little jarring (some features were replaced with Windows 11 equivalents so I had to remember the Windows 10 equivalents).
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The story headline is deceptive. Windows is the most used operating system in the world as it's less expensive (in theory) than the walled in Apple environment, and the better, usually harder to learn, lacking key software that most are used to Linux. Microsoft has a practical world monopoly on new computers installed with an os compared to any other. Yes, they have at least a billion Windows v11 user and it's amazing that number isn't higher, especially with the forced upgrades from previous versions that were working just fine.
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1 Billion installs of Windows 11 is meaningless in regard to user's "satisfaction". The shift to processor generations that have P & E cores has all but forced the switch for large swathes of users over the last couple of years (not to mention the end of support for Windows 10).
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I used to have similar feelings a number of years ago, but I have now done 2 PC conversions from Windows to Linux Mint and it has been a straightforward experience. It even did a better job at finding my HP printer than under Windows.
I think that Mint is a better choice for Windows conversions than Ubuntu for those of us who prefer to configure via GUI's.
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I used to be that way. But lately more and more crap has been pushed into my system, especially the AI rubbish. I use my home machine mostly for gaming and some online reading of comics etc. I'm a very simply home user, but just recently its really been starting to annoy me.
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I have and it is pretty good, but it doesn't support some of my older PC games, plus the PC with Windows has a better graphics than the Linux one.
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I'd argue that there are more users 10 years later than there were in 2015. So doing it a few months faster isn't really that astonishing, nor something to crow about. People who signed up with Win 10 and only know that don't really understand how shitty it was at the beginning nor the experience with OS updates as people who have been around a lot longer. So their aversion to what Microsoft does to them is SOP as far as they've known.
But for those of us who started with systems you first had to load into a 32K/64K RAM on a floppy that actually flopped, the experience with Microsoft has gone from "I mostly control my shit" to "My shit has been stolen from me by this fucking corporation". That generates a lot of resentment among users who experienced the transition from "you own this devices and can do with it what you want" to the "your device that you paid for isn't yours, but now belongs to the people who released the OS that devices has, and so does your data and online life" paradigm today.
Today, that's no longer a majority of computer users. Smartphones started the trend - people relying on a corporation to do everything to their devices, despite the user owning it, and having no say in what the corporation does to it. That started to spread to computers with Win10, and completed that cycle with Win11. Only the more computer savvy can avoid the invasion of privacy Microsoft enjoys now. And there aren't that many people left who give a shit about it.
So if they didn't really understand the concept of personal ownership of a device, the privacy and control that gave them, or understand how to make that device sit, roll over, fetch and shake hands on their own, relying instead on corporations who only want money, they're not really going to recognize the chains they've so willingly bound and locked themselves to. They'll even enjoy it, because they don't get the difference.
I think this is why I don't get the current generations at all. They don't give a shit about their privacy of their right of ownership for the most part as long as their shiny new toy mostly does what they want it to do most of the time.
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AFAIK, Win10 is still supported.
The Win10 in my bootcamp partition is still receiving security patches (I have an 8th gen intel, but not TPM2.0 chip, only the T and the 2, as in T2 chip).
To have them patches I only needed to back-up my config files to onedrive, as the paltry free 5GB of free storage on offer will not hold much more than that. And I am in LatAm, but I hear this offer is World-Wide.
Some of my friends in the European Economic Zone (from my masters degree 20 years ago) did not even had to do that, and had to pay 0,oo €
I think ars published guides on how to go about it.
It seems this program is called ESU, and is open to normal people, like me/you/we/us.
So, ¿do you know something I don't? ¿Is win 10 really out of support? ¿Am I getting fake security patches?
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So at my corporate, Windows 11 issues have been enough for the topic of alternatives to come up in discussion at the SOE meetings. Just like the hardware being Dell has been brought up ever since their apple naming standard push. Its still "too hard" to swap either at the moment. But the question was asked.WHAT? I just knew Linux has oven taken the Windows market by 300% based on every online discourse revolving around Windows 11. I'm utterly shocked the entire world hasn't sat there and installed Ubuntu to stick it to Microslop. Fake outrage at it's finest. Will gladly take my down doots.
That doesn't seem like much, but prior to this, no one EVER questioned Windows as the desktop. Ever. Linux was only ever talked about as a very niche option for very very niche necessities.
That is a significant change in business thinking, and if my team are doing it, then other teams are as well. If MS started losing the corporate market, they would feel much pain.
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You are absolutely, positively 107% correct.
But there also many people that are elegible, but are actively resisting the upgrade. And they will keep resisting. Maybe sailing the grey murky waters of IoT, or sailing the 7 seas of 2 more years of ESU.
Or maybe doing the logical thing and paying U$D 35 for a key for Win server 2019/2022* DESKTOP Experience and getting support until 2030~2033.
But some of those people elegible to upgrade but actively resisting will get on with the program, and go to Win11.
When will they do it, as soon as the ISV of some program they really WANT/NEED says, fromthis point forward, our program will not be supported on Win10 in any way shape or form, not ESU y2 or y3, not Enterprise, not IoT, Not Server 2019, just Win11 and Sinserver 2022 Desktop onwards...
All you kids remember, is the software, the OS is just a means to run the software you want ot run, is ALWAYS the software.
* Server 2019 has the same codebase as Win2019h2, meanwhile, Server 2022 hast the codebase of Win11 with the UI of Win10. If your system/drivers can handle win11 but you despise the UI, go with 2022, if your system or drivers can not handle 11, go with 2019
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If you are in a corporate, chances are you can keep doing Win10 until 2028 via corporate ESU.
If your corporate is not elegible for y2 and y3 of ESU, for U$D 70 for a pack of 5 licenses, you can have keys for Win Server 2019 or Win Server 2022 with DESKTOP experience. Both have the UI of Win10 (so your corporate does not have to re-train the admin staff), 2019 has the Win10 codebase and is supported until Jan 2030, 2022 has the codebase of Win11 and is supported until Jan 2033.
So, in 2028, 2030, or 2033 maybe is less hard to swap from windows to some alternative.
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I mean, when you're basically forced to upgrade it isn't surprising that 1 billion people have upgrade to it. If I could have kept all my clients on Win 10 I would have. Win 11 isn't all bad, but all the constant reminders to "finish setting up your PC" (which you can turn off, but the notifications randomly get turned back on), the obnoxious preinstalled MS Store apps, and of course all the horrible, terrible, no good very bad AI crap MS is desperately trying to push on us; the bad of Win 11 far outweighs the good.
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90% of games working is fine if you're just playing what's popular, or stuff that's been optimized for steam deck. the problem is you're looking to play specific things, and they're in that 10%. or they run, but there's weird behaviours, or mods not working, etc. this will pretty much always be a problem (because there's always going to be people obsessed with some 20 year old game and not running it is a deal-breaker), though assuming valve keeps at with the deck and the cube and linux keeps making gains, it will become more of a niche issue over time.
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The change for the sake of change of taskbar is annoying. I don't like the center since it moves when you open more apps. On the other hand window snapping and arrangement is much better. But some things were broken since windows xp... All i want from windows is to use less memory and disk space and to run my app, do network and stand out of the way. Win 10 was better at that regard,...
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I installed Windows 11 in a VM just yesterday and had nowhere near your experience. Installed from ISO, turned on remote desktop, and was immediately able to log in using my same account via RDP.
... not sure where you went sideways, but you certainly did somewhere.
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I've had it work seamlessly and also had it go sideways. Issues seem more common with vendor pre-installs.
I have a few headless Windows 11 mini PCs, and two of them ended up being locked out of RDP at some point (one straight after setup, one a few weeks later when it decided to try to coerce me into creating a Microsoft account). In both these cases, I needed to connect a monitor and keyboard to fix the issue.
On the other hand, the few VM installs I've done have worked fine.
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Strangely, there's no embedded link for "Statcounter" — which is mentioned 3 times. A Quick web search offers https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share which supports much of what's in this article.
A comparison that interests me: How many computers are purchased/owned by their users and how many are purchased by employers and furnished to their employees?
This being January 2026, I entered that question in my browser. DuckDuckGo replied: "Sorry, no relevant information was found in our search."
Digging down a bit into Statcounter, I hit upon Operating System Market Share Worldwide
Nothing surprising here. I'll add: as a satisfied linux user (no snark), I was reassured to see linux flat-lining at the bottom.
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and the search - I want to search my menu, not the Web. If I wanted to search the web I would open Firefox. If I type "add or remove" I want to open "Apps - installed apps" not Edge!
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I use windows 11 because Altium Designer runs on it. Personal systems either run Windows 10 til it gets gutted and replaced by some linux distro or macOS.
Sadly unless WINE gets perfect, which is a sisiphean task, work will remain on windows with programs that cost money and are relying on huge legacy codebases.
Sadly unless WINE gets perfect, which is a sisiphean task, work will remain on windows with programs that cost money and are relying on huge legacy codebases.
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Derp Derpus
Ars Centurion
I have several PC's and am running Win 10 & 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC on all of them. I also use WUB (Windows Update Blocker) on all of them and only do security updates a month or so after they're released to make sure nothing gets fux0red. I gave up on the consumer versions long ago.
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idamannomo
Smack-Fu Master, in training
It's true, I'm being a touch passive-aggressive here, but I am also being honest. I don't open my win 11 PC and think, "Gee-whiz!", but also, I don't have any issues with it either. I am curious, what's wrong with it that irritates you so much? Is it possible we are way to into our laptops? It's just a business machine. (OK, here we go, +0 / -190)
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"People complaining about Windows 11 hasn’t stopped it from hitting 1 billion users"
Because the corporate world really pushes the alternatives?
Because the corporate world really pushes the alternatives?
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We could, but we haven't, we began the migration to Win 11 several years ago with just new builds. We have just completed (more or less) the process to replace the majority of our fleet to Win 11.
Honestly Win11 was fine right up to the point that AI started being mashed into it. Sure it had some annoying stuff, but with Group Policy and other controls we could kill most of it without concern. However the levels of AI being pushed have caused us some concern. We have accepted Copilot as our only "official" use Generative AI tool. As I was saying it is still "too hard" logistically to drop Win 11(or to roll back to win10) but never before have we considered it in the last .... 15 years?
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macosandlinux
Ars Praefectus
Apple adds now ads to to their free iWork suite of apps. The tides at Apple are moving towards promoting their own services/apps everywhere they can. Not that macOS has yet reached MS level of madness.
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