Windows 10 Regains Market Share As Windows 11 Loses Its Share
Windows 10 Regains Market Share As Windows 11 Loses Its Share
This might not be something Microsoft likes to hear, but the truth is, Windows 11 isn’t doing as well as they would’ve hoped. In a rather unusual situation recently, Windows 10 has gained market share – while Windows 11 is losing its already-small share, 2.5 years since its launch.
Per reports from StatCounter (via Neowin), Windows 11 further lost 0.97% in one month, at just 25.65% – just three months ago, Microsoft’s latest OS release occupied 28.16% of the total market share among Windows-powered machines. Meanwhile, Windows 10 has once again reached a staggering 70% of the market share since September 2023, gaining 0.96% in the past month.
Now, you might be asking: how? While no reasons were officially attributed by the analysis website, we can make a few reasonable guesses. Infamously, Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0 support – this alone has eliminated virtually all machines pre-2017 (i.e. first-gen AMD Ryzen systems) from upgrading to the new operating system unless the user installs a discrete TPM chip.
Another common gripe among Windows users who resisted the upgrade comes down to the user experience (I am one of them). While Microsoft touts an overall more coherent UI across Windows 11, personalization and modifications are significantly more restrictive – and the company has even attempted to ban third-party modification apps like StartAllBack (which restores the Start Menu to its former, pre-Windows 11 glory) from running, citing security reasons.
Besides the arguably degraded user experience, the ever-increased presence of ads hidden in many corners of Microsoft’s latest operating system has further angered its users. System apps like Windows Explorer also saw various service tie-ins, such as OneDrive, which further cluttered the system. Oh, and there’s also this very egregious example of Microsoft pushing its limits on how many ads it can show to the user.
While Windows 10’s support is set to end by October 2025, Microsoft has offered plans for users to pay for additional security updates beyond this date (although it’s not exactly cheap). With over 70% of machines still running the good ol’ reliable that is Windows 10 today, converting them will not be easy – assuming some haven’t already jumped ship to join the macOS or even Linux realm.
Pokdepinion: Microsoft has got plenty to do to make Windows 11 “bearable” for power users like me. It’s just such a productivity downgrade in my opinion.
