Market share surprise: Windows 10 popularity is increasing

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Alfonso Maruccia

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A hot potato: Windows 10 is approaching the end of its lifecycle, with security and stability updates set to stop soon. However, many users seem reluctant to move on. In fact, the operating system has grown even more popular compared to a month ago. Could Windows 11 risk becoming Microsoft's next major headache?

According to the latest Statcounter data on desktop OS market share, Windows is currently used on over 72 percent of computers worldwide. However, the most surprising insight comes from the market shares of the two main Windows editions still officially supported by Microsoft.

As of the end of November 2024, Windows 10's market share increased from 60.95 percent to 61.83 percent. Despite being nearly 10 years old, the operating system is seeing unexpected, albeit modest, growth in popularity. Meanwhile, Windows 11's market share dropped slightly from 35.58 percent (in October) to 34.94 percent. Windows 7 is still in use on millions of internet-facing PCs, holding a 2.47 percent market share.

Statcounter explains that its tracking code is installed on over 1.5 million websites globally, recording billions of page views to analyze the browsers and operating systems used to access those sites. While there's no "official" or foolproof statistical system, Statcounter claims to provide independent and unbiased data on internet usage trends.

For months, Windows 11 has seen steady growth in Statcounter statistics, reaching an all-time high adoption rate in October 2024. The official end of mainstream support for Windows 10 is set for October 14, 2025, meaning the operating system will soon be considered "abandoned" for most PC users.

As the latest Statcounter data clearly demonstrates, Windows 10 users remain largely unfazed by Microsoft's support policies and the tech industry's broader tendency toward planned obsolescence, which some argue has environmental impacts. Microsoft appears to be placing Windows 10 low on its business priorities but still hopes to push its remaining user base toward the latest version of the "legacy" operating system for consumer PCs.

Indeed, Microsoft is aggressively pushing Windows 11, even bombarding Windows 10 users with full-screen ads urging them to upgrade. The company is also acknowledging that many are installing Windows 11 on systems that don't meet the OS's minimum hardware requirements. After upgrading, users can enjoy a slew of AI-powered features, along with potential reliability and hardware compatibility issues.

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Market share surprise: Windows 10 popularity is increasing

 
Microsoft made it very clear at launch that Windows 10 was the final Windows. They said we'd never need to upgrade again.

Microsoft is a nothing company to me. All I need from them is a basic OS so my games will run. I will continue to use W10 for as long as possible.
 
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One important factor about the adoption of Windows 11 is that it has been forced unknowingly on some users. I know two retirees whose PCs upgraded from Windows 10 to 11 without them realizing it. They may have noticed changes, but they had no idea their OS major version had been upgraded. The point is that MS is forcing 11 on unskilled users and the percentage of computers running 11 doesn't represent people who actually want it or were somehow unhappy with 10.
 
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NumberNine said:
Microsoft made it very clear at launch that Windows 10 was the final Windows. They said we'd never need to upgrade again.
Click to expand...

Microsoft did not say that. One of their developers made the comment "Right now we’re releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10." By "last version" what he meant was the "latest version", he simply mispoke. However all of the tech sites ran with it (hooray for clickbait!) saying there would be no more new Windows versions. This was also just a developer, it was never an official statement. Not once did Microsoft say Windows 10 was going to be the last version.
 
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user556 said:
All they need to do is throw away the stupid TPM requirement and officially support Win11 as installed without it.
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Yup, you're right.
These people here claiming that W11 has "problems" or that people at large have anything against W11 are under the delusion that their tiny tech bubble represents the general population. The vast overwhelming majority of people have no problem with any version of windows and don't care in the slightest about any of those "problems" they see. The only reason people aren't moving to W11 in larger numbers is simply because they can't, due to TPM and CPU requirements. If microsoft drops those requirements, most of today's W10 user share becomes W11 user share real quick.
 
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poshflamingos said:
Yup, you're right.
These people here claiming that W11 has "problems" or that people at large have anything against W11 are under the delusion that their tiny tech bubble represents the general population. The vast overwhelming majority of people have no problem with any version of windows and don't care in the slightest about any of those "problems" they see. The only reason people aren't moving to W11 in larger numbers is simply because they can't, due to TPM and CPU requirements. If microsoft drops those requirements, most of today's W10 user share becomes W11 user share real quick.
Click to expand...
That's not the only reason. Many people (myself included) don't like Windows 11 due to the changes from 10 and/or the AI pushing in it.
 
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ScottSoapbox said:
That's not the only reason. Many people (myself included) don't like Windows 11 due to the changes from 10 and/or the AI pushing in it.
Click to expand...
"Source: my behind."

There is no evidence that supports what you just said. Nobody outside of a tiny clique of online tech nerds cares about any of this. People were complaining about the same nonsense when W10 launched (changed visuals, telemetry, privacy, forced updates you can't turn off, forced cortana integration, forced onedrive integration, settings split between two screens, UWP apps and the MS store, and so on) and lo and behold, nobody gave a damn about any of that, W10 became by far the most popular OS in the world.

The only difference between W10 and W11 is that W11 literally cut off a ton of older handware from being able to upgrade. That is it, that is the only reason fewer people are moving to W11. Nobody cares about "changes" or "AI pushing", just like nobody cared about any of the "problems" from W10 either.
 
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NumberNine said:
Microsoft made it very clear at launch that Windows 10 was the final Windows. They said we'd never need to upgrade again.

Microsoft is a nothing company to me. All I need from them is a basic OS so my games will run. I will continue to use W10 for as long as possible.
Click to expand...

They never officially said that
 
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I have a dual xeon server that works perfectly well with 10gb nics etc 54 cores and I use it for rendering with gpus ...It can't have a tpm 2 because ASUS. I probably need to spend 5 digit numbers to get a new one. So I am not happy ... threadripper are pretty pricey now.
 
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10 years of support for windows 10 is quite enough. It is unfortunate that new hardware does not have TPM 2.0, that is not Microsoft's fault. Maybe MS will drop the requirement for some of these CPUs in the name of reducing e-waste since some of the Win11 versions do not mandate it. For now they are probably content in charging extra for Win10 extended support.
 
Cus W11 still have many issues.. I dont even dare go to it. My friend has it, he always has issues running super old games. Problems that I dont seem to have on W10. I can name many more reasons but yeah. W10 works, its perfect and I dont need anything else. W11... has what exactly over W10? Different UI that I will probably mod back to look like W10? HDR something? Support for newer CPUs (which could have been done for W10 too)

If my 7800X3D works just fine on W10, I got no reason to go to W11 in the next 5-8 years. Yes, that many. Viruses or not.
 
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Everybody who has used both Windows 10 and 11 will know there is no comparison, Windows 10 is true to its core, a better OS and more stable, better perfomance for everyday use.
Windows 11 is bloated, suffering from KYPC diorea
 
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Does it really surprise anyone??
Windows 11 losing market share over the last month , 24H2 is trash , MS has it in development for what ? a year? and with insiders for just as long but YET they cannot put an update out for it that doesn't go sideways? What a joke.

Windows 10 is no less secure than 11 , especially if you run it with TPM and secure boot, so this crap about 11 being more secure is just a bunch of BS scaremongering by MS to make everyone spend needless money on hardware or pcs's they DON'T really need.

MS is just pissed because 11 should have been real close or taken over the market share by now and it hasn't. Got news for ya, gonna be in the same spot come October 2025 also.
 
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poshflamingos said:
"Source: my behind."

There is no evidence that supports what you just said. Nobody outside of a tiny clique of online tech nerds cares about any of this. People were complaining about the same nonsense when W10 launched (changed visuals, telemetry, privacy, forced updates you can't turn off, forced cortana integration, forced onedrive integration, settings split between two screens, UWP apps and the MS store, and so on) and lo and behold, nobody gave a damn about any of that, W10 became by far the most popular OS in the world.

The only difference between W10 and W11 is that W11 literally cut off a ton of older handware from being able to upgrade. That is it, that is the only reason fewer people are moving to W11. Nobody cares about "changes" or "AI pushing", just like nobody cared about any of the "problems" from W10 either.
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The 62% market share is indisputable evidence. Lack of TPM does not explain that many Win10 PCs. That is an objective fact.

Another problem with your logic is that normies haven't turned off updates. So TMP machines not updating are the "tiny" amount of tech savvy users who dislike the free "upgrade" to Win11.

You also seem to be missing that enterprise is not keen on switching either. They, at the very least, don't see a reason to upgrade to Win11. That upgrade is not free and many businesses don't think it's worth the money.

Anecdotally, many of the normies around me are over AI because every company is pushing it so hard and most of it does so little. The consumers are being exhausted on the idea before a true 1.0 product really ships.
 
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Personally I believe we should keep them to their word.

They said Windows 10 is the last windows OS, from here on out it will be incremental updates. But it did not align to their services strategy and W11 and W12 with it's Orwellian you will own nothing and be happy nonsense was born!

Misspoken or not, I do not like their W11 and W12 strategy.
 
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I personally can't stand all the BS that is becoming baked into Windows. I don't want AI, I don't want any apps. I use Office, Browser, games and other programs that I install.

Anything else, is just unwanted bloat.

Windows 10 is pretty clean. Windows 11 is just bloat.
 
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ScottSoapbox said:
The 62% market share is indisputable evidence. Lack of TPM does not explain that many Win10 PCs. That is an objective fact.
Click to expand...
It literally does explain it.

Another problem with your logic is that normies haven't turned off updates. So TMP machines not updating are the "tiny" amount of tech savvy users who dislike the free "upgrade" to Win11.
Click to expand...
Again, this makes no sense. That 62% share of W10 PCs are mostly PCs that don't meet the requirements (no TPM 2.0, unsupported CPU, or both). Whether they have updates turned off is completely irrelevant, because the W11 upgrade will never even be offered to them due to not meeting the requirements.

You also seem to be missing that enterprise is not keen on switching either. They, at the very least, don't see a reason to upgrade to Win11. That upgrade is not free and many businesses don't think it's worth the money.
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Enterprise is never keen on switching. This is not any different than any other version of Windows that came before. Enterprise wasn't keen on switching to W10 either, but that didn't stop it from becoming the most popular OS.
No matter how you slice it, the reality is that the only difference between W10 and W11 is the CPU/TPM requirement, and that is the only reason people aren't upgrading as quickly.

Anecdotally, many of the normies around me...
Click to expand...
Yep, this is what we call a worthless anecdote. The small handful of people you personally know has zero statistical significance.
The reality is that OpenAI and Nvidia are among the most important companies on the planet today because everybody uses ChatGPT and similar tools. Nobody is "exhausted" of AI, the demand for it is still gigantic.
 
Very slightly. I think that 11 will or already is a bad window. Welcome toVista, 8.1 and the rest of them.
 
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