Survey finds that four in five enterprise endpoints could run Windows 11

There is some good news for Microsoft on the Windows 11 enterprise adoption front as a survey of more than 750,000 Windows endpoints indicates that a healthy 88 percent of those not already running the tech giant's latest operating system are ready for an upgrade. However, with 11 percent of those devices needing to be …

[LenG]

Not gonna happen

I currently run win 10 and although I don't like it I can tolerate most of its foibles and stupidities with the use of various add-ons. However I'm in the process of migrating most of what I do to linux and hope to leave Winoze completely within 6 months.

Every new bit of news I see about Win 11 makes it sound more unappealing.

[Oldgroaner]

Re: Not gonna happen

Yes, already started my migration to Mint.

[stupid-frakking-handle]

I suspect that many companies faced ith EOS for Win10 on old hardware may decide that bypassing the install checks (which is trivial to do) and updating Win10 systems to Win11 is something they'll seriously consider. After all, an unsupported system running Win 11 and getting security updates is definitely less of a risk than a Win10 system not getting updates on the same hardware. I've just recently updated a 2012-era Core i3 system to Win 11 with no issues.

[Doctor Syntax]

What if they decided to bypass Windows altogether and go to Macs?

[cmb11]

The issue with going to Apple is the cost of the hardware and the cost to train staff who have been using Windows in schools, mainly through M$'s educational licensing. Add to that the cost of replacing software that may not be ported to Apple. It would be far less expensive to replace the small percentage of kit that won't support Win 11, or move to thin clients and invest in RDS/Citrix for larger corporates. With baseline mini Mac costing about 1.5 times that of an entry level business grade Lenovo desktop, I can't see many making the switch.

[Doctor Syntax]

Move from non W11-capable H/W involves purchase of new H/W & staff having to use new interface with or without retraining. It's the sort of point at which options might well be reviewed. The question then becomes what H/W do you purchase, what interface do you run and what it the relative value of the result. If a purely commercial solution is mandated, does the Mac provide sufficient long-term value over W11? (If it isn't, of course, keep the H/W and switch to Linux or BSD is also an option.)

[Mike Lewis]

Windows 7 to 11

I had no problems upgrading my thirteen-year-old computer from Windows 7 to Windows 11 after using Rufus to bypass the TPM 2.0 requirement. Windows 11 is the least irritating one so far. Perhaps MS could say that in their advertising.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: Windows 7 to 11

Windows 11 is the least irritating one so far

Really? With the forced adverts and crap? Have I been unfortunate to only have experienced a malware infested copy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Windows 7 to 11

In my personal experience (supporting people at work/friends and family, VMs), Windows 11 from RTM up to 23H1 (with local accounts) is at worst just as bad as Windows 10 can get[1]. I can understand people angry at increasingly forced Microsoft account (apparently there are already OEM installers -- OOBE -- that removed the go-to workarounds to microsoft accounts), but personally, as long as local accounts are possible the improvements in Explorer, New Control Panel, and general UI are more than worth it[2]. Not enough to pry me away from GNU/Linux and KDE, mind :).

[1]: Nearly every Windows 10 install I saw had truckload of application ads straight on the start menu, the only one I've seen in Windows 11 (arguably!) is for Copilot.

[2]: One of my coworkers resisted the switch from 7 to 10, went straight for 11 and has had a decent enough experience (esp. with the Explorer improvements).

[ecofeco]

Re: Windows 7 to 11

Did you disable all the M$ spyware?

https://www.ipvanish.com/blog/disable-windows-11-tracking/

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-11-sends-user-data-to-third-party-services

https://www.computerworld.com/article/1616461/how-to-protect-your-privacy-in-windows-11.html

[AMBxx]

Re: Windows 7 to 11

These are business computers. Domain policy turns off the tracking.

Adverts are only in the Home edition.

[ecofeco]

Re: Windows 7 to 11

Good on ya for setting GP that way. -------------------->>>

[Slow Joe Crow]

The problem is the Windows 11 UX is so much worse than Win 10 so users are resistant. We've still got users pining for Win 7. Also from an admin standpoint Windows 11 is laden with Microsoft spyware so I'm migrating my personal systems to Linux. I expect my work machine to be Win 11 and our clients will grudgingly migrate.

[Doctor Syntax]

It's not exactly a vote of confidence,is it?

[Blackjack]

[The clock is indeed ticking. The most recent figures from Statcounter indicate that while Windows 11's market share has finally crested 30 percent (30.83 percent to be precise), it is still way behind the 64.99 percent of Windows 10.]

Wow people really don't like Windows 11.

[druck]

Five out of five could run...

...Linux

Just sayin' :)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Five out of five could run...

Only if they could use the little toy applications that run under with linux.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Five out of five could run...

Thank you for telling us you've no experience running Linux. If only we could work out which of the numerous A/Cs you are. If only elReg would issue you all with serial numbers.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Five out of five could run...

I've had a lot of experience with linux in the commercial world. The only thing that we found it could be used for was the occasional back office function. The issue was none of the realworld applications such as ERP, retail etc packages could run on it. The backend servers were all UNIX (AIX, Solaris, HPUX etc) while the UX were windows.

The major use of linux that I was involved with was computing clusters for research (bioinformatics and land catchment management) and that used extremely specialised software.

And why serial numbers, it takes all the fun out of linux baiting...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Five out of five could run...

Show me the Linux replacement for the ERP system that runs the entire sector of the manufacturing industry that my company operates in then. When you've done that, can you get all five of these PCs to speak to the CNC machine on the shop floor. If not, go back to dribbling in your bedroom - it's a bigger world out there than you imagine.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Five out of five could run...

Does yur ERP run on a server with PC end-points? What are the servers? In my pre-retirement days those servers were Unix boxes - why would we run them with a jumped-up single user O/S? What do the end-points run - browsers? If so do you realise that browsers run on Linux and BSD as well as Windows? What H/W does your CNC interface to? Does it run W11? Knowing industrial ket, does it even run on on W10?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Five out of five could run...

Well thank you for your expertise, you clearly know more about the system than I - or the vendors - do. First up, it's the *only* choice in my industry, so no suggesting we switch. Even if there was a choice, it wouldn't be in any way sensible for business or financial reasons to switch for an ideological love of Linux desktop - it's just too embedded and that's not how the real world works.

The back-end runs on MS SQL running on a "jumped-up" single user O/S so, there's a no. Some of the end points run via browsers (on, get this, Raspberry Pi boxes!) but other aspects use a Windows app that isn't going to be rewritten for Linux by anyone, ever. There are aspects to that Windows app that would even make Bill Gates weep, but they get the job done. Why yes, the software on the various CNC machines does run on W11 (ported from W10 in my time here) - thanks for asking - and runs very well.

Am I delighted that I'm stuck with what I have? Hell no. Does it work? Yep. Is it going to change? No chance.

I may sound overly sarcastic, but this debate has been going on longer than Linux has been just about ready for the desktop, and it does nothing but highlight how little a lot of the fanbois know beyond their own limited world-view. In the real world there are simply too many variables to allow "5 out of 5" computers to be migrated to Linux. And I didn't even mention the accounts team being wedded to Excel, and no, not the version that sort of runs in a browser.

[Colin Bull 1]

Re: Five out of five could run...

20 years ago ODBC allowed excel to get data from a proper database and keep the benefits of a controlled data environment.

[Smartypantz]

Re: Five out of five could run...

Well you just have to hope MS wants to keep supporting your needs don't you?

"Hope is the best strategy..." Hey wait.... ;-)

[Colin Bull 1]

Re: Five out of five could run...

If the ERP systems of 20 years or more ago could run on dumb terminals or web applications I do not see why the like of Delta airlines cannot move to a web based 'app' on a bog standard linux machine. And by using several flavours of linux avoid the crowdstrike syndrome of SPOF.

Most of these ERP endpoints are focused on a handful of screens. If a VT100 terminal can do it a low spec PC can too.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: move to a web based 'app'

Because the vendors won't provide one. Not "can't", "won't".

[martinusher]

Re: Five out of five could run...

Under the hood you're likely to find a Linux-ready application for the ERP . Also, getting the machines to communicate is relatively easy because machines tend to use older versions of Windows so don't have quite the level of lock in that later versions would have.

Sure, it would require some work to switch, its not something that will happen overnight, but the longer you put it off the worse it will become. Ultimately it comes down to not relying on a single source vendor for critical parts, materials and services. Sometimes you have to take the risk but deliberately choosing vendor lock in with uncertain future requirements and costs is just asking for trouble.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Five out of five could run...

"Under the hood you're likely to find a Linux-ready application for the ERP"

I'm really not. I love mixing with other IT types - they're always so certain of things they have absolutely no knowledge of and are happy to let everyone know how much (or is that little?) they know.

"Sure, it would require some work to switch"

Some? A lot. My job is not to do things that have no value to the company and I have a life outside it that doesn't feature doing stupid, pointless tasks more than I need to.

"the longer you put it off the worse it will become"

Perhaps the vendors are working on a new system themselves?

"not relying on a single source vendor for critical parts, materials and services"

You should go into consultancy. Meanwhile, in the real world...

[Sudosu]

Re: Five out of five could run...

Would it possibly run under wine or similar emulator I wonder.

[Rgen]

MS. Stop wasting time and money on your enterprise customers. Extend windows 10 for another 10 years.

[BinkyTheMagicPaperclip]

There's not that much end user difference

Frankly 11 works but is a bit annoying. My work laptop is on 23H2, it works, I may have had one blue screen in months. There are a number of issues, however :

Frequent blank icons in the taskbar, so I can't see what's running. By far the most irritating issue.

Multiple desktops that are very slow to respond or put windows on the incorrect desktop

Very occasional boots claiming Bitlocker isn't working. Turn off, turn on again. Works.

Unnecessary changes to the start menu - uninstalled various news reporting components.

I can't think of much it actively does better than 10. Possibily improved PowerShell by default. The one improvement I've seen in 23H2 is that the three monitor limitation I thought was a hardware limitation of the Vega chipset on a Surface 4 appears not to be true - I can now run three external monitors plus the built in screen (which I don't actually use, work's laptop is connected via a KVM).

[AMBxx]

Re: There's not that much end user difference

The blank icons thing is very odd. I only get it on my laptop. Desktop is fine.

My biggest gripe is the frequency of updates.

[Roland6]

“ the more secure and capable Windows 11”

I haven’t seen any evidence of W11 being more secure than W10. Okay things will change after October 2025 when MS withdraws support for W10…

[Gavacodo]

Sure most workstations could run W11 but do the apps work or are supported.

We just finished upgrading 1/3 of the company to W11. The rest of the company had a line of business app that works on W11 but is not officially supported on W11 by the vendor yet.

Until that happens we are not going to upgrade any one else.

[Binraider]

Lots of outfits have an official policy of being at least one major version behind the bleeding edge. Not unreasonable, given the state of the bleeding edge.

Where’s windows 12?

We had 7 for quite some time after the EOL. Skipped 8, and 10 didn’t roll until well after initial launch.

[Plest]

Give it rest for god's sake!

Life's too short for all this fanboi fighting over "my Dad's bigger than your Dad" bullshit, I put up with "My Speccy is better than your CBM64" playground crap years ago, I lost 'cos my Dad bought an Amstrad so everyone laughed at me!

I love how everyone screams, "MICROSOFT SPYWARE!" then walks around with a mobile phone practically glued to their hand, or using streaming services, iPlayer, TESCO club cards, heck even a car or bike with a numberplate going past every ANPR camera.

Just have a day off will you lot. W11 is shite but quite frankly it's the "least shite of" and I got a life to lead. Happy to avoid it at work where security actually matters. where I do use locked down W10 and linux boxes, but at home MS are welcome to spy on me playing Sea of Thieves far too much when i should be studying, they're welcome to watch me watching YouTube shite FailArmy compilations for 20 mins each morning.

See they can harvest my interests if they like 'cos I'm an adult and the lure of pissing money away on advertised shit left me when I reached age 28 and stopped being a child. These days I'm planing retirement so every spare penny is being pumped into my pension and ISAs, so there's more chance of Lord Lucan coming back to life than me spending a penny on shiny plastic shit from an internet ad!

Peace out!

[Binraider]

Re: Give it rest for god's sake!

Definitely appreciate the sentiment. Still won't use them wherever possible. MS is just one of a long list of orgs after the marketing biz, because it generates tons of income. Google and Apple are both every bit (maybe more) guilty.

A positive hit rate of one in a thousand is probably "good" by the standards of ads targetting; though perhaps advertisers should also consider that GOOD ads rather than sheer volume are much more likely to be effective... No doubt some statisticians will argue otherwise.

[LeeDilkie]

Won't upgrade until I can customize the start menu

Pretty simple. Give us back the ability to customize the start menu with open shell because you screwed it up back in Windows 10 but at least we could fix it. And I like my taskbar on the right hand side of my monitor and that's just the way it is. I've been like that for years and if I can't do that then I will not use Windows 11. I just can't stand the frustration of trying to find where everything moved just because some dipshit thought it should move to a different place.

[Calum Morrison]

Re: Won't upgrade until I can customize the start menu

Ironically, the start menu as-is (and has been since 7?) has turned me into someone who just types what he wants. Why bother moving the mouse over multiple menus and submenus when hitting the Windows key and typing the first couple of letters of an app is so much quicker? Having to navigate (and remove) the sea of ads for candy crush and whatnot is just a waste of time. Even the users I support know to hit Win then type quick for Quick Assist.

The CLI is the future, folks, and it was MS who made it so!

[EAK-TREG]

Microsoft Windows Program Manager stated WIn10 would be the last major revision.

Are you saying there will be no more versions of Windows after Windows 10?

Microsoft is moving Windows to a servicing model with Windows 10. The days of major revisions or what are called big bang releases are no more. As Microsoft Program Manager for Windows Terry Myerson described it:

This is more than a one-time upgrade: once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device – at no additional charge. With Windows 10, the experience will evolve and get even better over time. We’ll deliver new features when they’re ready, not waiting for the next major release. We think of Windows as a Service – in fact, one could reasonably think of Windows in the next couple of years as one of the largest Internet services on the planet.

And just like any Internet service, the idea of asking "What version are you on?" will cease to make sense – which is great news for our Windows developers.

Source: http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/01/21/the-next-generation-of-windows-windows-10/

My enterprise is already moving towards Win11 but Ive got 3 8 core 64GB ram desktops at home that cant run WIn11 because they dont have the encryption chip. Im planning to go Linux. Hasta la bye-bye.

[Martin Howe]

Of modern Windows 11 is the least bad ... but only after neutering it

I have to use Windows at work and we have 11 now; it is actually not bad to use as long as you strangle it, neuter it, gag Cortana and the AI crap, and cut its wandering hands off -- I have a saved Winearo Tweaker settings file for just this purpose :)