Windows 10 still growing, but Win 11 had another bad month, says AdDuplex

The apparent standstill of Windows 11 adoption is continuing for a second month, according to figures from ad platform AdDuplex. Microsoft said this week that Windows 11 adoption is going well, with CEO Satya Nadella stating in its Q3 earnings call that enterprise adoption of the OS was happening "at a faster pace than any …

[Anonymous Coward]

Seconds out... round 3

in the war that MS is waging to get everyone onto W11.

In the last round, W10 floored W11 and now leads on points.

Seriously, will MS ever take the hint that W11 is an even worse pig than W10. People have learned to live with W10 and seem to be baulking at the prospect of having to replace so much IT kit when times are hard both in Business and at Home. W11 is just not in the plans of the companies that I do IT work for. One has asked me to work out what it would take for them to move their back office to Linux and put Macs on the desks. The MD bought a new laptop with W11 pre-instaled. He hates it with a vengeance and after a week, he got me to put W10 on it. He's already looking at an M1 powered Macbook. I suspect that this company is not alone.

MS seem oblivious to the financial problems that people are experiencing all over the world.

[Falmari]

So which is it?

@AC So which is it, are they "baulking at the prospect of having to replace so much IT kit "

or not

"One has asked me to work out what it would take for them to move their back office to Linux and put Macs on the desks"

[ITMA]

Re: So which is it?

Good point Falmari.

One can't be "baulking at the prospect of having to replace so much IT kit " while simultaneously looking "to Macs on the desks".

How many PCs can one buy for the cost of a single Mac?

From the point of view of RTI and TCO, we'll be running our W10 PCs until W10 goes EOL and Microsoft can go whistle.

Despite the adverts and hype, W11 does SFA that W10 can't. So why should we upgrade?

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: So which is it?

Asking costs nothing. He can make up his mind what to buy when he sees the price.

[Steve Kerr]

Re: So which is it?

I would assume that has kit dies, moves out of support he would migrate peoples PC's to mac/linux at that point, probably what I would do!

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: So which is it?

It might be better from a management point of view (IT and dealing with the "why can't I get a new one now" issue) to replace the lot at one go. We don't, of course, know how old the existing batch of PCs is nor the spread of ages.

Thinking about the OP it seems as if the boss might be prepared to go out & out Mac on the desks. If I were the A/C, however, instead of just putting W10 on the laptop I'd have tried a dual boot, W10 & Linux, so that the boss could compare W10, Linux & Mac as desktops.

[Francis King]

Re: So which is it?

"Despite the adverts and hype, W11 does SFA that W10 can't. So why should we upgrade?"

Windows 11 is more secure. Unfortunately, none on my computers have the more modern processor type, which is required. I will add Windows 11 to my collection as and when the old computers die and not before.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So which is it?

"Windows 11 is more secure."

I can fly.

[Col_Panek]

Re: So which is it?

> Windows 11 is more secure.

Than Windows 10, maaaaaybe. But not more secure than Linux. And that will run on your "old" Windows 10 machines. Also, on your Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP machines.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So which is it?

". I will add Windows 11 to my collection as and when the old computers die and not before.

According to the bios - my Dell E6410 has been running W7 since 2011 - plus Linux Mint in a VM. My desktop is probably older as it started with XP before migrating to W7. Not expecting to replace them any time soon - and there are spare clones in the cupboard.

[Number 39]

Re: So which is it?

Maybe they weren't meant to be connected, and there was a (poor) implication of it being other people?

[Version 1.0]

Re: Seconds out... round 3

You see this with Windows all the time, when the new version is released then users install it and find problems. So there's always a lot of complaints initially but MS will work to fix the problems and over time (a year or two) the new version will become usable ... W10 has been a good illustration of this, it's now reasonably usable, but initially most users returned to Windows 7 after their "upgrade".

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Seconds out... round 3

MS will work to fix the problems and over time (a year or two) the new version will become usable...

at which time MS will make it EOL.

[Version 1.0]

Re: Seconds out... round 3

MS builds the new versions to sell more PC's when the PC manufacturers say, "We need to increase our system sales" so MS says, "We'll upgrade Windows..."

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Seconds out... round 3

That could go horribly wrong the the vendors, however. If the new version is disliked there's no incentive to replace H/W for a new OS version and they have to offer the old version in order to make non-replacement sales.

[johnnyblaze]

Re: Seconds out... round 3

What do MS care? They're sucking up money into Azure like no tomorrow, and that's not going to stop no matter how bad things get - that's their cash cow now. Long gone are the days of Windows generating any significant revenue - as far as Microsoft are concerned, Windows is just a portal to their cloud services now, be that 10 or 11.

[Plest]

Re: Seconds out... round 3

Nothing actually wrong with Windows11, it works but to be honest I can't see what I've gained by installing it, nothing Win10 couldn't do. I didn't pay for it as my company gives us MSDN and I got it off there, if I had to pay MS can stick that as it's just not worth the time, money or effort as you don't appear to actually gain anything with W11 over W10 from what I've seen having used it these last couple of months.

[fidodogbreath]

Re: Seconds out... round 3

MS seem oblivious to the financial problems that people are experiencing all over the world.

They're not oblivious to it; they just don't care.

[Someone Else]

Re: Seconds out... round 3

MS seem oblivious to the financial problems that people are experiencing all over the world.

There, FTFY.

[yetanotheraoc]

Re: Seconds out... round 3

"He hates it with a vengeance..."

Nadella's next press release: Our customers are passionate about Windows 11.

[bombastic bob]

Re: Seconds out... round 3

MS seem oblivious to the financial problems that people are experiencing all over the world.

They stopped trying to understand their customer base a LONG time ago... culminating in "Windows Update" installing GWX to NAG you until you "UP"graded. And do not EVEN get me started on the whole 2D FLATTY FLATSO FLATASS McFLATFACE look crammed up our asses down our throats by Micros~1, Gobble, and every OTHER big tech bozo with that 'light blue flatty on blinding white' "Mouse/Keyboard Unfriendly" interface 'design' EVERYWHERE... *cough* [ran out of air for a bit]

Yeah, just wait for it, they'll cram NEW GW11 into the forced Win-10-nic update schedule. And you will NOT be able to turn it off nor ignore it, this time. Hourly "have you upgraded to windows 11" nags. Oh did I say HOURLY? Not frequently enough!!! And of course, a minimum of 2 days of downloading and updating to follow your capitulation to their marketing strong-arm techniques. Bring a deck of cards and a slinky to work with you so you are not completely bored.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Seconds out... round 3

For once the capitals seem very necessary.

[DJV]

"MS seem oblivious to the financial problems that people are experiencing all over the world."

And also: MS seem oblivious to the problems that people are experiencing with Windows 11 all over the world.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: "MS seem oblivious to the financial problems that people are experiencing all over the world."

And they just don't care about that, either.

[Patched Out]

Snark snark

"The Register contacted Microsoft in order to get the raw data behind Nadella's claims. We will update should the company respond."

Ha ha! Good one!

[Pascal Monett]

"[Borkzilla] said this week that Windows 11 adoption is going well"

Oh, so it has exceeded +0.001% adoption ?

Well done Nadella, have yourself a pint.

At this rate, by 2100 you just might equal XP.

[A.P. Veening]

Re: "[Borkzilla] said this week that Windows 11 adoption is going well"

At this rate, by 2100 you just might equal XP.

And even that will be mostly due to the diminishing usage of XP.

[sreynolds]

What windows needs is ....

More ads in the file explorer. More telemetry in what apps you use and how often you use them. And less browser choice.

According to redmond at least

[Anonymous Coward]

@sreynolds - Re: What windows needs is ....

Don't give them the id... Oh, too late!

[Plest]

W11? Personally I wouldn't bother upgrading and I use W11 daily!

Been running Win11 ( only cos I have MSDN through my shop and get it free! ) and to be honest I can't see what the fuss is about. As a techie who does bits of dev work in various languages that require the build tools, plus playing latest games off Steam, I cannot see I've actually gained anything running Windows11 over Windows10, to be honest I'm probably not doing anything that Windows95 couldn't flipping do at a push!

Joking aside, other than MS bottom line, personally I'd say that if you're on Windows10 and thinking about Windows11, I wouldn't bother unless there's something you really want from the MS new vanity project!

[ChrisC]

Re: W11? Personally I wouldn't bother upgrading and I use W11 daily!

I got W11 preinstalled on my new personal laptop, whilst my work laptop remains on W10. Other than the one-time hit of having to relocate the start menu back to where it ought to be, learning to right click on the start menu to access the task manager, and learning to live with the lack of ungrouped/labelled taskbar buttons (I've deliberately avoided investigating any of the 3rd party shell hacks so far, because I've wanted to give native W11 a fair chance to prove itself to me), I've so far found nothing in W11 which makes it stand out as being sufficiently different to W10 that it merited a whole new version number to itself.

Hell, so far I've not seen anything that would even merit it being classed as a service pack back in the good old days when Windows had such things, rather than the dreaded "feature updates" MS now like to ram down our throats. Quite why MS felt the need to brand it as a whole new version, rather than just roll out the changes as part of their ongoing efforts to keep W10 users guessing what their OS will look and behave like after every update, is beyond me.

So for now, I haven't seen anything in 11 that would make me want to upgrade from 10 if I was given the option to do so, however I have seen a few things which make me wish my new laptop had come with 10 instead. More accurately, I wish it could have come with 7 instead, otherwise it sounds as if I actually like 10 whereas I merely prefer 10 over 11, but that's like saying I prefer being hit in the face over being kicked in the nuts...

[imanidiot]

Re: W11? Personally I wouldn't bother upgrading and I use W11 daily!

If it was an update to Win10 they wouldn't be able to charge $$$ for it.

[ChrisC]

Re: W11? Personally I wouldn't bother upgrading and I use W11 daily!

I'm not aware of anyone needing to pay to switch from 10 to 11 at the moment. And if/when the free "upgrade" path is switched off by MS, given how little benefit there is from switching from 10 to 11, I'd be amazed if more than a handful of users bothered to pay to get their current W10 system running 11 instead. Switching off the free "upgrade" from 7 to 10 made somewhat more sense, as whilst the visible changes on 10 weren't to many peoples liking, there were some undeniably useful improvements under the skin which some 7 users would have felt willing to pay for if, for whatever reason, they'd missed out on snaring it as a freebie.

IMO, it's quite likely that (rounding errors aside when counting the totals) the only people who'll ever pay for 11 are people like me who get it by default when buying a new PC, but if you're buying a PC with Windows installed then it makes no difference which version it is, MS are still getting their licence fee out of you either way.

[LybsterRoy]

Re: W11? Personally I wouldn't bother upgrading and I use W11 daily!

--I'm probably not doing anything that Windows95 couldn't flipping do at a push!--

I was thinking of posting something similar but for W7. Does anyone have a list of what has genuinely been improved between XP, 7, 10 and 11? I'm not interested in widgets and wodgets that I'll never use or screen resolutions that mean I need a telescope to read anything!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: W11? Personally I wouldn't bother upgrading and I use W11 daily!

XP coughed when copying very large numbers of files to my back up disks - apparently a known problem. W7 64bit handles them with no problem. The XP system is still bootable on its own set of hard disks - but the only thing it has is the Visual Studio 6 to compile an old C application. Later MS VS compiled it - but the C program wouldn't run cleanly. Still using the old XP compiled exe on W7 - but rarely need its exotic functionality.

[js6898]

Re: W11? Personally I wouldn't bother upgrading and I use W11 daily!

missing the one big difference - you need to use a ms account not local account.

yes i know there are hacks round it, but they would never dare to make that restriction on W10 now, hence the need for a new version.

No local account from the get-go.

[Terry 6]

Well, in my case..

"rather than a deep-seated dislike of the new Start Menu or the departure of Task Manager ".

It is the reason. Or to put it another way--once Microsoft makes something worse than it was they seem determined to make it even crappier at each update.

[Mike 137]

Re: Well, in my case..

"they seem determined to make it even crappier at each update"

Actually, such departures are the output of teams of young folks who believe they're brilliant, want to stamp their mark on the product, but know nothing about ergonomics (even that the word means anything more than office chairs with lumps on).

When we have a population of total amateurs (in the worst sense of the word) doing engineering, this is the inevitable result. Yes, they can code, but they have absolutely no idea about design as an enabler of function.

[Nick Ryan]

Re: Well, in my case..

By "code" I presume you mean mash the keyboard a few times, likely failing to use any keyboard shortcuts because only luddites use anything other than thumbing a touchscreen and hoping that the code-assist-ai-wonder produces the appropriate context menu and code, compiling it and declaring it complete as long as it looks shiny?

Usability, accessibility, functionality, error handling and so on are only for dinosaurs

[Falmari]

Re: Well, in my case..

@Terry 6 Task Manager is still accessible from the WinX menu as it was in Win 10, a single right click on Start at the end of the taskbar.

Same action as using the taskbar right click left click.

[Ikoth]

Win11 gave up on me.

If my case is typical, I'm not surprised the uptake is slow.

My main personal Win10 machine started pestering me that my upgrade was ready around the end of January. I was busy with other things at the time and kept ignoring it. I realised a couple of weeks ago that it had stopped nagging me. I'm still getting 21H2 updates to Win10, but there's no mention at all about the Win11 upgrade anymore, even though the PC is fully complaint.

Maybe if Win11 had more patience / less ADHD it would be more widely adopted.

[OhForF']

Re: Win11 gave up on me.

Never thought i would argue for Micros~1 on el reg but you're being unfair.

After windows kept nagging and do everything to get people to upgrade like it did for Win10 Micros~1 earned a lot of backlash.

Now that they do it in a more reasonable way they are accused of not having enough patience.

Micros~1 seems to already have learned from that - if we can't please them all just ignore everyone.

[AlanSh]

Why bother?

So, I have Windows 10 looking like Windows 7 (proper Start Menu button, use of Quick launch toolbar, etc.) and I'm happy with that. I got a new test PC which came with Windows 11. I eventually got it to look like Windows 7 with third party tools at which point it was "why should I upgrade my other PCs?"

So, I haven't bothered - and probably wont until there's a proper compelling reason to do so.

Alan

[toejam++]

Re: Why bother?

Wouldn't it be nice if Microsoft included the option to use W10, W7, XP, or 2K/9x themes for their desktop? I really dislike all of the forced UI changes that require third party apps to undo with varying degrees of success.

Meanwhile, theme selection seems to be the norm for various X window managers and desktop environments. Even Xfce, fairly lightweight among the bunch, lets you choose a theme.

[bombastic bob]

Re: Why bother?

STOP. you are making too much sense.

(heh heh heh)

[Mike 137]

Re: Why bother?

"probably wont until there's a proper compelling reason"

At some point they'll make some internal changes (yet again) that will prevent older software running on the new OS and new software running on the old OS. They absolutely must keep the churn going or the revenue stream will dry up. IT has for ages not been there for the user - it's there for the vendor.

[Sil]

I'm a consumer who can upgrade, but don't.

I do not accept Panos Panay telling me where I should put my taskbar.

[Someone Else]

"I gotcher taskbar right 'ere!"

[Huw L-D]

"I gotcher taskbar centered 'ere!"

FTFY.

[NateGee]

Not surprised

I spent a fair chunk of last weekend wiping my main PC of W11 and restoring it back to W10 having spent a few hours the week before upgrading. I even tried using the insider release just in case that improved things which it didn't.

Reasons:

1. Explorer - W10 shows if there are files inside the folders with certain views. W11 insider kind of does but not nearly as well.

2. Explorer (again) - W11 is useless the folders are on the actual computer. Network share? Forget it!

3. Explorer the 3rd - Copy To and Move To - totally removed from context and menu bar. Found a reg fudge that kind of restored them to context menu but didn't show folders in quick access

4. Task Manager - insider version - holy mother of god - what is this abomination?!?!?

GPO is now set so it'll never upgrade to W11, although PC health check did get auto installed earlier this week. Thanks M$

[Steve Davies 3]

Re: holy mother of god - what is this abomination?

That abomination as you so eloquently describe it... is just MS's way of telling you that you don't really own the computer that they so graciously allow you to install their product on. As time goes by will have less and less control of the hardware that you have shelled out £££ for. If they could make it work like a 3270 Terminal and get away with it then they would. Then they'd have total control over your computer life.

Vote with your feet... erase W11 and install a saner OS such as BSD or Linux.

[bombastic bob]

Re: holy mother of god - what is this abomination?

At that point VirtualBox should run Win-10-nic well enough to do anything that still requires windows.

(only because Wine still isn't an option in many cases)

[Anonymous Coward]

I haven't had a microsoft account since the MSN messenger days (was that even a microsoft account?), and there's no way I'm locking my OS behind one.

They may have picked the worst time to launch this anyway. Everyone just bought a new PC to work from home. Without the nagging adware that Windows 10 had (yet still took until 2020 to hit their 1 billion mark) I doubt adoption of W11 will improve.

[Down not across]

I haven't had a microsoft account since the MSN messenger days (was that even a microsoft account?), and there's no way I'm locking my OS behind one.

Have an upvote. No way I'd use MS account with my machine. Local account only. So as I've mentioned in another thread, I'll stick with the horrible W10 for games for now, once that stops working (need newfangled DX21 or something) its time to stick to what will run under Wine/Proton and give up on games that won't.

[Potemkine!]

The headline remembers me the time of Windows 8. It seems Windows 11 is following the exact same path of failure, and for basically the same reasons: the GUI brings nothing new but disorientation, the previous OS does the job well, there's no killer feature worth the effort of upgrading. Add to this that hardware requirements for W11 are ridiculous at a time when many people struggle financially speaking.

W11 is following the same inglorious path than Vista and W8 to the oblivion of History

[zapgadget]

I've never seen a PC which says it *CAN* upgrade to Win 11. There's always something.

[toejam++]

Most PCs from 2018 and beyond can theoretically run it, but many can't because they have various UEFI options disabled.

My Ryzen 2 PC was showing as incompatible until I switched from CSM/BIOS mode to UEFI, converted my boot drive from MBR to GPT, and enabled SecureBoot. It took a fair bit to do, and I doubt most people would bother. I expect most people to go to W11 when their next PC comes shipped with it.

[Terry 6]

My desktop can. If I were made enough to let it. Daughter's laptop seems to have, too.

[YetAnotherJoeBlow]

The whole point of Win11 was to inflate the hardware requirements to initiate a hardware refresh cycle.

[John70]

I might "upgrade" to W11 in a few years when I start to think about replacing my current equipment.

[Number 39]

I have it on my Raspberry Pi

But it doesn't work very well.

[Zakspade]

"We will update should the company respond."

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

<pauses for breath>

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

[Smartypantz]

Facelift

Translated: Windows "Nefarious facelift 5" not penetrating bend over users as well as expected.. ;-)

[Stuart Castle]

I've been using Windows 11 for the last couple of months. I was happy with Windows 10, but I support Windows professionally, and at some point, my employer will be deploying Windows 11, so it's in my interest to keep my OS knowledge up to date.

I think the problem with a lot of OSes now is there isn't a big selling point the vendors can point to that excites customers. Yes, Windows 11 (assuming you have a PC that can run it) is more secure, which is important, but that's difficult to get excited about. Yes, Windows 11 wll load your games faster (assuming you have a compatible SSD and Games that support the new file streaming function offered by Direct X), but that is on the "nice things to have" list, not a game changing feature.

Windows 11 feels like what it arguably is. A new version of Windows 10. Maybe if, instead of sending out minor feature updates every 6 months, Microsoft had stayed on an annual or 2 year release cycle, with patches every month or so, the change would be a little bigger, and feel like a bit more of an event.

[Mike 137]

"Yes, Windows 11 [...] is more secure"

How do you know that?

Have all the exploitable vulnerabilities been found and fixed already?

Considering the history of Windows - no version to date having been rendered even reasonably free of attackable bugs before it was retired, and some successor versions having been found to be more bug-ridden than the versions they replaced - I wouldn't take for granted that there's been any real improvement in security, even if some technical wheezes have been added that look like security features until ways are (quite commonly) found to circumvent them.

Why do you think every 'unsupported' previous version is 'insecure'? Simply because they're all still riddled with undetected attack vectors right up to their retirement, and whatever 'current' version is no better (as we always find out once it goes 'unsupported').

[BPontius]

Linux on desktops still below 3% since 1991 (31 years). Interesting how that is never a headline. Linux experiencing triple digit increase in infections and hacks over the past two years. Never hear about that in comment sections.

Yeah, Yeah people are going to say that Linux dominates Internet servers. According to stats from 2019 Linux is 13.6%, Unix is 5.6%, Windows is 72.1%. (statista.com). FortuneBusinessInsights has Linux at 21.8% as of 2021.

Ah, no doesn't look like it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just one thing please - ungroup the taskbar!

Seems to work OK on old Optiplex 7010's with i3's, but is it REALLY too much to ask to be able to ungroup icons on the taskbar? Fine, don't have it as the default, but at least give us the choice.

PLEASE!!