- Windows 11 has finally surpassed Windows 10 for market share
- 52% of those used by Microsoft desktop operating systems are now on Windows 11
- That is a great blow of almost 10% of Windows 10
Finally, Windows 11 is present in more PC worldwide than Windows 10, at least according to a set of figures from an analysis company.
Statcounter provided new statistics for July showing that Windows 11 has accelerated to represent 52% of all Windows versions worldwide, leaving Windows 10 in its path to 44.59%.
That is a great change of the previous month in which Windows 10 remained right at the head at 48.76% with Windows 11 in 47.98%. So, Windows 11 was not far from a complete percentage point in June, but now it is at the head in 7.4%, a rhythm of about 10%.
Could this be the beginning of a massive exodus of Windows 10 unconditional that flee for the Windows 11 coasts? Well, that cannot be ruled out, and it is clear that time is being short when it comes to the impending deadline for the end of the support for Windows 10, which is October 2025, which is just three months away.
However, I am not convinced that there will be a migrators stampede, because although I have argued in the past that should update Windows 11 early, assuming that it can (due to the specification of its PC), there is no longer the same sense of urgency in this matter.
Why not? Let’s pass that next.
ANALYSIS: SUPPORT AND SCRAPHEAPS
Something changed with the extended Windows 10 support program for consumers recently, and it is worth recapitulating in case you have lost it. Microsoft decided to offer an alternative to the $ 30 rate that was previously required to obtain an additional year of safety updates for Windows 10 (until October 2026).
Then, instead of touching that cash, you can now choose that the Windows Synchronize backup application all the configurations of your PC to the cloud. If you allow that to happen, through the session with a Microsoft account, then you can get the additional year of such important security updates at no cost at no cost. This gives you much more space to breathe to solve what you may want to do next, which is excellent for those who cannot update Windows 11 due to the highest system requirements (or those that simply refuse).
Of course, ‘free’ is not usually completely free, and the cost here, so to speak, is allowing its configuration to be synchronized. Because of this, some online commentators have accused Microsoft of almost a kind of ‘blackmail’ in terms of obtaining access to their data. However, I must take into account that the writing of Microsoft’s offer is important here, and is not synchronizing all your personal data with OneDrive or anything, everything you have to synchronize is its Windows configuration.
And having that synchronized configuration should also help in the future, if you want to make the transition to Windows 11 (or the following version of Windows) on a later date on a new PC. Microsoft’s hope, it seems, this will facilitate that transition, so it is more likely that people are more likely to step on that path.
I do not think there is any underlying reason for Microsoft here to get their claws in their personal data, as some suggest, so in my book, all this seems quite fair. However, if you are not convinced, that is equally fair: you don’t have to take Microsoft in this option. You can pay instead (or redeem 1,000 Microsoft rewards points, if you have them, which is another alternative), or simply continue and change Windows 10 in the end of life in October 2025.
Do what you do, do not stay in Windows 10 without safety updates: you don’t mind worrying that Microsoft’s nose is potentially in your data, a hacker could really make your life a misery to compromise your PC due to unblocking vulnerability because your system does not have safety updates.
Taking a broader perspective, I have half convinced Microsoft can even offer more than a year of additional support to consumers (in the same way that it treats companies).
Mainly because this new offer related to the Windows backup has arrived at the last minute, largely I suspect that some of the fears of the ‘imposing Scraphap of Windows 10 PCs who are (rightly) are concerned about the environmental impact of the Microsoft Windows 11 system requirements. (Those who prevent many possible updates from moving to the newest operating system, due to an older CPU or the lack of a specific security function, TPM 2.0).
So, I don’t think it is unimaginable that Microsoft can offer a second year of extended support for consumers, and I think the company should do it. We will see, but for now, with an additional year of support on the table for free (effectively), there is no need to hurry to leave Windows 10 for many people. No, unless your trust in Microsoft is particularly low, or does not have a Microsoft account and does not want to register for one (to synchronize its configuration).
There are, of course, other options apart from Windows: the main one is a change to Linux. Of course, in that case, it must be prepared to abandon the Microsoft ecosystem and support some of the limitations with which one of the best Linux distributions (mainly around compatible software, particularly the PC games) will come.
Meanwhile, we can expect more peaks in the adoption of Windows 11 in the near future, although perhaps not to the same extent that some people could expect, given those additional options that Microsoft has just presented.
