October survey puts Windows 11 adoption at just 15 percent worldwide

[Daniel Sims]

The big picture: Over a year after its launch, Windows 11 is still nowhere near establishing dominance over Windows 10 among PC users. Various surveys show differing adoption rates for Windows 11, but all of them say most users haven't upgraded from 10.

The latest report from Statcounter shows that fewer than one in six desktop PCs worldwide use Windows 11. Windows 10 remains on almost three-quarters of PCs over a year after its successor launched.

Windows 11 reached 15.44-percent penetration in the October 2022 report, increasing slightly under two percent since September. Windows 10 use fell by less than one percent in the same timeframe. Windows 7, which Microsoft no longer supports, still runs on 9.62 percent of desktops, while Windows 8 and 8.1 combined hold a 3.14-percent market share. Only 0.39 percent of PCS have the two-decades-old Windows XP installed.

Windows stats from other recent surveys put Windows 10 in a similarly dominant position but vary more widely on Windows 11's adoption. The discrepancy is likely due to differing methodologies.

Click image to enlarge

The October 2022 Steam survey shows Windows 11 on just under a quarter of computers (including Mac and Linux systems). Not great, but more optimistic than Statcounter's report. Steam shows Windows 10 at 68.91-percent penetration to Statcounter's 71.29 percent.

Steam's methodology uses a survey of its 30 million concurrent users, although not all participated in the analysis. Statcounter based its reports on around five billion page views on 1.5 million websites.

AdDuplex, currently only has stats through June, but they paint a picture similar to Steam. Based on metrics from 5,000 Windows Store apps, the group's chart shows Windows 11 on 23.1 percent of PCs. Another AdDuplex chart shows Windows 11 adoption flattening far quicker than any Windows 10 version.

The most pessimistic Windows 11 numbers this fall so far come from Lansweeper. Out of 30 million workstations, the group reports that the new operating system is on just 2.61 percent — still below Windows 7's 3.38 percent.

The leading cause of Windows 11's slow adoption is likely its high CPU requirement. Only systems with at least an Intel 8th gen or AMD Zen 2 processor can automatically upgrade to it, and Landsweper claims almost half of devices fail to meet that bar.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/96537-october-survey-windows-11-adoption.html

 

[psycros]

The biggest reasons very few are upgrading to Windows 11 is the simple fact that it has NO IMPROVEMENTS at all, and its even more anti-privacy and anti-user than its predecessor.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Why should anyone upgrade? 10 is annoying, jack full of spyware, ads, and unwanted behavior, and consumes system resources like a fat guy at a chinese buffet.

In every respect, 11 is even worse. 11 also introduces suspect system requirements like TPM 2.0, alienates millions of perfectly functional PCs, the PCs that are typically used by normies who dont know what a windows 10 is and would all be rocking 11 to their dismay if not for MS's bizarre choices. you have the attempted enforcement of using MS accounts and onedrive alienating any who were already suspicious of MS's behavior, the neutering of the properties menu doing the same to power users or anyone who does more then web browsing.

And what does it bring to the table? Babies first UI? More control panel segregation? Setting menus with no useful features? The new task manager that's less useful and intuitive then its predecessor?

Stunningly, 10 has become the new 7, and 11 the new 8.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

The biggest reasons very few are upgrading to Windows 11 is the simple fact that it has NO IMPROVEMENTS at all, and its even more anti-privacy and anti-user than its predecessor.

Really? I can't argue with you one way or the other because I simply don't know. I try to keep up on all the big headlines regarding Windows and my perception is that there haven't been any really bad things said about Windows 11 in terms of privacy. Of course, I'm not actively looking for these types of things either. I will keep an open mind to these possibilities though.

There are a lot of things I like about Windows 11. Small things like coming natively with the 'Windows Terminal' program now called just 'Terminal'. The centered icons on the taskbar just sit right with me. And, finally, the tabs in File Explorer. Although, there were alternative solutions to that years ago in the form, for example, of "Clover".

What I generally do remember seeing in the headlines is that Microsoft generally responds pretty well to criticisms of being anti-privacy by pointing out all the ways you can control telemetry data and what not through various Windows settings.

I've been using Windows 11 probably since the day it was released publicly and have no complaints about it. Maybe I'm just living in darkness.

I'd enjoy hearing some criticisms about how Windows has become worse from 10 to 11. And what the end-user options are.

I will say if Microsoft ever tries to cross that line of turning their 'Windows' operating system into any kind of monetized subscription service...that may be the straw that breaks the camels back for me. They make enough money with all their other crappy pay-for services. So, I just "really" hope they don't go there!

 

[TheBigFatClown]

Why should anyone upgrade? 10 is annoying, jack full of spyware, ads, and unwanted behavior, and consumes system resources like a fat guy at a chinese buffet.

In every respect, 11 is even worse. 11 also introduces suspect system requirements like TPM 2.0, alienates millions of perfectly functional PCs, the PCs that are typically used by normies who dont know what a windows 10 is and would all be rocking 11 to their dismay if not for MS's bizarre choices. you have the attempted enforcement of using MS accounts and onedrive alienating any who were already suspicious of MS's behavior, the neutering of the properties menu doing the same to power users or anyone who does more then web browsing.

And what does it bring to the table? Babies first UI? More control panel segregation? Setting menus with no useful features? The new task manager that's less useful and intuitive then its predecessor?

Stunningly, 10 has become the new 7, and 11 the new 8.

I will admit that Microsoft's tendencies to dumb-down the end-user experience are fully manifest in the monstrosity called 'Windows 8'. And the blow back by anybody with a brain (gamers, power users, developers, creators) was strong enough and long enough that we got an operating system called Windows 10 as a result.

I do think the Windows 10/11 start menu sucks a rosy red titty. Especially given the live tiles fiasco. How do you reconcile putting lives tiles on a start menu and then adding a "focus" mode for other times?? There is no point in my life at which I want to be constantly XXXXing bombarded with notifications...that time is never.

As I sit here and think about why I don't hate Windows 10 (or 11) in spite of all this bad stuff I come to the realization that I just don't let it bother me. I remember turning off live tiles immediately and removing the icons that represented any such information overload.

People want to talk about defunding police (security) until they realize one day that they actually "needed" that security. I imagine we could draw this same parallel to the security mechanisms that Microsoft implements with regards to the TPM 2.0 requirement.

I dunno.


*sigh*. It's helpful to talk about these issues though.

 

[brucek]

The biggest reasons very few are upgrading to Windows 11 is the simple fact that it has NO IMPROVEMENTS at all, and its even more anti-privacy and anti-user than its predecessor.

And that's for the people that even have a choice. For many Windows 10 users, they aren't even offered the choice because their hardware is not supported.

 

[brucek]

People want to talk about defunding police (security) until they realize one day that they actually "needed" that security. I imagine we could draw this same parallel to the security mechanisms that Microsoft implements with regards to the TPM 2.0 requirement.

But Microsoft is not providing the TPM 2.0 module. That comes from hardware vendors. No one is objecting to Win 11 using the TPM when present (as does Win 10.) No one is objecting to the Win 11 security features (also optionally available on Win 10.) The annoyance is Microsoft taking it upon itself to say our software will not support your hardware, which is BS and not what an operating system should do. Linux servers with default far higher security needs run just fine on pre-TPM 2 hardware.

It's even more annoying when you believe as I do that the decision was primarily taken at the request of system vendors who want to sell more units and therefore more OEM windows licenses that come pre-installed with them.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

But Microsoft is not providing the TPM 2.0 module. That comes from hardware vendors. No one is objecting to Win 11 using the TPM when present (as does Win 10.) No one is objecting to the Win 11 security features (also optionally available on Win 10.) The annoyance is Microsoft taking it upon itself to say our software will not support your hardware, which is BS and not what an operating system should do. Linux servers with default far higher security needs run just fine on pre-TPM 2 hardware.

It's even more annoying when you believe as I do that the decision was primarily taken at the request of system vendors who want to sell more units and therefore more OEM windows licenses that come pre-installed with them.

I like your post. But just to play Devil's advocate a bit longer here. Microsoft themselves have a webpage up now (probably wasn't true from the beginning but after blow back) that explains exactly how to get around the TPM 2.0 requirement if you truly want to run Windows 11 on unofficially supported hardware as long as you are aware of the dangers/risks.

So, we can applaud Microsoft for that once again, it seems.

Edit: I found the link for the peeps, read 'em and weep.

Installing Windows 11 on devices that don't meet minimum system requirements

I am no lover of Microsoft but I give the credit where it's due.

 

[Aryassen]

Really? I can't argue with you one way or the other because I simply don't know. I try to keep up on all the big headlines regarding Windows and my perception is that there haven't been any really bad things said about Windows 11 in terms of privacy. Of course, I'm not actively looking for these types of things either. I will keep an open mind to these possibilities though.

There are a lot of things I like about Windows 11. Small things like coming natively with the 'Windows Terminal' program now called just 'Terminal'. The centered icons on the taskbar just sit right with me. And, finally, the tabs in File Explorer. Although, there were alternative solutions to that years ago in the form, for example, of "Clover".

What I generally do remember seeing in the headlines is that Microsoft generally responds pretty well to criticisms of being anti-privacy by pointing out all the ways you can control telemetry data and what not through various Windows settings.

I've been using Windows 11 probably since the day it was released publicly and have no complaints about it. Maybe I'm just living in darkness.

I'd enjoy hearing some criticisms about how Windows has become worse from 10 to 11. And what the end-user options are.

I will say if Microsoft ever tries to cross that line of turning their 'Windows' operating system into any kind of monetized subscription service...that may be the straw that breaks the camels back for me. They make enough money with all their other crappy pay-for services. So, I just "really" hope they don't go there!

First of all, I'm glad that you have a smooth experience with W11, and I hope and wish that it stays that way. That being said, let me share my journey with that, as you seemed to be interested in why people might not be llining up to "upgrade"...
1) My HP Lpatop's CPU was not supported, deemed to be inadequate (8145u, running perfectly ever since)
2) Driver support is not provided to operate the hotkeys on the same laptop. Dedicated keys like brightness, volume or airplane mode were no longer working
3) The integrated camera is not even recognised
4) Moving on the the desktop: first, it tried to convince me that my Ryzen 5 3600 is also not powerful enough. Few weeks later though it was "accepted", and I could install without warnings
5) However, it still messed up driver library, and caused massive stability problems. It was constantly updating, yet constantly not being able to get everything working (which was working just fine with W10)
6) Icing on the cake: microstuttering started to be noticeable in games.

I have purchased a W10 license for the laptop, almost all problems solved (camera still not working, don't know what the heck). It is a dual boot system now (wiht 2 SSDs, because the very obsolete laptop supports that), but never bothered to fire up W11 ever since. Still very fast for everyday mundane tasks or work (16GB RAM may have something to do with it though). Hopefully, by the time W10 runs out of support, perhaps W11 will work properly (or there might be a W12 even, who knows)

For desktop, I rolled back to W10, and no driver issues, stability problems or microstutters occured ever since. Not to eager to "upgrade" on that platform either.

So, this is why don't count my days till W11 will be the only choice. For me, that was just simple a bad release (and I was one of the few who got along with W8.1, or even with Vista!), with no noticeable benefit (and the "new' GUI, frankly, really got on my nerves - but that's a personal preference thing, I know).

 

[TheBigFatClown]

I actually am such a nerd I generally have at least 2 PCs at my disposal. And I am always trying to sell off the "oldest" parts to keep current with new.

So, I do have the advantages over your experience of having newer hardware it sounds like.
As of this moment I am still running Windows 10 (only) on my AMD Ryzen 2200G system because Windows 11 is not "officially" supported on that CPU due to the lack of TPM 2.0 support I guess. I could get around this and install it anyway, ironically enough, with Microsoft's own guidance now. But I probably won't since I have another system that does meet the requirements and runs just fine.
I am running Windows 11 on my AMD Ryzen 5 4500U based mini-pc and it has been very smooth.
So, in summary, it seems like we can say that trying to run Windows 11 on older hardware may not give you the smoothest experience. I wouldn't call this a negative of Windows 11 personally since we all know that technology moves at a very fast pace and old hardware has limited lifetimes.
So, thanks for your input on this.

 

[Raytrace3D]

Still rocking 10 and no intention of switching unless I have too.

 

[Eldritch]

This analysis seems incomplete. The data should be there for total number of PCs, let's say on Steam, PCs capable of TPM 2 and then PCs running Windows 11 along with percentages.

Windows 11 may be hot garbage but many want to 'upgrade' to it simply because it's new. Ironically, these non-enthusiasts are most likely to have a computer that does not meet the requirements.

 

[kimo1]

I'll move to 11+ when Microsoft gifts me 1500 euros to buy a new PC.

 

[ZedRM]

The biggest reasons very few are upgrading to Windows 11 is the simple fact that it has NO IMPROVEMENTS at all

There one opinion.

and its even more anti-privacy and anti-user than its predecessor.

Not really. The worst part of 11 is the secureboot/tpm/ms account crap, all of which is easily bypassed. The OS itself is excellent! once you get passed those three problems.

 

[ZedRM]

I'll move to 11+ when Microsoft gifts me 1500 euros to buy a new PC.

Or just use the bypass methods.

 

[kimo1]

Or just use the bypass methods.

It's not as simple as you think: my PC is so old, there are no official mobo drivers for w11. Idk if w11 will support drivers designed for w10.

 

[ZedRM]

It's not as simple as you think

Sure it is, I do it frequently.

my PC is so old, there are no official mobo drivers for w11. Idk if w11 will support drivers designed for w10.

If it has Windows 10 drivers then it has Windows 11 drivers as the driver model has not changed and they are fully compatible. I regularly install Windows 7 drivers in Windows 11 and they work perfectly every time.

 

[Puiu]

Adoption should start to spike next year as people start upgrading their old PCs and more updates are made to win11.

 

[inhility]

I'm currently running 11 for its Auto HDR (which looks good after calibration) and it's pretty much just Windows 10 with some regressions on UI, some are tolerable but not allowing you to never combine/group programs on taskbar (essentially making everything only icons) is their single greatest gaffe since their attempt at removing start menu. I had to use an external program for this, it's just so bad.

To MS: stop freaking trying to turn desktop PCs into tablets/phones, just stop it.

 

[takaozo]

Some older PC's that have TPM 2.0 like Dell Optiplex can run W11. I have two machines one with i3 4130 as a NAS and one with i5 6500 as a HTPC, both were upgraded. Also Dell stores winkey in BIOS/UEFI and activation it's done with Win PRO ENG. Both came with Win8 or 8.1.
Also running win11 on my main rig without any issues.
I never bought a separate windows license since win98. All my VM's are activated with public KMS or MSDN keys.

 

[fadingfool]

I am running Windows 11 on my AMD Ryzen 5 4500U based mini-pc and it has been very smooth.

Good little chip the 4500U - can even do some gaming on it.

 

[BSim500]

People want to talk about defunding police (security) until they realize one day that they actually "needed" that security. I imagine we could draw this same parallel to the security mechanisms that Microsoft implements with regards to the TPM 2.0 requirement.

To the end user, TPM (and SecureBoot) do virtually nothing for security vs real-world attacks. The real reason it's there is Remote Attestation / Smart App Control:-

"When enabled, Smart App Control uses AI and Microsoft's cloud knowledge base to check every app that runs, blocking anything unsigned, unfamiliar, or known to be malicious. There is no whitelist, so blocked apps will only get through if their developers sign them."
https://www.techspot.com/news/94088-new-windows-11-security-feature-requires-clean-install.html

Translation - "We just added a DRM'd remote kill-switch that lets us control what applications you are 'permitted' to run under the guise of 'security' that's completely opt-in - initially - but as we saw with the dumbing down of W10 Group Policy control under Pro vs Edu / Ent, where Windows 11 will be in 5 years after updates that regularly remove more user control than they add, is not the same as today and in all the wrong areas".

No thanks. This is exactly the kind of crap that's going to kill off modding / the ability to play older games (that won't be signed) under the pretence of "security"...

Edit: I found the link for the peeps, read 'em and weep.

I guess you missed the part in the same article that says unauthorized W11 installs (bypassing TPM) may be blocked from getting security updates in future (resulting in an OS that's significantly less secure with TPM bypassed than had W11 not required TPM in the first place...)? The whole "we put it there for 'security' reason then blocked security updates because we put it there" is a joke.

 

[MarkHughes]

Well, The reason 3 of my laptops didn't "upgrade" was due to Microsoft deeming them too old. They pass all hardware checks but the date of manufacture prevents upgrade. So 3 laptops that are between 4 and 5 years old can not use Windows 11 due to some arbitrary limit. Linux works fine on them though.

My one laptop that can use 11 doesn't seem to benefit in any way from doing so, In fact the start menu is worse than Windows 10 and from what I can tell so is gaming performance.

Microsoft will have to force people to update by restricting certain software to Windows 11 only eventually. Their time would have been better spent improving 10.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

There one opinion.

Not really. The worst part of 11 is the secureboot/tpm/ms account crap, all of which is easily bypassed. The OS itself is excellent! once you get passed those three problems.

Yeah really. Also nothing you said argues against the point that 11 is even worse for privacy and security then 10 was. The only thing you bothered listing was stuff designed to take control away from the end user and enforce microsoft's control over your PC. Great Argument! /s

Especially when said company is the same company that wants to tie all your accounts to a physical identity and make any ban you receive on any service apply to all your accounts, because mean words hurt feelings! I totally want to let them dictate how I may use the PC I paid for.

Or just use the bypass methods.

Running unofficial bypasses just to get the OS to work is ridiculous and is not how a multi trillion dollar company should be selling its product, especially when aid limitation was introduced by the COMPANY ITSELF.

To the end user, TPM (and SecureBoot) do virtually nothing for security vs real-world attacks. The real reason it's there is Remote Attestation / Smart App Control:-

"When enabled, Smart App Control uses AI and Microsoft's cloud knowledge base to check every app that runs, blocking anything unsigned, unfamiliar, or known to be malicious. There is no whitelist, so blocked apps will only get through if their developers sign them."
https://www.techspot.com/news/94088-new-windows-11-security-feature-requires-clean-install.html

Translation - "We just added a DRM'd remote kill-switch that lets us control what applications you are 'permitted' to run under the guise of 'security' that's completely opt-in - initially - but as we saw with the dumbing down of W10 Group Policy control under Pro vs Edu / Ent, where Windows 11 will be in 5 years after updates that regularly remove more user control than they add, is not the same as today and in all the wrong areas".

No thanks. This is exactly the kind of crap that's going to kill off modding / the ability to play older games (that won't be signed) under the pretence of "security"...


I guess you missed the part in the same article that says unauthorized W11 installs (bypassing TPM) may be blocked from getting security updates in future (resulting in an OS that's significantly less secure with TPM bypassed than had W11 not required TPM in the first place...)? The whole "we put it there for 'security' reason then blocked security updates because we put it there" is a joke.

People just willingly put their heads in the sand when it comes to MS's moves to lock down 11, once 10 is dead people are going to go ape when all their old stuff starts getting locked out by *accident*.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

The only good thing you can say about the hot mess of Windows 11 is that it makes 10 look good by comparison.