Microsoft didn’t have the year it hoped for with Windows 11 in 2023, because even after two years of general availability, Windows 10 is still (significantly) more popular.
In fact, two-thirds (67%) of all installations were Windows 10, with just over a quarter (27%) being Redmond’s main platform, Windows 11.
Windows 11 wasn’t as successful as Microsoft had hoped
The company has done a good job of weeding out Windows 7 users, which at the beginning of 2023 accounted for 11%. By the end, only 3% were using the now unsupported operating system.
With Windows 10 not set to reach end of support (EOS) until October 2025, businesses are looking to hang on to it, and even after that date, they will still have the option to pay for a few extra years of extended security updates (ho yo).
In December 2023, when Windows 11’s market share declined slightly as a percentage, Microsoft issued a request that companies start seriously considering upgrading.
At the time, Jason Lesnick, principal product manager for Windows services and delivery, said that Windows 11, now “enhanced by AI,” offered a 250% return on investment.
Lesnick highlighted the range of upgrade options businesses now face: operating system upgrades, full hardware upgrades (for unsupported devices), and using a virtual machine like Windows 365.
Microsoft’s two-pronged approach isn’t just about getting people out of Windows 10, it’s also about making Windows 11 more attractive. The latest major update, branded 23H2, added Copilot directly to the OS – a generative AI tool that uses the same ChatGPT technology.
With growth stabilizing somewhat for Windows 11 through the summer of 2023, and again in the final two months of the year, it remains to be seen how quickly companies will move to the flagship operating system.
