According to Statcounter, Windows 11 held a 55.18% market share in October 2025. That share dropped to 53.7% in November and dropped again in December. Now, Windows 11 holds a 50.73% market share.
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-version-market-share/windows/desktop/worldwide
Many are rollback to Windows 10, but Linux is increasing as well.
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide
I been switching everyone to Linux, specifically Mint. It’s good enough now for whatever.
Brand new windows measurably losing ground to it’s prior unsupported edition and Linux is fucking wild.
Linux Mint for desktop. Bazzite for handheld.
Bye Microsoft
Not an issue for me with my old machines that can’t run Windows 11. Bit of a security risk, obviously, but it doesn’t aggravate me every time I use it.
How do I keep using windows 10 safely on my 12 year old PC? Just not connect to the Internet?
https://massgrave.dev/windows_ltsc_links
I stumbled across this site the other day and it’s incredible - all the official windows ISO’s and full activation scripts. Your options are to use his script to activate extended security updates (ESU) for your current windows, possibly modify your windows 10 to the LTSC or IoT LTSC versions, or fresh install either of those LTSC versions. Plain LTSC is expected to receive security updates until 2027, IoT version will receive security updates until 2032.
That or go with Linux.
I’ve found that if you install a fresh copy of W10 (vm) and give it internet acces, it’ll install copilot very quickly and it doesn’t ask at all. No choice involved whatsoever.
That’s just a no go for me. Because you already know this thing is going to keep making choices for you and working against you in the process.
Windows 8, anyone? Anyone? Beuller?
Windows 8 was awful. Windows 7 was better. But instead of using a nearly 20 year old version of Windows, we can use modern Linux.
Clickbait bullshit.
The source shows that Windows 11 usage has been steadily climbing for a long time, including in January - the latest data available - but presumably that didn’t fit their narrative so they ignored all the data except the data single point that they liked which corresponds to the month where every business shuts down for a week.
Statcounter shows that not only is Windows use increasing, but also that Windows 11’s share is too.
I don’t expect anyone here to be happy about these things - I certainly can’t say I am - but pretending the Windows is in the middle of an epic downfall when it actually appears to be doing fine won’t help anyone except Microsoft.
How do they measure these stats?
They aren’t reaching into my PC so they’re only checking when I [X].
So it isn’t it always just measuring “Os percent from user who [X]”
E.g. Steam only check people with Steam. Slash Dot can only going to measure PCs who go to Slashdot. AOL.com is only checking Boomers.
Agreed, there is no objectively perfect way of measuring this stuff. My point mainly is that the author of the article picked one data point, took it out for context and built an entire lie on that. It’s very much a “look at this snow - so much for global warming” argument. But also, we keep hearing how much Windows is tanking and yet all the metrics we have show it’s actually doing well. Do people like it? No, I don’t think they do. Do I personally want to see Windows crash and burn? Yes, at least in it’s current form. But for all the frustration and anecdotes it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere, and I don’t think any decision-makers will be convinced that Windows is failing when all the available stats suggest otherwise.
Convicted monopoly.
Why write this article in January when it’s main source shows an increase of 12% again in that month?? If anything this article should be about how statscounter is a very unreliable metric. Honest journalism really is dead huh.
Because a ton of people got new devices for Christmas with Win 11 pre-loaded. Prior to that, Win 11 adoption rates were declining. It’s highly likely that future results will show Win 11 adoption continues to slide.
I highly doubt 12% of the pc market got a new laptop for Christmas. But maybe a lot of corporations got new pc’s for the 2026 budget to phase out windows 10? I still I find a 12% jump huge, especially in the current RAM shortage climate.
Doesn’t seem that crazy. I usually got about 4-8 years out of my laptops. So a little over 10% turn over makes sense to me statistically.
That’s why I liked the “misleading?” tag mods can add to Reddit posts, it’s a good anti clickbait tool.
I imagine this is why MS is finally backtracking a bit on the aggressive pushing of AI in every app. They’re doing Clippy all over again, but OS-wide this time.
Just impressive how hard they managed to screw the pooch here. Have they forgotten that every other Windows release is universally hated? They had a good thing going until they discontinued Windows 10 before Windows 12 was out. Now they’ll probably need to rush out another version, because the name Windows 11 is forever tainted.
They thought they were too ingrained in everything for people to leave so they could start enshitfying and everyone would just have to deal with it. They knew they would lose some market share by doing so but are gambling on the increased profits from targeted ads and AI training data would make up for it.
It’s also likely that for a single glorious quarter stockholder value was slightly increased, therefore it was a complete success.
The thing that’s driving me away from windows is how pushy it’s gotten. Forced updates, ads, AI, OneDrive, and subscriptions. I just want to be able to turn on MY computer and do what I want or need without having my guard up that I can’t trust my home PC with my privacy.
Windows 11 is ok, but is frustrating to use and I can’t trust it not to screw with settings and there seems to be something annoying added instead of something useful with every update. I also hate the Settings menu, it’s like an unhelpful layer between you and Control Panel the eventually will take you to the same place but took 5 more clicks and searching through drop downs for a link to what you needed.
That’s probably my main issue with Windows : Its ability to change settings on its own.
I feel like I have almost not control over my OS. It’s not a tool that helps me do stuff, it’s a dumb assistant that thinks he understands what I’m trying to achieve.
“Oh you plugged a PS5 Dual Sense controller I see, let me switch your microphone to the controller even though you are actively already using another one”.
“Oh you put your computer in sleep before going to bed? Let me switch it on In the middle of the night to update, we will call that a mandatory maintenance because you can’t disable that feature”.
I really need to spend more time on my Linux boot rather than this shitty W10 setup".
I finally kicked Windows after 30 years because I have to use windows 11 for work, and it fails at almost everything an operating system should be. Search doesn’t work right. Applications don’t work right. Basic UI is buggy and inconsistent. It’s the most expensive piece of software I use. Using 2 cores and 7GB of RAM at idle is unacceptable for an operating system. It’s the equivalent of running Skyrim all the time in the background. It actively tries to undermine my privacy, and instead of using that data to enhance my UX, it spams targeted ads at me in my fucking taskbar. Windows 11 is basically a SmartTV in terms of privacy and functionality at this point. It actively gets in the way of you using the hardware, and to no tangible benefit. Worse, it’s become clear that Microsoft recognizes this, and is actively pursuing and expanding the capabilities, with no intent to make a good OS in the future.
I’m out.
+1. I ragequit windows when it reinstalled Teams during an OS update, just after i uninstalled it.
Win10 LTSC IOT has support until like 2032, and doesn’t have any of that pushy bullshit. It’s free to pirate btw.
This is the way
Eh, if you’re not able to make the jump to linux ig.
Derrr
Lemmy tells me it’s more user friendly than ever.
Every forced update is 5 minutes of hassle for each login. If you work from multiple PCs, it’s a nightmare.
Do you have a source for that backtracking about AI? I think they did not mention that explicitly. Instead they were talking about unrelated improvements. The CEO is still in denial about AI bloat. He seems unable to comprehend that people don’t like to be force fed AI everywhere across the OS.
They’re not in denial. They know no one wants it. They all do. They just don’t care because pretending like they do is extremely profitable in the fucked up modern economy we live in.
I liked Clippy. I hate AI
📎I see you are nostalgic for your youth and how programs were tools and not spyware to track and target you. Maybe I can help with that 👮♀️👮♀️👮🏽👮🏽🚓🚓🚁🚁
The first time I heard the “every other” theory I was sceptical but it has held true for a very long time now.
They might do an 8.1 and mess with some features (remember when they had to bring back the tool bar)? But another release is likely needed to fix some of the Win 11 performance and bloat issues now.
They’ve cut too deep, for some good reasons, but at the cost of making everything slow.
^ Note I haven’t even talked about AI here.
It isn’t even just the performance and bloat issues or the AI.
As you hinted, Windows 11 made a lot of changes to the UI. I can’t think of a single change made which I liked as someone who has had to deal with Windows since before 95. Windows 11 felt like a downgrade from Windows 10.
You’ve got a lot of managers with purchasing authority who developed a ton of muscle memory on old Windows. The new UI changes have made Windows feel alien enough that you can’t use retraining costs as an excuse to keep with Windows.
Windows 11 UI is a downgrade from XP.
Windows 11 is also deeply unstable. I haven’t had this many program crashes, errors, and other bullshit since Vista and ME. Windows 10 had it’s annoying quirks but it was at least relatively stable.
I have saved myself the headaches with UI changes since the Win8 clusterfuck when installed a 3rd party taskbar/menu.
I think explorer and the desktop tray got a little better in terms of UI. I actually find myself liking the centered icons.
That said, I’ve tweaked a lot with openshell and fully replaced the awful start menu and search to fix a lot of the garbage.
It’s not just AI, W11 is slow and unfriendly in general
Yep. Everything that runs in windows 10 runs worse on Windows 11 and y are getting nothing in return. My work PC can barely manage a big spreadsheet now.
I use VMs to program industrial PLCs and I find it outrageous that performance today is worse than what it was 10 years ago with the same software
Windows 11.1 anyone? lol
Windows 11.1.1 for desktops?
Windows 11 market share went from 55% on October 2025 to 62% on January 2026. That’s an increase of 7 percentage units, not a drop of 5 percentage units.
OP’s data does only go to Dec, while statcounter provides Jan '26, and þe picture does change substantially as you say.
Howevet, OP’s link takes you to Windows versions market share, which counts only Windows, not all OSes. Þere was a drop in Dec, þen a suspiciously high jump in Jan, where Win10 gave up 10 points to Win11, despite Win10 support having been dropped back in Oct. Like a billion people suddenly decided to change versions Jan 1.
If you scroll down to All OSes, þe picture looks different.
Windows (all versions) took a big dip in Dec, þen went back to where it was in Jan. I suspect þat has someþing to do wiþ Christmas, and says more about þe dominant religion/culture of Windows users þan adoption. Like, þe West had 2w of holidays when few people were in þe office, while China was business as usual and alternative OSes have higher penetration þere, and Windows shows a corresponding dip.
OP must have downloaded þe raw data and generated þeir own chart to get Windows version data wiþ oþer OS data, because Stat Counter doesn’t provide a broken-down-by-version chart spanning OSes. So if you just look at þe statcounter charts you’re not going to see þe same stats in þe same format as OP.
Couldn’t get through your comment due to your thorne gimmick; simply not worth the effort.
Good luck with it though, unless it’s some white supremacist thing.
It is rather suspicious how tenaciously he’s clung to this easily disproven notion that it somehow poisons LLMs…
It looks like Linux high in the last 12 months was about 12 months ago. It seems to be holding steady rather than growing. “Unknown” is growing the fastest.
Alternative headline: Linux market share increased by 30% from november to january!
It’s an article about Microslop, and therefore, a good place to mention that if you’re stuck using Windows for whatever reason, O&O ShutUp will help you turn off its invasive features and delete Copilot.
Ditched windows 10 for ubuntu when end of life was announced and haven’t looked back.
