The pace of Windows 11 adoption never lived up to what Microsoft wantedwhich logically expected the latest version of its desktop operating system to generate more interest among users and consequently a more massive migration from both Windows 10 and previous versions, which, although no longer supported, are still present by more teams than might be expected .

What happened? Why didn’t users welcome Windows 11 as expected? We mainly distinguish two large groups of users: what they want but can’t, and those who can but don’t want to. The first, you may have already imagined, are all those who were unable to upgrade to this version due to the technical requirements of Windows 11. And we are talking about a significant number of affected computers, no less than 240 million computers, according to a recent study.

The second group, i.e. those who can but don’t want to, are again divided between those who prefer the security and stability of Windows 10, an already very polished system compared to Windows 11, which has seen many problems with many updates, and also for those who do not think that the new features of this version compared to what Windows 10 offers justify the jump. Now, with the gradual introduction of new features, it is true that some of them are finally encouraged to update.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Windows Version Market Share

So as we see in StarCounter, Windows 11 adoption is picking up again globally after seeming to stagnate in November and December. At the same time, we can see that since March of last year, the share of Windows 10 remains constantly on a downward path. Currently, Windows 10 still remains more than double Windows 11, with 67.23% and 28.18%, but if the trend continues, it is likely that this 2:1 ratio will be broken by the end of this year.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Windows Version Market Share

Windows 11 seems a bit more successful here. As you can see in the graph above, the adoption rate in Spain already exceeds three in ten PCs by tenths at 30.37%, while Windows 10 in Spain is practically identical to the global number at 67.36%. , which tells us something we could already imagine, which is that the usage volume of older versions of Windows is lower than the global cumulative amount.

However, Are we to understand this data as a change of mind for Windows 10 users who have finally decided to jump to Windows 11? Well, yes… but only partially. It is true that over time there will be users who decide to make the leap. A few months ago my colleague Isidro was encouraged to do this and share his experience, and recently I also decided to take the plunge and I can say that the experience was generally positive.

However, in this regard, I perceive that this increase is not so much due to the migration of users, but rather to the sale of new equipment, especially laptops, including Windows 11, as this is usually the main driver of updating Windows, an operating system with a life cycle quite different from what we find on other platforms, whether desktop (with annual updates in the case of macOS and semi-annual updates in the case of Ubuntu , to name just a few examples) or device, with Android and iOS also being updated annually.