A few days ago I shared a reflection on Windows 10 and how its success has also become the failure of Windows 11. And no matter how hard Microsoft tries to encourage users to make the move to another, either by reducing the number of steps in the process or by bombarding users with encouraging messages that recently also reached users whose systems, ahem…, turned out to be incompatible with Windows 11. It’s uselessWindows 10’s market share remains staggering, and only selling new PCs with Windows 11 preinstalled can help Microsoft close that gap.

Maintain market share across all Windows installations, about 70%, when its successors will be 3 years old in 2024, and when its life cycle is planned for next year, this is undoubtedly a sign of success. And yes, I don’t forget that calculations suggest that the end of Windows 10’s life cycle may take 240 million computers out of the game (of course, this may also be the perfect time to encourage users to jump Linux), but even then, there are also many users , who can, but don’t want to.

However, Does this mean Windows 10 is good? That’s a big question that also doesn’t have a single answer. What’s more, if instead of putting it in binary (ie yes or no) we allow the answers to evolve in an infinite gray scale field between black and white, we’re likely to find as many different answers as there are users of this operating system currently.

The rating of Windows 10 has changed a lot over time. It was well received at first, although at this point we have to admit that part of this success was due to the rejection caused by the return to the “classic” interface model (that Windows 7, wow). many users jump from 7 to 10, as we can see in the StatCounter graph you can see below this paragraph.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Windows Version Market Share

However, it deteriorated over time, largely as a result lots of some updates that broke the system. It is especially remembered in this sense Windows 10 May 2020 Update or Windows 10 2004, an update that arrived full of new features, yes, but also bugs that made it a disaster. Nevertheless, its market share continued to grow until it reached its peak at the end of 2022, when it exceeded 82%.

Looking at the graph, we see that the start of Windows 11 in terms of adoption is comparable to Windows 10, with an impressive growth rate. However, after reaching May 2023 with 22.95%, the trend changes substantiallyand we also see in this data how Windows 10 is starting to show a lot of resistance against what is both its generational replacement and its main competitor.

This also coincides with the moment in which Microsoft is starting to concentrate the arrival of new features in Windows 11, making 10 updates lighter in every way. And as we’ve documented all this time on MuyComputer, Windows 11 bug updates are starting to become a trend.

So currently Windows 10 is a mature and stable platform, less exposed than ever to the potential problems that come with updates. On the other hand, we have Windows 11, which has started to show some of the problems that 10 had in its heyday, and which also carries the original sin of not being a major update, which justified the jump to a major version.

There is an analogy that I have always liked very much, and that is the old house slippers. They can be broken, dirty and of course not the best footwear for receiving visitors at home. Now, in many cases, they are far from it the most comfortable shoe you can imagine. They have been completely made for your foot and you have completely adapted to their shape, texture and the feeling they convey to you when you use them.

Is Windows 10 an old boot? I don’t have statistics on the type of shoes people normally wear at home, but it’s very hard for me not to see a clear parallel between old sneakers and Windows 10, although obviously the operating system is not so broken and worn out, of course.

Is Windows 10 good or bad? The answer to this question depends on the experience and worldview of each neighbor’s child (and I would be very interested to read your opinion in the comments), but I would say that the most accurate answer is to say that It’s not good or bad, it’s just comfortable, it’s familiar, and it usually doesn’t cause problems anymore..