Windows 10 remains by far the most popular version of the operating system, although Windows 11 is slowly gaining market share. However, the rollout is far too slow to avoid problems when Windows 10 support ends next year.

31.6 percent of Windows users used Windows 11 in August. A month earlier, the figure was 30.8 percent, and the month before that, it was 29.8 percent. Windows 10 remains the undisputed market leader: 64.1 percent of Windows computers run on the older operating system. The market share is falling in proportion to the profit for Windows 11. This is evident from the figures from Statcounter.

So Windows 11 is becoming increasingly popular, but only very slowly. This is problematic: In just over a year, on October 10, 2025, Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 10 as communicated and planned. Anyone who has not switched by then will either have to pay for the extended support formula or work on an unsecured system that will no longer receive security updates.

Various causes

There are several reasons for the subpar adoption of Windows 11, and the main ones need to be addressed by Microsoft. Windows 11 is theoretically a seamless upgrade from Windows 10, but Microsoft has paired the latest version of its operating system with artificially high system requirements.

For example, you need a modern processor and a TPM 2.0 chip to run Windows 11, even though the operating system will work on older systems. However, Microsoft blocks these installations under the guise of security.

While Windows 11 with the TPM 2.0 chip offers additional security features, many businesses and end users are not concerned about this. No one is eager to send their perfectly working computer to the scrapyard just to upgrade to Windows 11.

In addition, the functional difference between Windows 10 and Windows 11 is actually not that big. There are no really spectacular new features that could convince users to invest effort, time and money.

Copilot and AI

In recent months, Microsoft has associated Windows 11 with the Copilot AI story, but this is nothing more than marketing. Really useful functionality will not be available there for the time being, especially in the context of business users.

Finally, it doesn’t help that when Microsoft launched Windows 10, it loudly and frequently proclaimed that it was “the last version of Windows.” The promise of updates instead of upgrades was broken with Windows 11 and its artificial system requirements.

Windows 11 continues to lag behind. With less than a year to go before end of support, Windows 10 remains the most popular operating system. If the coming year does not bring a surge in upgrades, October 10, 2025 will be a dangerous date.