this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2026

734 points (94.5% liked)

Technology

79992 readers

6374 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related news or articles.
Be excellent to each other!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

L3s@lemmy.world

enu@lemmy.world

technopagan@lemmy.world

L4s@lemmy.world

L3s@hackingne.ws

734

Windows 11 just lost 5% market share in two months despite Windows 10 losing support. (www.windowscentral.com)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by ekZepp@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

115 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] aliser@lemmy.world 17 points 11 hours ago

glad I switched to Linux, Microslop's current state is a disaster. yes it randomly implodes sometimes, mainly by my fault, but at least I can rollback! no more headache of forced updates.

[–] Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world 18 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I switched to linux at the end of last year too! I am part of that increase and i like it.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

I switched to Linux when Windows 7 became EoL.

Anyone paying attention to what they were doing with 10, knew what would be coming with 11.. and somehow its even worse than expected.. thanks to the sudden appearance of the greatest environmental disaster of our time.. AI.

[–] everythingisanode@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 hours ago

Count me in too

[–] rustydrd@sh.itjust.works 58 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

People upgrading to Windows 11 be like:

[–] RamRabbit@lemmy.world 29 points 18 hours ago

This was me. Hit the update to 11 button because I have always liked new things. About a week later went back to 10, then about a year ago saw the writing on the wall and jumped ship to Mint. Shoulda done it earlier!

[–] MrRandom@lemmy.zip 9 points 15 hours ago

This is Internet Explorer all over again

[–] AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip 37 points 20 hours ago

Its the first time my peers are actually asking me about switching to linux. Sweden is an extremely techbro country, which i say because they have all the newest gadgets and then cant open a file for fucks sake.

[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 68 points 1 day ago (3 children)

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.

load more comments (3 replies)

[–] bus_factor@lemmy.world 122 points 1 day ago (24 children)

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.

[–] kboos1@lemmy.world 108 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

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.

[–] Honytawk@feddit.nl 2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

The reason why Windows is pushy is because the average user needs it to be.

Updates would never get installed, unless Microsoft forces them to.

They would lose their files, unless Microsoft pushes OneDrive.

And all of them would blame Microsoft for their own ineptitude.

It is easy for techy people to keep their computer functioning properly. But Windows isn't just used by those people.

[–] kboos1@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I would say that it's as simple as adding a prompt during initial user setup with check boxes. Would you like windows to handle XYZ for you? Instead of assuming all users just want to use their computers to become influencers and forcing frustrating problems onto everyone.

It may have started out with "hey we are doing this for your own good" to now it's "how can we exploit ignorance and data mine our users and put ads on the desktop?"

[–] Takapapatapaka@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 48 points 1 day ago (1 children)

+1. I ragequit windows when it reinstalled Teams during an OS update, just after i uninstalled it.

[–] bus_factor@lemmy.world 11 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

I discovered that there's a separate application which just reinstalls Teams all the time. I don't remember the name, but it had Teams in the name. After I uninstalled that it finally stopped popping up.

[–] techt@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/answers/questions/5605606/how-to-stop-ms-teams-launching-at-startup-and-rein

Apparently:

This behavior is usually caused by two things:

A background installer from Microsoft Office called the Teams Machine-Wide Installer, which automatically reinstalls Teams for each user.
Windows 11’s built-in Chat feature, which is powered by Teams and may reinstall the app during updates or restarts.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] Tetsuo@jlai.lu 12 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

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".

[–] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 24 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Win10 LTSC IOT has support until like 2032, and doesn't have any of that pushy bullshit. It's free to pirate btw.

load more comments (4 replies)

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] bear@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 7 hours ago

That sounds frustrating. What have you switched to?

I've only worked one place with Linux desktops, I miss it.

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (23 replies)

[–] lautan@lemmy.ca 28 points 22 hours ago (13 children)

I been switching everyone to Linux, specifically Mint. It's good enough now for whatever.

[–] herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml 6 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I switched my parents to Linux more than 10 years ago. They are very happy with it.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (12 replies)

[–] anticurrent@sh.itjust.works 14 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Please Stop using statcounter as a reliable source. Their numbers are absolutely wack.

Look at the recent surge in win7 pcs, that no economical data can back up, if you look at win7 stats of some countries you will find some weird spikes that died out this last month. why go from an os that has lost security updates to an older os that today's software can't run on anymore

https://gs.statcounter.com/os-version-market-share/windows/desktop/argentina

https://gs.statcounter.com/os-version-market-share/windows/desktop/tunisia

https://gs.statcounter.com/os-version-market-share/windows/desktop/ethiopia

[–] nekusoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de 3 points 16 hours ago

Even worse, those stats are also probably just a leftover from a giant spike coming from Singapore around that time:

That one eventually got cleaned up, although a lot of the spillover into other countries remains.

I did some math at the time, and it must've been about 1000 fake machines for every real one. And considering this was kept online for several weeks despite making news: Yes, stop using statcounter.

[–] Decq@lemmy.world 95 points 1 day ago (6 children)

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.

[–] Imhotep@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That’s why I liked the "misleading?" tag mods can add to Reddit posts, it’s a good anti clickbait tool.

load more comments (5 replies)

[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 27 points 23 hours ago

Brand new windows measurably losing ground to it's prior unsupported edition and Linux is fucking wild.

[–] Bwaz@lemmy.world 15 points 21 hours ago

I'm sure it has nothing to do with forcefeeding AI or copying the user's screen content.

[–] herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml 11 points 20 hours ago

Statcounter data has a lot of shortterm noise. Longterm trends are meaningful, but do not get too excited about short term fluctuations.

At the same time Windows has been slowly losing market share over the years.

[–] Mrkawfee@feddit.uk 13 points 22 hours ago

Linux Mint for desktop. Bazzite for handheld.

Bye Microsoft

[–] ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz 33 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

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.

load more comments (5 replies)

load more comments