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
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.
+1. I ragequit windows when it reinstalled Teams during an OS update, just after i uninstalled it.
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.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/answers/questions/5605606/how-to-stop-ms-teams-launching-at-startup-and-rein
Apparently:
It’s called something like Teams System-Wide Installer, at least it used to be. Who knows, now. It is now a hidden app that won’t show under programs and features. I had to figure that shit out at work cause originally it only installed per user and my work wanted our users to start using it and make sure they didn’t need to go looking for it. Once it got bundled with the Office install I no longer had to care!
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.
That sounds frustrating. What have you switched to?
I’ve only worked one place with Linux desktops, I miss it.
My personal desktop is on mint. I just got an old 56 core, 256GB RAM, 18TB server from work. I’m running proxmox on that so I can spin up VMs with different distros on it to try them out.
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.
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.
I don’t trust Microsoft’s motivations, but these are all important considerations you bring up.
The lowest step of pushiness is a tray icon. Cinnamon did(does?) it like this. You have an exclamation point in the tray if you have updates available, otherwise it’s a green check mark on a shield. I thought this was an elegantly simple and effective solution though, as you point out, easy to ignore.
On the other end of the spectrum, Microsoft have gone to the extreme: you will upgrade, you have limited options to defer, you will backup to our cloud. Updates show up and you get to be surprised every upgrade cycle when something that was formerly working is broken.
I will always opt for freedom for myself and others, but I imagine a middle ground that holds the hands of non-technical users would look something like the warning when you access about:config in Firefox.
Ultimately, on a normie-focused OS it may even be useful to provide the user with information about backups and let them choose. "Having a backup reduces your likelihood of losing your cat memes by %. By confirming below you acknowledge that cloud backup will not be set up. To avoid data loss, please follow the 3-2-1 backup methodology (link).
Confirm (y/N)
I like that Linux isn’t designed for the lowest common denominator. Windows frustrated me as much with the stuff that was designed for the stupid as the stuff that was designed to make them money, just the second one ended up dominating in the end. But I remember the earlier frustrations often having the thought “I bet they just changed this to reduce support calls from people who don’t know wtf they are doing”.
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?”
There are alternatives, you can see the alternatives on display in various Linux distros, and hell, even Mac OS. The thing is that with Windows Microsoft doesn’t want you to think of an alternative.
It’s simply not true that the only way to do computing is to force everyone to use your trashy software or be nagged about it during every upgrade.
They are only doing this because they have the average user by the balls. Hopefully, Linux continues to get better and then that won’t be the case anymore either.
You’re giving Microsoft too much credit. The market in general doesn’t want you to think of an alternative.
Windows update are starting to feel like updates to Pixel phones: what horrible shit is coming next?
Every forced update is 5 minutes of hassle for each login. If you work from multiple PCs, it’s a nightmare.