Windows 11 is maintaining its lead over Windows 10, but millions of PCs are still running Microsoft’s legacy operating system with less than three months until support ends.
The figures from Statcounter indicate a gap is opening up between the two OSes. Many versions of Windows 10 are set to reach the end of free standard support from October 14, prompting Microsoft to relentlessly push Windows 11 as the way forward. However, the new OS is infamously incompatible with hardware perfectly capable of running its predecessor.
For many enterprises, an uphill struggle remains to get Windows 11 on desktops before Microsoft pulls the support plug or admit defeat and purchase an Extended Security Update (ESU) subscription to keep the lights on for a little longer.
Thomas MacKenzie, director of product strategy at Lansweeper, told The Register that the challenge was more about execution than awareness. “Many organizations face complex upgrade paths due to legacy applications, hardware incompatibilities, etc.
“Some businesses may have migration plans in motion, but others are at greater risk of falling behind, especially in sectors like healthcare and manufacturing, where device refresh cycles tend to be longer or where changes may require some form of type approval.
“The reality is that millions of businesses are still running Windows 10 with just months to go before end-of-life.”
MacKenzie noted that for many affected businesses, the ESU program would serve as little more than a “short-term buffer” to buy some extra time. “ESU is a fallback, not a strategy, and most IT leaders know this.”
Consumers can pick up a free year of ESU, although they will need to either redeem some Microsoft Rewards points to do so or sync their settings to the cloud via Windows Backup. Microsoft has yet to extend the same generosity to corporate customers signed up to Microsoft 365.
MacKenzie told us: “There’s no precedent for Microsoft 365 customers receiving free ESU. When support ended for Windows 7, ESUs were available as a paid add-on, even to Microsoft 365 users. The only exception was for customers using Windows Virtual Desktop (now Azure Virtual Desktop), where ESUs were included, but that was tied to the virtual platform, not to 365.
“Microsoft hasn’t signaled any intention to offer free ESUs for Windows 10, and while it’s always possible under pressure, organizations should plan around what’s confirmed rather than hoping for a policy shift.”
While Statcounter is not a perfect measure of market share – it relies on tracking code installed on more than 1.5 million sites globally – it is a useful indicator of trends in the absence of official telemetry from Microsoft.
The latest figures show that Windows 11’s market share continues to increase, growing to 53.51 percent of desktop Windows market share worldwide. In contrast, Windows 10 declined to 42.88 percent, after both operating systems reached parity last month.
Yet with just over two months until the retirement of many editions of Windows 10, the software will likely remain a significant factor in the plans of enterprises for months, or even years to come, after free standard support ends in October. ®