Almost four years after its initial release, Windows 11 has finally overtaken Windows 10 as the most popular Microsoft operating system. That's not much of a surprise with only a few months left before Windows 10 officially loses support on October 14, 2025.
Even so, it's a crucial turning point for Microsoft, which has seen slow adoption of Windows 11 over the past few years. It looks like that's finally changing since the number of Windows 11 users surpassed those still on Windows 10 as of July 2025.
It probably helps that all new Windows laptops have been shipping with Windows 11 since 2021. So, some of this growth probably comes down to people simply buying a new laptop that just happens to run Windows 11.
However, over the next few months, more and more Windows 11 users will likely be reluctant Windows 10 converts who make the switch because they don't have any other option.
Although, Microsoft recently announced a way to get an extra year of Windows 10 support for free, which may give those who are hesitant to switch more time to decide, but it's a temporary solution.
There are still some people using far older versions of Windows, so there are ways around the loss of official support from Microsoft, but they're usually only available to businesses. If you're an individual user, it's probably not a good idea to stay on Windows 10 after security updates end.
Besides, you never know—you might end up liking Windows 11. The visual changes may appeal to some people and AI fans will probably appreciate how thoroughly the Copilot AI is baked into the operating system.
If that's not for you, you might want to consider switching to a Linux distribution, such as Fedora or Bazzite, or even going over to Mac. Linux can be an especially good alternative if you're using older hardware that isn't compatible with Windows 11.
While it's not a perfect fit for everyone, thanks to Steam's Proton compatibility layer, you can run most Windows games on Linux these days (with the notable exception of games requiring kernel-level anti-cheat).
Regardless, Windows 10 hold-outs are running out of time to update or abandon Windows. For the time being, it looks like many are choosing to stay in the realm of Microsoft and switch to Windows 11.
