For those of you who haven’t kept up with updating your Windows 11 device, now is the time to do so. Microsoft has announced that it is finally supporting it Windows 11 version 21H2 for Home and Pro editions.
According to Microsoft’s official page, the October 2023 security update is the last, and 21H2 will no longer receive monthly security and preview updates. Microsoft explains: “To help you stay protected and productive, Windows Update will automatically initiate a feature update for Windows 11 consumer devices and unmanaged business devices that have reached end of service, or within several months of reaching of it.”
Windows 11 version 21H2 was released two years ago as a free upgrade. But now Microsoft will recommend those still using it to upgrade to Windows 11 version 22H2 and, as outlined in the statement above, remind users to do so. However, for those using Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise and Enterprise multi-session editions of the operating system, the tech giant will continue to provide security updates until October 8, 2024.
Windows 11 remains unpopular
Despite Windows 11 It’s been out for about two years now and still has a much lower adoption rate than its predecessor Windows 10. According to data from StatCounterWindows 11 has a market share of 23.6%, which is barely higher than the market share of April 2023, when it was 23.1%. Compare that to Windows 10, which already has a 71.6% share of the desktop market. And in its first two years, 10 had a market share of 36.6%, much higher than 11.
There are several reasons for this problem, the biggest of which is the new system requirements for Windows 11, specifically TPM (security), which leaves older generations of processors out of the picture unless users spend money to upgrade their installations. Another reason is the lack of a significant difference between Windows 10 and 11, which would especially discourage those who would need to update their PC.
Not to mention the other problems of advertisements creeping into the operating system more often, privacy issues that arise from it, as well as a steady stream of bug reports emerging and persistent problems such as slow SSDs.
Hopefully this will all be a lesson to Microsoft when it eventually releases Windows 12, that to convince users to switch to the operating system, you have to give users a reason to convert in the first place.