Sahwa
TechnologyThat Windows sales are crashing could also simply be because of the crashing PC market. People are buying fewer PCs and Notebooks, which often come with Windows preinstalled.
I'm still on windows 10 and don't care about windows 11.
Oh, I switched. And after one year of W11, I switched to dual boot Linux. And now I'm thinking to move W11 to my very old SSD drive as a backup option.
I refused to switch, I use windows 11 at work and I don't like it so at home I just switched to Linux and that was it.
Windows 10 is still getting security updates through October 27, so it still is definitely safe to use.
also massgrave.dev for longer.
I mean the windows 10 kill certainly pushed me.... to linux.
Should have switched sooner. Didn't realize what I was missing out on.
Killed Windows 10?
Seems quite alive on my personal laptop.
Less holding out and more wondering why I should get a new mobo and cpu (When mine work perfectly fine) to run a new OS I only ever hear bad news about.
I'll wait for windows 12 thank you very much. I don't care fire switching every few years I only withstand changing maybe once per decade. Fuck off windows. If you want to be an innovative yearly thing find another industry.
I doubt 12 will be any less of a vibecoded dumpsterfire.
I used to dual boot, not anymore. MS won!
Edit: Just to be clear, I only use Linux now.
Sales? Who's paying for a windows license?
I paid like 5€ for mine. Not sure about the details, but something about the EU stopping MS from preventing second hand software sales (I think), so you can get them super cheap. Bought the key like 5 years ago and zero issues whatsoever. At that price it's not even worth pirating.
Most people who by computers are. It's usually baked into the price of the hardware.
At least, it used to be. I don't touch that stuff anymore, so maybe it's different nowadays.
It was the push I needed to switch entirely to Linux.
It was already a long time coming, but I kept finding reasons to hold on. Windows 11 was just a line in the sand for me, felt like I was being asked to download malware.
Same here. Switched to Zorin OS and have zero regrets.
Why are y’all hating on Microslop? They are awesome! They gave me the biggest gift of all with Windows 11. A high-speed-ticket to Linux freedom after 30 years of Windows. Fuck Microslop.
Im not fuckin upgrading.
i forked up my debian forky install.. twice.. but it still has been a better experience than Windows 11
Yeah. It's one of the reasons I don't like suggesting people dual boot. Use an old computer if you need both, or just swap over.
Though, I did use a pair of pci-e cards with nvme drives inside that I would physically swap when I was transitioning.
i used 11 the other day for the first time in 12 months on my gf's laptop, what the fuck ... I have had Mint on my desktop for 4 years now. Once year I run a legacy Tax program here in Australia that I can't get to work properly in Wine. This is the last year I need to run it thank fcuk.
I switched to Linux. :3
Samesies :3
Pretty much every one in tech at my company has switched from a Windows OS to Linux or Mac in the last year. Almost no one who knows that there is a working alternative is choosing to use Windows in their personal life.
I switched after 30+years on Windows/DOS. I got my mom to switch, one (or two) of my brothers have switched, my little niece's first computer is running Linux. In the span of a year, my family went from 100% windows machines to about 70%. Hell I got my friend in another state to switch to linux, and he's really running with it. Microsoft has a lot of momentum, they can endure these losses by relying on their business platform, but unless they commit to making a clean, light, privacy-focused, secure and stable OS, we will probably see the last Windows in the next decade.
They seem to have forgotten that businesses and home users want mainly the same things - stability, ease of use, common sense settings. Business users also want network management tools, but a lot of home users do, too. The problem is, no one is getting what they want with Win11. I don't know how Microsoft thinks that's going to end, but I only have one home computer that uses Windows anymore, and I'm switching it to Linux soon. It's Win10, so it isn't terrible, and I both can't and don't want to upgrade it, but I have a year before security updates stop. I also plan on getting another computer or two into my home in the near future for self-hosting, and I'm not considering Windows for them, either.
Me too. I had a custom gaming computer, but windows didn’t support it for windows 11. It took me awhile to find the right distro. I dealt with the same thing on the Linux side with people telling me I just had to replace all my hardware for Linux compatibility. Finally found CachyOS and it’s been one of the first times everything just worked on my computer.
I had already switched, I just nuked my old windows partition that I was keeping around for literally one program. Then I got some standalone DJ decks, and the program to export MP3/WAV/OGG/FLACC to work with them only runs on windows, so I got a win10 m$ surface 5 for £30 and it's only jobs are to format stuff for the decks, read totally legally sourced manga, and practice hiragana/katana/kanji.
And... honestly? I've got my whole music library formatted and transferred to a usb for the decks..... probably going to wipe it and install Nobara or something with the Surface Kernel Patch preloaded.....
Microsoft’s Windows OEM revenue fell 27% in the July to September 2026 quarter
Important info omitted from the title
i was using windows 10 because I primarily use my workstation for gaming, and ten years ago linux gaming wasn't great. Then Steam pushed the envelope, but I was too lazy to switch. All windows 11 had to do was not be shitty, and I probably would have upgraded.
Now, I'm back on linux; my rightful home.
Holdouts? We moved on. Microsoft has nothing to hold out for.
~~This is likely looking at “live” windows 10 installs compared to a recent peak, not “total windows 10 machines that never made it to 11” because a large number of machines can never make it to 11.~~
Not even that
Windows OEM revenue fell 27% as Windows 10’s upgrade boom faded
Pretty sure the drop had more to do with PC price increases from the AI-driven component shortages than the quality of Windows.
Price too high so people building pcs chose to save $130 or whatever the fuck it costs now
Also linux just straight up works better in every conceivable way for my purposes
Two things can be true!
Hardware prices are particularily problematic for Window users who need to buy a new computer because Windows 11 is not compatible with their not-so-old computers.
I'd bet this isn't even a Windows thing, more like computers are unaffordable as home units and companies are letting their fleets age longer than usual trying to get out from under current RAM pricing.
Yep, SMB's are holding on longer. And a few enterprises where there's tens of thousands of machines, could be enough to impact those sales figures.
I have friends in the SMB IT space and ALL their clients are delaying desktop/laptop upgrades.
I see the same in large enterprises. People are still using 5-6 year old machines (still fit for purpose).
I think the mass migration to linuxtopia accounts for maybe 2-3 of that 27%, but the bulk of it is just declining PC sales.
Higher AI adoption, slower job market, fewer new hires, less need for new leases, smaller orders from vendors. The boom of the 2010s is over, and AI isn't going to fill that gap (literally just said it's the cause of it).
Hold outs! Fuckers said throw my perfectly working gaming computer in the trash and buy a new one. Get fuck Microsoft!
I switched to linux in 2018 because windows 10 sucked too
Switched to linux a couple years ago. Been mostly fine. The day to day is a basic-ass plasma kde desktop. I power the machine on. Type my password. Open firefox, steam, etc. It's fine.
One time after updating and foolishly following some "sudo apt stuff" to try to fix something preventing it from updating, it booted without a graphical environment, but reinstalling the nvidia drivers fixed that from the terminal. That was admittedly scary, but people in the discord were helpful.
I'd still rather have that kind of hiccup than support Microsoft.
I started with DOS. Then Windows 3.11, 95, 98. With XP I had already switched to Linux. Never looked back.
From XP on it was already clear Microsoft was not doing things in our favor... (Internet Explorer coupled with the OS... Seems silly now in comparison to the shit they are pulling)
It's me, I'm holdouts.
My experience with Linux hasn't been good enough for me to move yet. I want to, but I'm really resistant to having to fix a bunch of stuff and use CLI for basically anything.
I have zero desire to distro hop until I find what I like, but when it comes to my PC, I'm lazy.
What?
I moved to Fedora this year and barely had to touch the CLI and I even have Nvidia.
There are distros that do literally everything for you.
The only reason not to switch is software for work, or laziness.
Just FYI, I am another holdout but Linux hasn't been a command line required OS for like 20 years. (Unless you're doing driver installs) You should try KDE. I'm mainly holding it out because several games that I still play with my friends will not run in a non-windows environment.
I have an Ubuntu server I set up recently for streaming and I was surprised at how much it was still necessary to do about 50% of setup and troubleshooting in the terminal. Maybe Ubuntu is the issue instead of other distros.
I find using the terminal better for many things, mostly because you can actually just copy and paste solutions / install links / etc. I recommend getting to know at least the basics.
But just saying, as I get that you can't argue on preferences.
There are websites where you can demo distros. You don't have to download or install, and can just check them out from the browser.
To his point, that requires effort and just not interested.
And I use Linux every day for servers - ESXI, NAS, Proxmox, etc - because it's fantastic for those uses.
But a desktop replacement is a much bigger thing to tackle, and I'm not interested in spending time on that. I've done some (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint) and ran into issues just doing what I consider basic things on a test machine.
Windows has its issues, for sure, but all the basic tools are there out of the gate - my 10 year old Logi mouse just works (doesn't on Mint), RDP to/from any machine just works (doesn't on Ubuntu), etc. And I only found out by running those distros as a desktop on hardware.
This is the gap we have getting people to switch. Regular users don't have our interest in getting things to work - to them a PC is the tool for doing the things they want to do, and tinkering with the PC isn't part of that.
Being in IT for most of my career ruined me on troubleshooting and fixing my own stuff. If it just works without needing to fix it then that's all I really want.
I have an Ubuntu server that required a decent amount of tinkering to get going but it's more of an appliance I use for Plex, music, and audiobooks. I just don't have the desire to tinker when I have time to play.
One day I'll remote into another PC to browse the web, and only allow steam protocols on my win10 machine through a firewall to play games. Life will be good.
Inb4 Steam drops support for Windows 10, foiling your plan
Doesn't mean it won't work on it still
Same deal here. I'm happy running Linux servers, just not as a daily driver.
That's where I'm at as well. I don't want to think when it comes to just playing something. I have a streaming server setup on Ubuntu and that required a lot of tinkering that I just didn't feel like doing on my minimal downtime.
Switch to Linux you actual cowards.
It's not that hard.
Right.
Over and over I hear this from people who've clearly never managed a business environment where you have entrenched processes.
Or processes dependent upon specific software that has no Linux counterpart (CAD).
Even if an org could switch desktops to Linux, there's a massive cost just in the switching, then making sure it all works, then the lost production as employees figure out new ways to do things they've done for years.
Then what happens when you take on a new client or new vendor who only works with "this thing" that only works through windows? Now you have to spend time and money validating whatever solution you develop, instead of just using "the thing" which has already been validated through years of use by that ient/vendor and their clients/vendors.
Or when you're dealing with regulatory processes that have been addressed througjout your industry with a specific set of Windows tools, and those tools have been approved/validated by the regulatory agency or insurance agencies - and now you need to get the same process validated under Linux with Linux tools, hoping the regulators or insurers won't just say "nope, not interested".
BTDT, with alternate Windows tooling, and just got shut down because existing tools were available. "Why would you want to use a different tool when X process/tooling exists?"
It's just not realistic, even for many small orgs.
FreeCAD for CAD, PrePoMax, openfoam and calculix for FEA.
I wouldn't worry much, AI will free you from your CAD burden soon probably.
I love/use FreeCAD but let's not kid ourselves. It's nowhere near as capable or usable for serious engineering projects as the big name commercial CAD suites. It's starting to get there, but it has a very long way to go.
Blender, on the other hand ...
Switching is an investment in the business, not a cost. If you're already locked into proprietary software and you can't problem solve your way out of it, is it really your business at that point or are you a victim of racketeering? If the business can't adapt, one way or another it will fail eventually in any case. Not switching means you're giving more and more away and getting less and less in return. That also is not sustainable.
If you can still do the job your client is paying you for, they can be negotiated with on the terms of how that job gets done and what tools are used for it. That's what contracts are for.
As far as what people know how to use, they weren't born with CAD knowledge and things got done before CAD was a thing. New tools can be created, adopted or repurposed. Employees can be trained again, even if they grumble about it.
Regulators and insurance is a sticking point for sure, but they will follow if these tools become more ubiquitous or people start calling their representatives. Those businesses will lag behind, but those businesses are not the majority of businesses.
Change is inevitable and doing something the same way as it's always been done eventually becomes a major liability.
I had to switch because my laptop couldn't handle windows 11 and I needed a new one anyway.
Honestly had zero problems with windows 11 but still happy windows and microslop are dying
If you want to install Win 10 for whatever reason, you can use this to activate it: https://massgrave.dev/
I use Linux for most desktop things and Win for gaming.
I'm pretty much entirely Linux but I still dual-boot one machine for work and... I literally can't upgrade to Windows 11 because of the TPM requirement. And I'm not upgrading my PC during a massive surge in component prices just to accommodate Microsoft's nonsense.
maybe Windows 13 will be a good one.
I dunno, 7,8,10,11,13 might be a bit too consistent for Microsoft, we don't want people to accidentally understand what order things release in.
Introducing Windows S series X Live 360 One Professional.
Microsoft likes to reuse names for things that are unrelated. I think the new "Windows" will be called either "Windows OS" or "CoPilot".
They already tried and failed rebranding other stuff to CoPilot so yeah they will likely try again with Windows.
Her name is sony
Is that the midterm OS that’s surprisingly stable until SP1?
Windows 27
I don’t get “sales” of windows faltering, because I think to this day you can still activate win11 with valid win8 keys.
Oh okay they mean OEM keys but those are tied to new computers so that seems to be wholly encumbered by a different problem which is needs for more compute haven’t gone up since 10 came out?
Windows 11 requirements are a big part of why the hardware costs are skyrocketing.
A laptop with less RAM can still run windows 10, but not 11.
Switched to Linux, it’s so much better. Only thing windows is good for now is playing those shitty “AAA” games with rootkit anticheat, and frankly with how much market share Linux is picking up in gaming thanks to the steam deck etc, those corpos probably won’t want to hold onto the sinking garbage scowl that is M$ + EAC for much longer.
There has never been a better time to switch to Linux. Just do it!
