In another episode of “We will make you feel like a second-class user if you don’t adopt Windows 11,” Microsoft is repeating old tactics to solve old problems. As we have noted before, Windows 11 has only half the market share of Windows 10, whose extended support ends in October 2025, and it will only receive one extra year under the ESU program. What is Redmond doing to avoid more conflict? Showing full-screen ads to Windows 10 users, “recommending” Windows 11 machines.
Shortly before Windows XP ended its extended support in April 2014, users received a pop-up warning about the situation. When the free Windows 10 upgrade offer hit its deadline, Redmond did something similar, but that time it showed a full-screen message to Windows 7 and 8.x users. In 2019, it was Windows 7’s turn, which also received pop-ups before the cutoff in January 2020. And now… it’s Windows 10’s turn. Instead of acknowledging that Windows 11 has a hardware requirements problem, the strategy from the masterminds at Redmond is… to show more full-screen ads.
Redmond: The pop-ups will continue until Windows 11 numbers improve
The folks at Ars Technica report that there are at least three variants of the same message.
The first variant targets gamers, claiming that “satisfaction in Windows 11 is the best in history” for the operating system, and that it’s helping millions of players enjoy their favorite titles with shorter load times and higher framerates (let’s say Steam users are responding positively to that).
The second variant recommends a new computer with Windows 11 and Copilot+ support, since these are the systems with “faster and speedier” Windows. The third variant talks about “starting the plans” for the end of Windows 10 support, suggesting the use of Windows Backup to transfer files, photos, and apps from Windows 10 to “a new PC with Windows 11”.
Now, none of the messages directly tells users that they must upgrade to Windows 11, but all this has worked as well as a lead life preserver. The responses on the Web were corrosive, but deep down we know that the situation is going to get worse. Once again, Redmond could eliminate tensions by relaxing Windows 11 hardware requirements or by announcing some kind of “Windows Fundamentals” for legacy machines, but its lack of good faith is absolute.
