Windows 11: The Start of the Great Exodus?
Why users and businesses are quietly pushing back and what it means for IT teams
Windows 11 has long been positioned as Microsoft’s future: the next generation of the world’s most widely used desktop operating system, built for security, productivity, and AI-enabled workflows. Yet today, nearly four years after its launch, the conversation has shifted. Instead of universal enthusiasm, there’s a growing disquiet among organisations, tech professionals, and everyday users alike. What was meant to be evolution feels, to many, more like friction, surgical, slow, and contentious. This is not a mass abandonment yet, but you can already see the early stages of the great exodus.
Slow adoption, despite market share gains
On paper, Windows 11’s growth tells one story. According to global usage data, Windows 11 overtook Windows 10 as the most used desktop Windows version in mid-2025, covering roughly 53 % of desktop Windows machines worldwide. (Wikipedia)
For many commentators that milestone was symbolic, but it masked something more complex: Windows 11’s rise was slow, almost hesitant. Where Windows 10 reached hundreds of millions of installs rapidly, Windows 11 took years, aided in large part by the looming end-of-support for Windows 10. Up to that point, a large share of users simply chose not to move. (Wikipedia)
Part of this is technical: when Windows 11 launched, surveys suggested that around 55 % of devices in enterprises couldn’t even upgrade, primarily due to hardware requirements like TPM 2.0. (antech.support) That hardware wall forced many organisations to either delay upgrades or invest capital just to meet a baseline requirement.
Privacy concerns turning into policy headaches
One of the most persistent themes in feedback from IT teams and users alike is around data collection and privacy. There’s a perception, and in many ways a governance reality, that Windows 11 collects and shares a broader range of diagnostic and usage data than its predecessor, especially when features like integrated Microsoft accounts and cloud sync are enabled.
This has driven conversations inside organisations from “what’s the latest build?” to “what data are we allowing, and why?” Even if Microsoft offers controls to limit telemetry, the risk calculus is now part of every upgrade discussion. This is not academic for businesses operating under strict regulatory frameworks, each setting must be documented and defensible.
On public forums and tech boards, frustrations express the same: critics argue that AI-driven features require more access than users are comfortable granting. Some go further, saying the combination of AI and deep system integration threatens privacy, even painting it as “a window into your entire life”. (Reddit)
AI integration: forced or valuable?
If privacy is a governance concern, forced AI is a morale issue.
Microsoft’s Copilot AI and related assistants are now deeply embedded into Windows 11 experiences, and the company has publicly affirmed its vision for an “agentic OS” one designed to anticipate and assist rather than merely execute user commands. (Windows Central) But this vision hasn’t landed uniformly well.
Across corporate teams and social media, users describe Copilot as intrusive, difficult to disable, and in some cases sluggish or unhelpful. A recent analysis of Copilot backlash highlighted how forced integration has left some users feeling like AI isn’t enhancing productivity, it’s cluttering workflows and even inflating subscription costs. (remio)
When the company’s own AI leadership responds to criticism by saying they’re “mind blown” that users aren’t universally impressed by integrated AI, it underscores a disconnect between strategy and sentiment. (Windows Central)
Absolutely — and thanks for pointing that out. One of the biggest real-world frustrations with Windows 11 beyond performance and privacy is how aggressively Microsoft pushes users toward online services and cloud dependency. I’ll weave this into your post with data and credible context.
Here’s how we can expand the relevant section in your article:
Online Everywhere: When “Connected” Feels Like Control
Another growing pain point that fuels the sense of exodus isn’t technical at all, it’s psychological and practical. More and more, Windows 11 feels like an online service rather than a standalone operating system, and that shift is starting to wear thin for users and organisations alike.
From the moment you install Windows 11, Microsoft nudges you towards connectivity and cloud accounts. A Microsoft Account is difficult to avoid on setup, and many users report it being pushed aggressively even when they want a local account instead. For years it was possible to skip signing in online on first boot; under Windows 11, it’s increasingly hard without workarounds, especially in Home editions. This design choice has frustrated users who prefer local accounts for privacy or simple control, and it highlights Microsoft’s strategic pivot to cloud identity. (How-To Geek)
Once installed, OneDrive eagerly offers to sync documents and desktop files. For professionals, this sounds useful, but for businesses handling regulated information, it raises questions about data governance and policy compliance. Microsoft Edge and Bing get similar treatment, pinned, suggested, and generally presented as the default experience unless you go out of your way to change them. For many people this feels less like choice and more like software steering. (Medium)
These aren’t isolated grumbles. They play into a broader perception that Microsoft wants everything connected, logged, and Microsoft-managed. That’s fine for some and necessary for cloud-first strategies, but it’s a departure from the old Windows model where local identity and local storage were the default and cloud services were optional.
This shift has consequences in market behaviour as well. While Windows still dominates overall desktop OS usage globally (around 69 – 72 % of the desktop market), other platforms are nibbling at that share. Apple’s macOS holds around 15–16 %, and Linux, long dismissed as a niche alternative is quietly growing too, with some estimates showing it around 4–5 % globally and even crossing 5 % on US desktops. (Procurri)
That might sound small compared to Windows’s position, but in the context of a declining complacency around “the default OS”, it’s noteworthy. Some Linux distributions are reporting dramatic spikes in downloads following the retirement of Windows 10, for example, Zorin OS said it hit more than one million downloads in five weeks, with a majority coming from Windows users exploring alternatives. (Tom’s Hardware)
And even within traditional PC segments like gaming, alternative ecosystems are rising. Steam’s hardware survey shows Linux usage within its community passing 3 % for the first time, a small but significant increase from previous years and suggestive of shifting preferences among technically engaged users. (Windows Central)
For decades, many people, myself included were die-hard Microsoft advocates. Windows was the default, the safe choice, the path of least resistance. But when everyday tasks feel like they require constant online validation, default apps aren’t just defaults, they’re defaults you’re told you should use. That’s beginning to feel like a constraint, not a convenience.
Performance, usability, and everyday friction
Beyond privacy and AI, there’s the matter of how Windows 11 feels day to day. Anecdotes from workplaces and tech observers frequently point to performance issues, especially in areas that most users encounter every day, like File Explorer, responsiveness in navigation, or the proportionality of animations and prompts.
Some gaming and performance data even suggest that, in specific cases, Windows 11 runs slower than Windows 10 for certain workloads. (Wikipedia) For environments where responsiveness is a metric of user satisfaction, call centres, admin desks, knowledge work teams, even small lags can erode confidence.
These aren’t “blocker bugs”. They are friction and friction is invisible until it’s not.
Check out this recent video from Gamers Nexus, looking at performance comparisons between Windows and Linux
The exodus isn’t (yet) a mass departure, but the discontent is real
Few businesses are suddenly abandoning Windows 11 overnight. Microsoft’s market position and the sheer volume of existing installs, still anchors the operating system in place. What we are seeing is:
- Decisions to delay upgrades rather than accelerate them
- Extended life for Windows 10 wherever policy allows
- Conversations about alternatives such as Linux in specific contexts
- Increased scrutiny on what parts of Windows 11 users actually want vs what they’re being asked to adopt
In other words, the exodus hasn’t happened yet, but the motivations that fuel it are emerging clearly.
What IT leaders should do now
For IT teams, this moment is about intentional deployment, not reactionary resistance. Windows 11 projects shouldn’t be treated like routine upgrades; they need the same rigour as application migrations or security initiatives.
Here’s a short checklist for getting ahead of the exodus sentiment:
Decide your telemetry and privacy settings and document them. Explain why those settings are chosen.
Define your AI policy. If Copilot stays off “by default”, say so and enforce it with clarity rather than hope.
Pilot real workflows, not synthetic benchmarks. Test how everyday tools behave with your cloud services, repositories, and file systems.
…and if a device genuinely struggles with Windows 11 performance, don’t let pride override productivity.
Where we go from here
This post is the first in a System Plus series unpacking why Windows 11 feels to many like a watershed moment, and why it’s sparking discussions IT teams haven’t had in years.
Coming up next:
• TPM 2.0: Security or Control?
• Switching to Linux: Hype, reality, and workplace practicality
• The biggest Windows 11 pain points in real use
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