Sometimes you can’t keep a good OS down and according to the latest Steam survey, Windows 10 is still on top after nearly ten years. While Microsoft may have designed Windows 11 with gamers in mind the OS has enough issues to keep gamers from adopting it to the point that it has lost ground in the latest Steam survey. According to the July report Windows 11 usage dropped by 0.82% bringing its total down to 45.81% among Steam users.
However, surprisingly the aging Windows 10 OS saw an increase of 0.74% to reach a current total of 50.16%. It should be noted though that trends such as this are not unheard of as despite the current popularity of Windows 10, it too had an upward battle versus Windows 7. Hilariously it looks like there’s still at least one Steam user running Windows 8.1 (a slightly improved version of one of the most disliked Microsoft operating systems in the last decade).
Pros and Cons of Windows 11
The news only gets worse for the almost four-year-old Windows 11 OS as according to StatCounter (via Notebookcheck), Windows 10 sits at 65% of the market share and its successor is trailing far behind at 30.82% but it does appear to be gaining ground. Microsoft has tried to entice PC users with the newer operating system by adding new features such as Auto HDR and DirectStorage but then there are caveats, as is somewhat normal for a newer OS, to using it. A big hurdle for owners of older PCs and laptops is its TPM 2.0 requirement, but then there can also be the occasional app or hardware compatibility issue. Deprecated OS apps can be a drawback for those who prefer a solution previously available. Lastly, another factor can be the ongoing “ads” that Microsoft seems to be adding to promote its services.
What about the rest?
Of course, not all PC users, or Steam users for that matter, use a Microsoft operating system to game with. Linux comes in 2nd place at 2.08% among Steam users with Arch Linux being the distro of choice at 0.17% and then Mint 21.3 at 0.11%. Apple sits at 1.37% with MacOS 14.5.0 at 0.69% and then MacOS 14.4.1 at 0.08%.
