Millions Of Americans Get Microsoft's Free Upgrade Offer

Forbes

21-04-2025

Microsoft's stressed campaign to push hundreds of millions of Windows 10 users to upgrade continues. But there are still more than 700 million holdouts and an alarming redline for users without PCs eligible for the upgrade. While that's thought to be around 240 million PCs, it could actually be a much higher number than that.
This week the company has pushed the hardware benefits of the TPM 2.0 security chip that is the primary dividing line between those PCs than can upgrade and those that can't. But as Microsoft continues its struggle, there is some good news at home, as the Windows-maker has quietly crossed a critical milestone.
Per Stacounter's latest data, there are now more Americans using Windows 11 than Windows 10 — a huge change as the October 14 deadline fast approaches. In February, only 42% of American users were on Windows 11, but by March that had jumped to 54%. Over the same period, Windows 10's U.S. market share dropped from 66% to 44%.
Microsoft is winning the upgrade race in U.S.
Statcounter
Microsoft needs to replicate this in other key markets. Across Europe, for example, Windows 10 still holds a stubborn 55% share with Windows 11 down on 42%. And those numbers are not moving anywhere near fast enough to solve the problem by October. The situation is even worse in Asia, with more than 60% of users still on Windows 10.
Last month — the same month that Microsoft hit this critical U.S. milestone — the company warned users that PCs which don't upgrade will be left wide open to 'data breaches, identity theft, and other serious consequences.'
Don't leave it too late, Microsoft told owners. 'Security updates are like locks on your doors—they help keep the bad guys out. These updates patch up vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malware or hackers. Without them, your unsupported OS is an easy target, and your personal info could be at risk.'
It looks like millions of Americans have taken note.
The deadline date is October 14. After that, 'Microsoft will end support for Windows 10,' which means it will 'no longer provide software updates from Windows Update, technical assistance, or security fixes for Windows 10.'
Given the record number of vulnerabilities patched by Microsoft last year, the cyber nightmare of hundreds of millions of users falling off support on the same day is unprecedented. Microsoft has never struggled like this to push an upgrade before.
At least in the U.S. that problem is now receding. Microsoft just needs the rest of the world to catch up — and catch up fast.