With just a year and a few months to go before Windows 10 reaches its end-of-support date, Microsoft’s strategy to implore Windows 10 users to move up to Windows 11 has been pretty poorly executed. Windows 10 users have been struck by annoying ad campaigns that are invasive and oftentimes take up the full screen, or pop up incessantly. However, Microsoft has vowed to back off thanks to the backlash it’s received from users. Hooray!
According to Windows Central, Microsoft stated “to honor our user’s feedback, these invitations will no longer begin with the April 2024 monthly security update. We will share a new timeline in the coming months.”
While this is great news for Windows 10 users who are tired of having these insistent ads shoved down their throats, it’s not clear if Microsoft is giving up entirely on this approach or if the company is just planning a more low-key way of prompting users to upgrade without getting a lot of flack.
Windows 11 has received a bigger share of the market recently, with more people swapping over to the new operating system, so it seems somewhat pointless for Microsoft to harp on the topic, especially with the end-of-life date basically ever-present in many people’s minds.
People are still reluctant to move over to Windows 11 for a number of reasons, including persistent bugs and flawed update layouts, glitchy Start Menus, and strict system requirements. Users may also be reluctant to embrace Windows Copilot and the other AI features that have been popping up on Windows 11.
In all honesty, these massive pop-ups have probably driven more people away from Windows 11 than towards it, similar to the way a lot of people feel rather turned off by the Edge popups that come up when you use the browser to download alternatives like Google Chrome or Opera GX.
We can only hope for Microsoft’s sake that the company takes this licking as a lesson and avoids making the situation worse.