this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
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Microsoft EVP Yusuf Mehdi said in a blog post last week that Windows powers over a billion active devices globally. This might sound like a healthy number, but according to ZDNET, the Microsoft annual report for 2022 said that more than 1.4 billion devices were running Windows 10 or 11. Given that these documents contain material information and have allegedly been pored over by the tech giant’s lawyers, we can safely assume that Windows’ user base has been quietly shrinking in the past three years, shedding around 400 million users.

This is probably why Microsoft has been aggressively pushing users to upgrade to Windows 11 after the previous version of the OS loses support — so that its users would install the latest version of Windows on their current system (or get a new PC if their system is incapable of running the latest version). Although macOS is a threat to Windows, especially with the launch of Apple Silicon, we cannot say that those 400 million users all went and bought a MacBook. That’s because, as far back as 2023, Mac sales have also been dropping, with Statista reporting the computer line, once holding more than 85% of the company revenue, now making up just 7.7%.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

You member when they said windows 10 would be the last version of windows? Cause I member.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I strongly suspect most of them are people who had a PC, but now just use a tablet and phone for everything.

All those family photos at risk of being lost to a dodgy HDD that makes weird clicking noises when you accessed certain folders, now "safely" "stored" in Facebook's AI data training centres.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. As much as I want to imagine 400 million people switched from windows, to Linux or mac, I suspect it's more likely that a lot of people just don't need any other computer besides their phone these days.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

Who is storing photos with meta? I get they ae accessing them but they are likely stored on icloud of gdrive. Both of which I would prefer over microsoft. Tbh I would prefer stone tablet carvings to microsoft.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I bet many of these "lost" users were windows installed on signage displays, and other similar stuff

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

You've not lived until you've seen a bunch of self-serve petrol pumps out of order, with a quarter of a BSOD on each.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I need to figure out what it takes to move my Minecraft save files from Windows to Linux. Should have started it long ago but never got around to it. It's quite literally the only thing I've used Windows for in a decade. Everything else I've always used Linux compatible stuff if not Linux itself for the last 26 years.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Are these modded worlds? If not, it should be plug in and play. I didn't have any problems when I moved my worlds.

I'd recommend Prism for your Linux minecraft launcher.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

i installed prism on a whim a while back when i felt like Minecraft for a day.

it just seems to work out of the box with all mods I've tried

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Java is cross-platform lol

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

I've moved enough things in the past to know that things aren't always as cross-platform as they seem and to not take anything for granted. Even txt files are cross platform and we all know there is that carriage return issue.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

Probably quite easy if you use the Java edition.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

You copy and paste it, if it's the java version.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago

The Year of Linux.... maybe? LOL

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago

no surprise. people are using phones more, and tablets/chromebooks, too, to a lesser extent. there's a lot of folks here that only use their phones now.

all sorts of reasons why people are dumping their windows pc.. but microsoft has yet to come up with a good reason why they should keep them or upgrade. none. not a single one.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Even old windows games does no longer work on windows BTW.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If someone can get Ground Control 2 working again, I'll name my first born after you.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

This page seems to suggest that it works fine in Linux (otherwise, why would it have notes for Linux users that don't include anything about it not working?)

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Ground_Control_II:_Operation_Exodus

That took me three seconds to google lol

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

In my experience, this is usually the result of DRM. Most of my physical library of PC games doen't work because they use some kind of variation of StarForce. If you go back far enough, yes the old 16-bit titles don't work, and DOS hasn't been properly supported since pre-XP. Things like games not supporting widescreen resolutions or running some kind of bizarre deprecated library is often quite fixable. For all the criticisms I have of Windows, getting old games to work hasn't really been one of them.

Games for Windows Live can go to hell though.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

That's one of the reasons I use Linux as my daily driver. I'm not playing high end games, I only play old windows games from my childhood.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

High end games work just fine as well.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's really a pretty staggering fact when you think about it. Windows has jumped the shark so completely that you prefer Linux for running old Windows games. I feel like even just 5 years ago, most folks would find a statement like that completely bizarre, and now it's taken as entirely sensible.

It has been so entertaining to watch these idiots trash one of the most dominant market positions in the history of markets. Just amazing stuff. And I really think we're gonna see that get even worse! I should be buying stock in popcorn lol

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

Those popcorn stocks went through the roof when Donald Duck got elected president of the United states though

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Once I know there will be 99% reliability on Linux for the games I play, I'll happily ditch Windows. I feel like we're slowly getting there. I've only ever used Windows/Mac/ChromeOS, so I suspect there would be some adjustment.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago

Yeah it's about there now, proton and wine do amazing things

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago

Already there.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago

The author is reading WAAAY too much into a blog post statement. "More then a billion" could also mean 1.4 billion just like in 2022 but it just sounds better. Plus, you can't just compare a number from a blog post with an annual report. It's like comparing apples and oranges. I think this article is just wishful thinking.

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