It looks like Microsoft is trying to unsubtly encourage Windows 10 users into upgrading to Windows 11, again. This isn’t the first instance of Microsoft trying to goad users into using Windows 11 or another of its products – recently, Microsoft’s been getting called out both by users and competitors for trying to push people to use its browser, Edge. If you’re not a fan of this behavior, unfortunately it looks like Microsoft isn’t going to let up.
In what could strike some users as a rather tone deaf move, Microsoft recently put out a Windows IT Pro blog post proclaiming that it has “good news” for users who use devices running Windows 10 Pro or Pro Workstation.
In the post, Microsoft announced that what it calls ‘an invitation’ will appear after a user signs in (often following a restart) that will prompt these users to opt in to get Windows 11. If you have a suitable machine that’s eligible for the Windows 11 upgrade and it’s not managed by an IT department, it’s likely that this notification will appear for you. Microsoft doesn’t hide that it very much wants users to use Windows 11.
Windows 10 Pro users – brace yourselves
Here is an image of the notification that users can expect to see:
In the page that prompts users to upgrade their operating systems to Windows 11, users can choose to install Windows 11 right away or to schedule the install for a later time. The option to continue using Windows 10 is also there, but you might not have noticed it in the image above – it’s pretty deliberately put at the bottom of the page and doesn’t look like a button. BetaNews goes as far as to argue that this is possibly deceptive.
I don’t see this paying off for Microsoft, which is clearly eager to convert more of the Windows 10 user base, which happens to still be the most-used version of Windows. There are multiple reasons why Windows 10 is still so beloved, and why users are reluctant to use Windows 11, and with policies like this, Microsoft looks like it’s simply ignoring its customers’ preferences, and just trying to push users to do what it wants.
Users want to have choices, and while they do have some tolerance for what they perceive as annoying behavior from Microsoft, that will only last so long. Perhaps Microsoft feels a boosted confidence after it recently reached the status of being the most highly valued company in the world, but if it keeps burning through user goodwill, it could push away a substantial number of users.