I think Neil is still busy working on start 11, MS has him extra busy this time around ..There are still a lot of us wanting those taskbar features and there is no point dropping Windowblinds 11 until we know how the taskbar is going to look so that can get skinned as well.

Don't rely on the rate of adoption as a basis for 'success' as the general user is still drunk with the concept of getting it 'free'...ie.  "it doesn't cost anything, so why not?"

If a new OS hurt the hip pocket as they always did in the past adoption rates would be massively lower, for both 10 and 11 as 7 was definitely not a 'dog'.

Here's a cynical thought.....

.....start by releasing a 'new and improved' OS ....call it '8'.  Make sure it's mostly a fail....then release an attempt at a fix '8.1' then...for again no cost...release what's claimed to be the REAL solution....and call it '10', then watch as peeps flock to it to get away from the prior [greater] disasters....

MS Business Model 101.

Microsoft Business model: new vs old

For people able to spend 10,000 dollars on a PC, then the price tag of 150 dollars for a single license operating system may seem like a drop of the hat. But, by and large that price and that business model just wasn't working. Back when windows 7 came out, there were fewer pc's per household, and realistically that old model only worked "maybe" for the one pc households. That business model was barely working for a very good OS (Windows 7) and wasn't sustainable. Honestly, I prefer the "price" of having built in switches I can turn off to get 4 computers vs the price tag of 600 dollars no question.

Success of an OS

All success is dependent on a successful marketing strategy. I wouldn't have paid for Windows 11 yet if it cost 150 dollars as I stated that model wasn't really working. Likewise, some people do not want Windows 11 because they dislike the "price" as I myself prefer. Either way people are going to be lost along the way. Adoption rate is never going to be 100 percent because 100 percent of the people will never like the product plain and simple. However adoption rate is effective in measuring success. Is shows who is willing to pay the "price" they are presented with.. There is more then one way to lose afterall.

Your cynical thought

It definitely is cynical... Windows 8 and 8.1 cost Microsofts CEO his job, Steve Balmer was shown the door and the process to push out Bill Gates had also begun. Windows 10 began under a brand new CEO Satya Narayana who was never a part in the founding of Microsoft. So the cynical dots just don't connect there.

I think you missed the point re 'business model'

It's about their income...not your expenditure.

MS seemingly has written off any and all commercial input from the private user.  What they 'sell' to the User is now allegedly 'free'.

So their model is to go out of business?  They are happy now that they have their billions?

Obviously not.  The new model has catches, most of which we're unaware of - as yet.

Being able to turn off invasive privacy issues is likely to be meaningless to their 'model', as, although it's "opt out" not "opt in" it's too easy to do [at the moment].

The number of private users of the OS - that do not have paid-for accounts for corporate support/service must be in the billions, not millions. [this house alone has 6 in current use].

At say, $150 a head [your number] that's eventually $150 billion[s] they have waived out of the goodness of their heart?

Not bloody likely, not in the real world...

I disagree, I think the fact that Microsoft has built in advertisements is common knowledge. People are more smart then you give them credit for.

Windows 11 was made to sell hardware. Microsoft will make a lot of money off of hardware sales.

If Microsoft made all of its money off of being a personal information seller then they would have just stayed with windows 10 since it has the same capabilities there.. But Windows OS is just a small slice of their profits. They got to sell hardware. They got to sell xbox game pass and office subscriptions... Their business model is obvious

No, again you are missing the point.

Currently the OS doesn't provide MS an income...UNLESS users are sufficiently stupid...and respond to click-bait.  Most learn to ignore ads, particularly the pointedly obvious ones.

Other than the fact 11 currently cannot be installed on 'perfectly capable BUT OLDER' systems consigning them to land-fill [a reprehensible practice] and end users are coerced/forced to buy new machines, any currently capable/modern machine gives nothing to MS for the OS 'purchase'.

The free distribution of these OSs served 2 purposes.

1. to get everyone into the same lifeboat so 'everyone' could be equally 'controlled',

and

2. Support would have a simpler job only having to deal with 1 OS instead of several.

2  saves them some money, but isn't itself an income.

When 'we' all are aboard that one boat ..... what 'holes' are they going to spring on us?

Again, why was 10 going to be the last OS and isn't anymore?

The ONLY answer is that it could not be altered by simple updates sufficiently to suit their plans.

World Domination?

Nah, they already have that ....

That is an unfortunate reality I am sure we can all agree with. There was no need to lock out the amount of pcs that they locked out

Very much so.

Just imagine if Governments charged MS a 'Land fill' tax on any systems with forced redundancy....

Have to agree with Jafo on this one, MS has shot themselves in the foot with it's Win 11 requirements, but as in all things, MS acts and others react. For a while now there has been a Registry patch doing the rounds on the net allowing PCs without TPM Modules etc to use Win 11, but this kind of thing is not for all users and will possibly create issues later on when the encryption for passwords etc comes into it's own.

All upgrades on my machine have now been completed allowing me to Multi Boot several SSDs, the part i needed the most, PCIe Riser cable, arrived last even though it was ordered first so typical really, got bored waiting so decided to upgrade the look and feel of My PC Case, now it is running Vivid Green Neon Fans so will look great when WB11 Arrives and i can Skin Blinds in my own colour scheme.

Win 11 has had a few updates and all SSD drives Running it have not caused any issues with either Explorer Patcher using WB10 on Win 11 or the drives using Theme's and UX Theme Patcher, so , so far so good.

Microsoft's policy in regards to hardware requirements and security has made my head spin. First off they put out details themselves how to use a registry patch to bypass TPM and state that they would not try and stop people form upgrading their PC using this method.. Great a green light from Microsoft themselves! A week later they state that people better not try this method because Microsoft will refuse to update any PC that uses this registry patch that they themselves showed off. I think now Microsoft changed their statement from they wont update PC, to they might not but probably still will.

Hardware requirements are just as confusing. They keep changing the minimum requirements and hopefully they will figure out what they are doing here. There are still a lot of PC's that are very capable of handling security requirements that are not yet allowed an update. This needs to be fixed and Microsoft needs to figure it out and allow the right number of PC's in. Holidays are over.

Yes, this is an area Microsoft has really fumbled. I was lucky enough to have my pc pass the "requirements"

Good.  Maybe by the time Win10 expires I can just load Win11 on the machine I already have,  That would certainly simplify matters.

kona - Have you posted a request in the MS forums about the folders icons. I do know that they removed them as part of the process of making Windows 11 faster then 10. In the forums I havent really seen that request.

The big 3 in Microsofts own forums are

1. Lower security requirements

2. Start Menu customization are too little and the recommendations take up too much screen when turned off (it is now being changed in the DEV build, but is still a whole lot better with start 11)

3. Taskbar needs more functionality (Microsoft is working on drag and drop for this crowd but it will take a whole year to complete)

There's 2 specific issues for compatibility....either one excludes your system.

The i7 920 I was going to put 11 on ....emphasis  WAS fails both....and yet the update only says "Not at this time".

UEFI and TPM.

A system can be entirely capable of running anything you want....mine did....Eg Resident Evil Benchmark at Monitor-default 1680 was 144.4 fps....way back in 2012. [GTX 590].

But Microsoft is suggesting it's now a dud.

......and yet it runs 10 just fine [now that it's a full format/install it no longer fails to update]...

The TPM chip really caught a lot of people by surprise. Anyone that builds their own PC probably did not have installing a TPM chip in their plans and if you bought a PC it is really a game of luck if you already have this chip installed.

TPM 2.0 may have a little impact with security short term, but I really question the idea that it was needed as a requirement for PC security overall. At the end of the day protecting your PC really comes down to the same practices it always has. i.e. don't be stupid.