The Redmond company wants to accelerate the adoption of Windows 11 by displaying on the screens of users of Windows 10 compatible machines, a page suggesting to upgrade their machine… by blurring the tracks to make them accept.
Microsoft absolutely wants you to upgrade to Windows 11. And to get there, the American giant seems to want to adopt the strong method. On Reddit, a user was moved by being offered a screen on his Windows 10 PC indicating that the upgrade to Windows 11 was now “unlocked”. This system is nothing new since Microsoft had already deployed it at the launch of Windows 11 to warn users that their PC was eligible. Nevertheless, at the time, users who saw this page displayed on their machine had several perfectly distinct choices. They could thus choose to accept directly, to open a page allowing them to have additional information, to keep their version of Windows 10 or to plan the installation of Windows 11 later.
Compatible Windows 10 PCs Forced to Upgrade to Windows 11?
But Microsoft has obviously decided that all PCs still running Windows 10 should eventually upgrade to Windows 11. Now, its screen suggesting users to upgrade their PCs isn’t quite the same she was once. Now Microsoft only offers two buttons, which ultimately lead to the same decision. Because if the first button, selected by default and highlighted, allows you to accept the proposal and obtain Windows 11, the second does not allow you to refuse, but simply to schedule the installation of the operating system.
The possibility of refusing the installation of Windows 11 is still present, but much less visible than before. Microsoft has indeed abandoned the dedicated button to drown the “Keep Windows 10” option in a toolbar displayed at the bottom of the screen, and in fact much less visible to the user.
This aggressive method is already widely practiced, especially on the Web. This is in fact what is called a Dark Pattern. Simply put, Microsoft uses this technique to manipulate you. By putting the option she has decided to make you take right under your nose and trying to hide the other options in interface elements that are visually more difficult to distinguish, the chances that you will accept the offer are higher.
Slow Windows 11 adoption
It is probably no coincidence that Microsoft tries this change of strategy and tries to trick you into adopting its new operating system. Because last November, the adoption figures were still very far from good. Indeed, less than one in six PCs used Microsoft’s latest OS. Microsoft seems to want to rectify this at all costs, and it is probably no coincidence that it has decided to officially withdraw Windows 10 licenses from sale on its site. In the meantime, if you have a PC running Windows 10 and this screen appears on your machine, you are warned: you must click at the bottom left on the option Keep Windows 10 to refuse the upgrade that Microsoft is trying to impose yourself.
Neowin
