A Windows 11 tsunami? No, more of a ripple as Microsoft's latest OS hits 5% PC market

Next version of Windows 10 looms around the corner

Microsoft's Windows 11 OS has notched up a respectable near 5 per cent of PCs surveyed by AdDuplex, as another Dev Channel build was unleashed with new features for the favoured few.

With less than a month of General Availability under its belt, Windows 11 now accounts for 4.8 per cent of "modern" PCs (Windows Insiders running the OS account for 0.3 per cent) according to the ad platform. The figure is up from the 1.3 per cent in September, which was Insider-only and points to some migration to the production version of the software.

The figure is both an indicator of Microsoft's cautious approach to releasing its wares and the limited amount of hardware that can actually run the round-cornered OS.

Next month the 21H2 version of Windows 10 will be unleashed, which will be the first indicator of how many users have opted to stick with the old faithful rather than move to the new OS and its diva-esque hardware rider.

Windows 11's early showing was accompanied by the release of build 22489 into the Windows Insider Dev Channel. No, the build did not include the Windows Subsystem for Android made available to US users of the supposedly more stable beta channel (although there are ways around that), but it did feature a reminder that not all Insiders are equal as Microsoft rolled out a new "Your Microsoft Account" settings page to a "small subset" of loyal testers.

Since doing anything much in Windows 11 for consumers is tricky without a Microsoft Account nowadays, the page is an alternative to visiting the company's online portals. Microsoft 365 subscription information, a user's order history, payment details and rewards information are available, and the company plans to enhance things via its Online Service Experience Packs (OSEPs).

OSEPs differ from the Windows Feature Experience Packs, which tweak multiple bits of Windows outside of OS updates. Instead, a specific area – the Your Microsoft Account – is focused on.. assuming you've been lucky enough to win the Windows Insider lottery and be granted access to the new OS.

As well as a raft of fixes, the update also includes support for Discovery of Designated Resolvers (DDR) to allow Windows to bootstrap a DNS over HTTPS (DOH) with only the IP address for a DNS resolver. ®