Microsoft said today that Windows usage was up 10 percent over pre-pandemic levels and that Windows 11 is off to a great start.

This information is in addition to my two reports from earlier today regarding a public preview of new Windows 11 features coming in February and that the combined user base of Windows 10 and Windows 11 now exceeds 1.4 billion monthly active PCs.

Windows 11 is off a strong start, Microsoft tells me: customers are accepting the Windows 11 upgrade offer in Windows Update at twice the rate it saw for Windows 10. And the software giant says that the Windows 11 upgrade offer is now entering its final phase of availability, putting it ahead of its initial schedule of mid-2022.

Microsoft credits these advances to a “structural shift in PC demand and usage,” driven by the pandemic. But it feels that the changes—“the rise in hybrid work and learning, shifts in entertainment habits and distribution models, and changing consumer habits for everyday tasks”–are “enduring.”

“The PC market saw the biggest growth in a decade,” Microsoft’s Panos Panay noted. “Global PC shipments surpassed 340 million in 2021, and according to Canalys that growth is 27 percent more than 2019. This quarter, we saw nearly 50 percent growth in people who plan to use their PC for creativity, gaming or for work. We continue to see people across organizations, schools, and homes recognize the benefits of a PC for every person.”

Most of those sales, of course, were of Windows 10-based PCs, but that will shift dramatically in 2022. As for Windows 11, Microsoft says that it is “a catalyst for engagement and growth,” with—and this boggles the mind given the reality here—“the highest quality scores and product satisfaction of any version of Windows we’ve ever shipped.”