We can argue about 7 and 10 as well. 7 was "loved" only in comparison and because xp support was starting to end and many people were soft forced to upgrade and 7 was just the only viable choice left over before Linux. Same with 10, support for 7 was ending and people were forced to cross over to 10.

Currently same is happening with 10 and 11 is being avoided like wildfire, so once again people assume 12 is going to be good, which heavily depends how much is Microsoft going to pander to AI, as some leaks have come out that 12 is heavily AI focused, obviously these being leaks so take those with a grain of salt.

In addition nowadays linux has made decent progress and is an actually viable choice to avoid being forced to cross over to 12 and making 12 look good.