When Windows 10 hit the market in July 2015, many of us agreed that we were facing the most complete operating system in Microsoft’s history. The Redmond company had managed to get rid of many of the most criticized elements of Windows 8/8.1 while opting for a wide range of features and improved robustness.
That reality meant that just one week after being launched, Microsoft’s new system surpassed the market share that its predecessor had taken five months to achieve. Currently, even with the new Windows 11 in orbit since October 2021, Windows 10 boasts 71.6% market share, but it has a problem: its life cycle is numbered.
Windows 10, towards the end of its life cycle
On October 14, 2025, Windows 10 will reach its end of life. This means that all editions of the system, with the exception of LTSC, will stop receiving security updates. And we already know what this means: using an unsupported operating system means having a vulnerable platform in our possession that can give rise to security problems that end up complicating our lives.
The solution, according to Microsoft, is to move to Windows 11. Now, not everyone will be able to make the leap, even if they wanted to. According to The Register, some 400 million PCs do not meet the necessary requirements to run the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system. So within two years their owners will have to say what to do with these computers whose system will have become obsolete.
Currently, the main obstacles to starting to use Windows 11 (officially and without tricks) in old computers is to meet CPU and TPM requirements. Realistically, a minuscule number of people will try to upgrade their computer components to make it compatible with Windows and a few others will leave the Microsoft system to switch to supported Linux.
Faced with this scenario, The Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) fears that millions of these computers will end up in the trash. So the group has sent a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to reconsider the end of support date for the system. “Microsoft’s abandonment of Windows 10 could cause more computers to become obsolete than any other action in history,” he said.
The organization mentions a report from the US Environmental Protection Agency that suggests that only 25% of the products Electronics in the country are recycled, so they believe that many PCs will end up in landfills. Will Microsoft extend the Windows 10 support deadline? Over time we will know if the acclaimed operating system has more time to live.
Images: Microsoft