Microsoft Needs to Get Serious About Its Windows 10 Upgrade Problem

pcmag.com:

The Windows 10-pocalypse is a short two years away. On Oct. 14, 2025, Microsoft will stop issuing security updates for Windows 10 PCs, at which point most of the world’s PCs—about one billion computers—will be running a dead operating system, like Windows XP. And most of those computers can't upgrade to Windows 11.

Half of the readers of my Windows Intelligence newsletter are still using Windows 10 on their primary PC. The one billion estimate comes from two sources: Microsoft, which has said there are more than 1.4 billion Windows PCs, and Statcounter, which shows that the vast majority of PCs on the planet—more than 70%—run Windows 10.

Worse yet, this isn’t like when Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 7. Those PCs could upgrade to Windows 10, but this time around, many Windows 10 PCs don't suport Windows 11, at least not officially. If you can't afford to buy a new PC, you'll be left out in the cold after Oct. 14, 2025. From a security perspective, it’ll be as if you were using Windows XP or Windows 7.

"That’s the debate of our age,” Paul Thurrott, a journalist who’s spent decades covering Microsoft and owner of Thurrott.com, told me.

Thurrott pointed out that Microsoft extended support for both Windows XP and Windows 7, although support for Windows 7 only covered businesses that paid extra every year. “Honestly, Windows 11 adoption is less than I'd have thought, especially in businesses. That could cause [Microsoft] to continue support for Windows 10," he said.

I asked Microsoft for a comment on its plans, and a spokesperson said the company had “nothing further to share at this time” other than what's on the lifecycle page.

With past versions of Windows, Microsoft has offered businesses an Extended Security Updates