Posted on 10/31/2024 6:20:04 PM PDT by dayglored
Microsoft has thrown a lifeline to Windows 10 users ahead of the OS going end-of-life, by offering an extra year of patches for $30.
Support for Windows 10 ends in October 2025 and Redmond is pushing people to upgrade to Windows 11, with mixed success to date – as of last month, Windows 10 had 62.75 percent of Redmond's OS market share, compared to 33.42 percent for the newer version ago.
Perhaps that’s why the software behemoth has decided to offer Extended Security Updates - previously only available for business, education, and government users - to anyone who wants them.
"For the first time ever, we’re introducing an ESU program for personal use as well," wrote Yusuf Mehdi, consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft. "The ESU program for consumers will be a one-year option available for $30. Program enrollment will be available closer to the end of support in 2025."
This will be a boon to those who don't care to upgrade or who can't because their PCs aren’t capable of running Windows 11.
Enterprise users can pay $61 per device for an extra year of support, but that doubles the next year to $122, and again to $244 in year three. Users in the education sector have it much easier - they pay $1 per license for the first year, then $2, and then $4 per Windows 10 machine.
Windows 11 is one of Microsoft's most poorly performing operating systems, in part due to the powerful hardware it requires. Chipmakers and PC players expect the need for upgrades to bring a payday, but that hasn't happened yet.
Part of the problem, as The Register readers have noted on our forums, is that Windows 11 isn’t a significant improvement over its predecessor. While Redmond repeatedly touts the benefits of Copilot and AI, it doesn't seem to be an incentive for many people to rip and replace their hardware to take care of it.
Microsoft also risks driving users to non-Windows machines. With Apple's market share steadily growing in the US - and the iPhone's popularity - many may consider making the switch.
Or perhaps 2025 will be the year of Linux on the desktop. ®
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Note: My prior attempt to post this thread threw an error that caused there to be no initial "Comment" and no way to reply. Hopefully this one will work.
Hated it then
Hated it now
I hope it dies a slow painful death
>> My prior attempt to post this thread threw an error that caused there to be no initial “Comment” and no way to reply.
No kidding! I blamed myself. It damaged my self esteem. I think I need a support animal. Who can I sue?
No, no no! Always blame the computer!
I’m still on 7 even though the kids say it “died.”
bkmk
I know what you mean, I remain a loyal fan of Win7 Pro despite its alleged demise in 2020.
Nevertheless, Win10 has become the "Win7" of its time and is now nearly 10 years old as well. Win11 is arguably worse, and is unpopular. Microsoft is simply acknowledging the reality that folks don't like it.
So Win10 will in fact die a slow death (software doesn't feel pain, alas).
>> No, no no! Always blame the computer!
Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot. LOL
What I was going to say when THE @#$%^& COMPUTER wouldn’t let me COMMENT was:
I never did like Win10 but I learned to tolerate it. But I guess I’ll pay their danegeld for a year because I really don’t plan to ever install Windows 11. I consider it to be Microsoft tightening their icy grip of total control around MY!!! computer.
Fortunately my customers are in no hurry to move to Win11...
This might be the thing that forces me onto Linux except for one isolated box running 10 for various work apps I need.
It works well enough...other than the pointless change of moving of the start button to the center vs. it always having been in the left corner since Windows 95 is the only main difference I’ve seen. However, my work laptop that upgraded to it sometimes has the fan running so fast it sounds like it may be about ready to take off in flight.
Same here, working AOK.
Windows 7 definitely was my favorite Windows OS. Windows 10 has turned out to be fine with a *LOT* of tweaks and disabling of privacy “features”. My understanding is Windows 11 can’t be secured as well as 10. Windows 10 will be my last Windows OS. Full-time Linux comes next.
7 works fine for me.
My laptop isn't the most potent but runs win 11 well enough.
11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz 2.80 GHz,
64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
I've run windows operating systems since ms dos was the operating system
of choice.
I didn't use window os until the third or fourth version, the 'c' prompt was
faster.
That said, win 11 isn't that much different from the earlier versions, just
more bells and whistles to disable.
Me too and it's still going strong after 11 years. Upgraded to a SSD hard drive. Too many legacy programs Adobe Photoshop, video editing programs, etc. to give it up.
I love my DOS 6.22
Wait. Is there something after Windows 3.1??
I was able to move the start where it belongs.
I like Win7, and have it on a couple of boxes. Some stuff that’s important to me only runs on Win7. Although you need a 3rd party browser, it’s pretty close to the ‘old’ windows architecture. Win11 I hate. The standard Win11 install is so tightly locked down as shipped you can’t install anything that’s not Microsoft approved.
The feds leaned on the chipmakers to include hardware level hackability, and leaned on Microsoft to force an upgrade to the new chips.
Mere coincidence that AMD, Intel and ARM happened to come out with chips with certain “cutting edge features” at the same time? Security features or National Security Administration features.
With a few minor registry hacks, Win 11 will actually run fine on many computers without those features. The need for an upgrade is artificial. (Not sure I’d try to upgrade my Windows 7 machine, however. Because I believe in making the federal employees work for their money, and they’ll have to monitor me the old fashioned way.)
XP for me. But 7 is usable.
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