Posted on 11/08/2025 11:24:27 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Microsoft has officially ended Windows 10, marking the end of an era, but what comes next might completely change how we use Windows.
In this video, we break down what’s happening behind the scenes with Microsoft’s next move, how Windows is shifting toward cloud-based systems, and what that means for you.
You’ll learn:
It was the platform that brought technology to the world. But somewhere along the way, Microsoft lost that spark. Windows didn't die overnight.
It faded slowly, one bad decision at a time. And now, what's left feels less like a tool for creativity and more like an ad platform wrapped in AI features that no one asked for. So today, let's talk about it.
How we got here, what really killed Windows, and what's coming next. There was a time when Windows was untouchable. Windows 95 changed the world.
It gave everyone a digital front door, the start menu, the task bar, the simple joy of clicking something and watching it work. Then came Windows XP, arguably the best version of Windows ever made. It was stable, simple, and reliable.
Businesses built entire infrastructures around it. XP didn't need constant updates or cloud sync. You bought it once, installed it, and then it was yours.
No telemetry, no ads, no bloat, just performance and predictability. Back then, Microsoft wasn't just selling software. They were selling empowerment.
You weren't leasing technology. You owned it. And in a way, that's what built the entire modern business world.
Offices ran on XP. Microsoft will pull the plug on technical support for its Windows XP operating system. But a lot of people still rely on XP.
I haven't had a need to change because it didn't break. Up to 25% of consumers and businesses are estimated to still be using the 12-year-old operating system. But Microsoft, on its website, is counting customers down to zero hour at midnight tonight.
Networks were built around it, and productivity was defined by it. For a while, it felt like Windows would last forever. But that kind of comfort always sets up for the next disruption.
The cracks started to show with Windows 8. Oh, brother, this guy stinks! Instead of improving what worked, Microsoft tried to reinvent the wheel and made a square one instead. They threw out the start menu, plastered the screen with tiles, and built an interface that made no sense on a desktop. It wasn't built for users.
It was built for metrics, for app installs, for engagement, for control. Microsoft was chasing Apple's App Store revenue and then forgot what made Windows powerful in the first place, familiarity. They stopped solving problems and started chasing trends.
Then came Windows 10, the last version of Windows. It was supposed to fix everything, a service that would evolve forever. Except service turned into subscription, and then Microsoft spent years calling Windows 10 a service, not a product, something that would evolve and not expire.
But apparently service now means subscription. They pulled the same crap with Microsoft Office, forcing everyone onto 365 whether they wanted it or not, and now they're doing it again here. It's the same playbook.
Take something people already paid for, strip away the ownership, and sell it back as a monthly bill. In the business world, we call that vendor lock-in. You build reliance, then move the goalposts.
And if you've ever had to migrate an entire team off a bad system, you know once you're locked in, they own you. The real death of Windows isn't about software. It was about trust.
Microsoft started treating its users like data points instead of customers. Updates broke more than they fixed, and ads appeared in File Explorer. Privacy settings became more like a maze of off-but-not-really-off toggles.
And then they pulled the hardware lock stunt. Perfectly good machines, still fast, reliable, they still worked, and then suddenly labeled as unsupported for Windows 11. That's when users realized this wasn't about innovation.
It was about control. The company that once sold ownership now sells permission. And that permission comes with strings attached.
Analytics, advertising IDs, and constant online verification. That's not progress, that's control. And it's a hard sell to businesses who actually rely on the consistency.
The modern Microsoft doesn't sell software anymore. It sells subscriptions, access, and telemetry. The Windows of today feels more like a marketing platform and less like an operating system.
Your taskbar promotes Edge, your start menu suggests apps, and even Outlook upsells for storage and co-pilot integrations. They've completely monetized productivity. And now AI is the newest obsession.
Recall, co-pilot, and intelligent everything. But here's the truth. AI isn't what's ruining Windows.
Their business model is. Microsoft's not building for users, they're building for retention. Keep people inside the ecosystem, feed them just enough innovation to justify another subscription, and then collect data along the way.
For some small businesses trying to stay efficient and secure, that's a nightmare. Because instead of stable, predictable tools, you're now managing an ever-changing ecosystem of forced features and hidden costs. Windows doesn't feel personal anymore, and it feels transactional.
But here's the thing. People are waking up. 10 years ago, switching operating systems felt impossible.
And then today, most of what you do is in the browser. Email, file sharing, chat, project management, everything's online. The operating system is no longer your ecosystem, it's just your gateway.
And that's why we're seeing more MacBooks and Offices that used to be all Windows. Even Linux? Yeah. The nerd OS is quietly building momentum.
Distributions like Ubuntu, Fedora, and PopOS are all polished, secure, and they don't try and sell you things every five minutes. And for a lot of companies, this change isn't rebellion, it's efficiency. They're realizing that they don't need to be tied to one vendor.
Their workflow's in the cloud, and the OS is just the wrapper. Microsoft trained people to depend on Windows. The cloud trained people not to care.
The next Windows moment won't happen on your desktop. It'll happen in the cloud. Microsoft knows this.
That's why they're pushing hard into the cloud PCs, the virtual desktops streamed from Azure that run anywhere. It's convenient, sure, until you realize that that convenience means you're giving up control again. When everything lives on Microsoft servers, you don't just lose ownership of your software, you lose ownership of your work environment.
And it's not just Microsoft. Apple's heading there with on-device AI that syncs everything through iCloud. And then Google's already there.
You live in the browser, not on your machine. We are moving to a world where your device is disposable, and your identity is the product. It's efficiency for the vendor, not the user.
And while this makes perfect sense from a business perspective, it's dangerous for innovation. Because monopolies don't innovate, they optimize revenue. But here's where it gets interesting.
Users still have power. If you're tired of being milked by subscriptions, there are real alternatives. macOS, Linux, and even cloud PCs from independent providers, they all work, and most businesses won't miss a beat.
Your tools are already in the cloud, your files are already synced, and all you really need is a system that's secure, stable, and something you actually enjoy using. And if Microsoft's direction keeps going this way, more people will move simply out of principle. Because in business, trust and reliability are currency.
And once that's gone, it doesn't matter how advanced your AI is, people are going to leave. The best tech doesn't trap users, it earns them. Say what you will, Windows changed the world.
It put a computer in every home and every office. It connected people, it built industries, and it made the modern economy possible. But somewhere along the line, Microsoft forgot that success came from empowerment and not control.
Windows used to represent creativity and ownership and possibility, and now it represents surveillance, subscriptions, and lost trust. And it's just so sad because Microsoft didn't have to lose the people who helped them build their empire. They just stopped listening to them.
Windows didn't die because it failed, it died because it became unrecognizable. So what's next? Probably cloud PCs, subscription models, and AI baked into everything. Microsoft's going to keep doubling down on control, and people will keep deciding if that trade-off is worth it.
But here's the beautiful thing about technology, it always finds balance. Every time a big player overreaches, something new rises. Linux is maturing, macOS is stable, even Chrome OS is finding its footing.
And then new platforms, later open source and privacy first, are already being built by people who grew up frustrated with the same problems we're talking about right now. So maybe Windows isn't dead, maybe it's just evolving out of relevance. Because as history shows, when a company forgets about why people love its product, that product eventually stops mattering.
So yeah, the Windows we grew up with is gone. The startup chime, the simplicity, that feeling that your computer worked for you, all replaced by AI prompts, cloud sync, and subscription reminders. But maybe that's not the tragedy, maybe that's the lesson.
Because Windows taught us everything about computing. And now it's teaching us one last thing, that no company or system or platform lasts forever. Technology moves forward, users adapt, and maybe it's time we take back a little bit of that control we've been handing over.
Thanks for watching. If you've ever used Windows, you're part of this story, and I would love to hear your take. Do you think Microsoft can turn this around, or is Windows truly gone for good? Drop a comment below, and I'll see you in the next one.
the you tube bimbo is a tech idiot also ...
Go with “Mint”. It makes for an easy transition
I refuse to give up 3.1
All you had to do was click a couple of buttons to “continue” Windows 10 for another year.
it was the “end”...that wasn’t.
With Windows 11, Microsoft convinced me to finally get a Mac.
Heh. I’m side-stepping Windows 11. I’ve got free extended support on Windows 10. I have all my files on both OneDrive (Microsoft) and Google Drive, and solid-state drives.
I can go to Linux at any time and run a Windows emulation.
I’ve never bought Windows 365. I want to own my software. I have a copy of Office 2007 I’m still using.
Heh. I’m side-stepping Windows 11. I’ve got free extended support on Windows 10. I have all my files on both OneDrive (Microsoft) and Google Drive, and solid-state drives.
I can go to Linux at any time and run a Windows emulation.
I’ve never bought Windows 365. I want to own my software. I have a copy of Office 2007 I’m still using.
I have a quad-boot with W7, W10, W11 and Linux all installed. But I’m putting together a new system where Linux is going to be my primary O/S with Windows O/S’s running in VM. I hope.
Bookmarking, great advice
If you think Microsoft is even a little bit in peril, you obviously don’t understand the machinations of Bill Gates. He didn’t get to be a multi-billionaire by being a business dunce.
For general usage on a laptop or personal workstation I absolutely love Linux Mint. I've got it "bare metal installed" in an ACER 315 Chromebook that I bought used online for just $75, and it fits nicely (that install required disassembly so that I could disconnect the battery during installation). I've also got it on a HP 9480m Folio laptop, which is a very fine machine with top quality, backlit keyboard with much higher capacity, which I picked up used online for < $200.
I use the lighter weight Lubuntu distro for server machines.
Don’t have control over your data, which will be monetized for profit, and must have full time connectivity, another source of revenue. No thanks!
Make sure your brother knows what a “command-line interface” is, because he will be using one.
It hearkens back to the mainframe systems of the 70s.
My wife worked for a thin client manufacturer back in the 90s. Network Computing Devices (they were in Mountain View).
She got a duffle bag from them that I use as a range bag to this day.
(that install required disassembly so that I could disconnect the battery during installation).
As a Linux guy I have never heard of such a thing... Would you mind elaborating why so I can learn something?
“Make sure your brother knows what a “command-line interface” is, because he will be using one.”
Now why did you do that? That is not true, the Command Line Terminal is almost never needed in most Linux. With the new GUI Distributions the Terminal is rarely needed at all for anything. You either have no clue about “new Linux” or you are biased against Linux and trying to scare folks away.
Here are a couple of videos that led me to the Chromebook-on-Linux Promised Land:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq44cHvxTXI&list=PL8C_b6D7q94ppfuo0fSEJAQxauf9Kcf-d&index=23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6oyqrrXTLM&list=PL8C_b6D7q94ppfuo0fSEJAQxauf9Kcf-d&index=22
In the first example, he had to remove the “write protect screw” inside the laptop. For my ACER CB315 I had to disconnect the battery to accomplish the same thing.
I use the heck out of this Chromebook with Linux Mint.
Oh, I see, proprietary hardware and CMOS protections then... Like the old days of pulling the board battery to disable or reset the CMOS, or needing to change jumpers on posts to make hardware work right.
Thank you for sharing, it will be something I have to factor in going forward with my Linux experience. Yep, I have tried all the major Distros and have finally just settled on Mint as the go to. But... They too are now starting to follow the MS example of changing versions and stuff that does NOT need changing too often and dumping old versions way too soon.
Right now 18.3 and 20.0 have been the best and most stable I have used and they have already eliminated availability of 18.3 and dropping support and availability for 20.0. The 19.x series was a disaster with drivers not working right and bugs because they changed things from 18.3 they should have just left alone.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it... Just supply the minimal security updates and minimal Kernel support for any new hardware that comes out. That is it, don’t break nothing else, leave what already works alone as a permanent solid foundation. If AI doesn’t turn me off computing altogether I am considering building my own distribution and doing exactly that...
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