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Free support for Microsoft Windows 10 comes to an end on Wednesday. That’s a big problem since almost half of all Windows computers worldwide run on that particular operating system.
According to 404 Media, that means that as many as 400 million computers will soon become obsolete because they don’t have the technical specs to be upgraded to Windows 11. That, in turn, means there will be a plethora of security issues around the globe, as well as millions of computers that will have to be disposed of, and an untold number of businesses, government agencies, and schools will have to purchase new computers to replace their current systems.
“There’s 400 million computers that are going to enter the waste stream. That’s a disaster, just in terms of the sheer volume,” Nathan Proctor, director of consumer rights group PIRG’s right to repair campaign, said on the 404 Media Podcast. “And then you have people who are going to ignore the warnings and use a computer that’s insecure, so there’s going to [eventually] be some widespread security problems with these older, unsupported, no longer getting security updates computers.”
Notably, Microsoft is going to continue offering security updates to customers who pay for them, meaning that it would be trivial for the company to continue to offer critical security updates for free. This is notable because we have seen unpatched Windows computers and devices turned into ransomware and botnets, most notably the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack, in which repurposed, leaked NSA hacking tools attacked computers running Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. WannaCry was one of the most devastating widespread cyberattacks in history.
Obviously, migrating from one Windows operating system to another is not a new concept. This time, however, more than 42 percent of all Windows users are currently using Windows 10. By comparison, when support for Microsoft Windows 8 ended, only 3.7 percent of computers were using it, and just 2.2 percent were using Windows 8.1 when support for it was removed.
Another issue with this planned obsolescence of so many computers, is the fact that carbon emissions associated with mining the raw materials needed to produce a new computer will be have to be increased unnecessarily, as will the energy and emissions that come with the manufacturing and shipping of all of these new computers.
The only hope is that protests such as PIRG’s campaign asking Microsoft to extend support for Windows 10 works like it did in 2023 when Google agreed to extend automatic updates for Chromebooks to 10 years.
“To cut support for something that is legitimately a flagship product is bizarre. No one expects Microsoft to do software updates forever, but when 43 percent of your customers are using it, it’s not obsolete,” Proctor said.