At work we’ll need to pay for extended support, probably just for a year on a few machines as they will be complicated to migrate, no pricing yet last time I checked though.
At home, I’ve had Win11 pretty much since it came out, find it annoying, but largely ok. I’ve moved over to MacOS now for most things so I’m less affected by Microsoft randomly moving things around but need to keep a Windows machine for a few things unfortunately
Windows 9 is now Windows 10
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Dr Lobster*
- Posts: 2123
- Joined: Sat 30 Aug, 2003 20.14
The obvious issue with people not moving over this time compared when previous versions went end of life is the ridiculous hardware restrictions that Microsoft put on Windows 11, meaning many people can't upgrade to 11, even if they want to, even when their computers aren't particularly old and they can't justify or afford to buy new ones yet (I certainly can't). I can half see Microsoft relaxing the hardware requirements or extending Win 10 support at the last minute, as it's just going to leave too many computers vulnerable otherwise.
There is a page quoting prices in USD of $61 for corporate users which has to be bought through volume licencing, and for individuals and/or Win 10 Home it 'will be available' for $30. Prices double every year, and are cumulative so late opters into the program have to buy the previous years they didn't have as well as paying heftier fees for the years that they do.Dr Lobster* wrote:At work we’ll need to pay for extended support, probably just for a year on a few machines as they will be complicated to migrate, no pricing yet last time I checked though.
A few UK sites have converted this to come out at £24 for the first year for individuals (or 'millions of Windows 10 users face shock Microsoft fee' as I've seen), but Microsoft doesn't list any actual prices themselves nor is there any means to sign up to it yet that I can see
I actually quite like it, would really miss things like the tabbed file browser if I went back. On the general idea of migration away from Windows, both MacOS and Linux are pretty much flatlined in all the time that Windows 11 has been around. There has been a slight drop in Windows users, but that slack has been picked up by an increase in Android, suggesting that whilst there might be a small shift towards using mobile devices, when it comes to a PC it's still all about Windows.Dr Lobster* wrote:At home, I’ve had Win11 pretty much since it came out, find it annoying, but largely ok. I’ve moved over to MacOS now for most things so I’m less affected by Microsoft randomly moving things around but need to keep a Windows machine for a few things unfortunately
I think there was an expectation that surely they wouldn't go through with this. Whether or not the requirements are particularly outrageous or not (particularly after 4 years) is one thing, but going from Windows 7/8/10 all having hardware requirements essentially unchanged from Windows Vista up to Windows 11 needing this in one step was too much.james2001 wrote:I can half see Microsoft relaxing the hardware requirements or extending Win 10 support at the last minute, as it's just going to leave too many computers vulnerable otherwise.
That said, they haven't backed down at any point. They obviously are aware that people run on unsupported hardware since loopholes to force install it which could be closed never have been, and despite threatening to withdraw security updates for unsupported systems they never have, but despite all that the official line remains. At this point, I actually think it would do more damage to back down, firstly because they played the 'we need this coz security' card too hard to fold it now, and also because of how many people that might piss off who have shelled out on new hardware they otherwise weren't planning to buy.
Only thing I can see them doing is allowing particular ringfenced groups of users/classes of device to have the ESUs for free, but not a general extend of support nor any backtracking on their hardware requirements.
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Martin Phillp
- Posts: 1539
- Joined: Wed 11 May, 2011 01.28
I purchased a new PC in May 2024 to ensure I was Windows 11 ready. The older PC which I had since 2018 with Win 10 wasn't TPE 2.0 compatible, so I used the excuse to buy a new PC with a 2TB SSD, 16GB RAM and a faster processor than the old iCore 3 with the old PC.
With Win 10 I believed the hype that this would be the final Windows release and they'd just do updates to keep it going, but Microsoft has to continue with these revenue streams of releasing new OS.
With Win 10 I believed the hype that this would be the final Windows release and they'd just do updates to keep it going, but Microsoft has to continue with these revenue streams of releasing new OS.
TVF's London Lite.
I almost forgot that Windows 10 was going to be 'The last version of Windows ever'. To be honest, would 'Windows as a Service' have ever worked?
Fully migrated to MacOS now, with the exception of the very occasional need to burn a disc which I still rely on a an ageing Lenovo desktop for. At some point I'll buy a USB drive for that so I can claim that bit of desk back.
The only other exception is the Logitech MyHarmony app, which I run in a Windows 11 virtual desktop via UTM. It's not great but it works.
The only other exception is the Logitech MyHarmony app, which I run in a Windows 11 virtual desktop via UTM. It's not great but it works.
Work is currently implementing a switchover to Windows 11. It's the first time we've had self service OS upgrades for Windows, previously its always been either a device swap or IT take it away for a day and re-image.
It's meant that there has been a need to buy new devices. Most laptops had already been updated through standard lifecycle meaning there were not too many of the 9 year old HP Elitebook G3s left.
The bigger problem is the estate of student desktop machines in the library etc. They're mostly an older model that was constantly re-imaged to keep it running fresh. The money to replace these has... erm... yes.
One potential option rather than paying the EOL licence ripoff is to run them as thin clients for a virtualised desktop on azure... apparently its cheaper, and also deals with the problem where Teams dumps 1 gig of temp files into your user folder just for daring to log in. On a shared device with a 256 ssd that becomes a problem v quickly.
It's meant that there has been a need to buy new devices. Most laptops had already been updated through standard lifecycle meaning there were not too many of the 9 year old HP Elitebook G3s left.
The bigger problem is the estate of student desktop machines in the library etc. They're mostly an older model that was constantly re-imaged to keep it running fresh. The money to replace these has... erm... yes.
One potential option rather than paying the EOL licence ripoff is to run them as thin clients for a virtualised desktop on azure... apparently its cheaper, and also deals with the problem where Teams dumps 1 gig of temp files into your user folder just for daring to log in. On a shared device with a 256 ssd that becomes a problem v quickly.
"He has to be larger than bacon"
Microsoft have since 'clarified' what was meant by that in that unlike previous releases, development on the next version did not immediately start but rather Windows 10 development continued. Thus Windows 10 was at the time rightly described as the 'last' version because it was the version they were currently still working on, but they never said there wouldn't eventually be a new version.Blewatter wrote: Thu 01 May, 2025 17.02 I almost forgot that Windows 10 was going to be 'The last version of Windows ever'. To be honest, would 'Windows as a Service' have ever worked?
This absolutely is not a retcon, they just didn't feel the need to clarify this when all the articles to the contrary got published and apparently were assuming and assumed wrong. Such clarification was apparently only necessary when Windows 11 was unexpectedly announced.
What I think we're actually seeing is major Windows releases moving to a 6 rather than 3 year cycle. Windows 10 was current for 6 years which was quite a departure from previously releases but ultimately will only be supported for 10 years, pretty much standard. Meanwhile Windows 11 was widely suspected as heralding a return to 3-yearly releases but here we are 4 years later and we're no closer to knowing when 'Windows 12' will come out...I'll make a bet...it'll be 2027 when Windows 11 is 6 years old.