Support for world's most popular operating system will die in less than a year

It's officially less than a year until the world's most popular operating system loses support from Microsoft, in an event that is being described as "The biggest Ctrl-Alt-Delete" in history.

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That operating system is none other than Windows 10, which, according to data from Statcounter, currently holds approximately 65% of the operating system market, with Windows 11 only recently bumping up past the 30% market. Notably, Windows 11 is being adopted at a rate much slower than previous operating system generations, and with Microsoft announcing the end-of-support date for October 2025, it's a real possibility that millions of Windows 10 users will have an increased security risk following the official end of support date.

Each PC no longer receiving security updates from Microsoft will be exponentially vulnerable to breaches or be rendered obsolete if it doesn't meet the hardware requirements for Windows 11. Microsoft has stated users with Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) editions of Windows 10, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC, and Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC will all have extended support durations. However, any other version of Windows 10 will no longer receive support from Microsoft post-October 14, 2025.

Microsoft will be put in a unique position in October next year, particularly if hundreds of millions of machines remain on Windows 10. Microsoft will be forced to abandon its customers in hopes that they will upgrade their systems to meet the requirements for Windows 11 or reduce the requirements, risking angering any customer that went out and bought new hardware just for the Windows 11 upgrade. Regardless of the specifics, Microsoft will need to do something to assist the potentially hundreds of millions of customers who will be left with an obsolete machine.

The event was called "The biggest Ctrl-Alt-Delete" by Steve Haskew, Group Director of Sustainability and Growth at Circular Computing

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