Next year, Microsoft will end support for Windows 10. For businesses, Microsoft will again provide extended support for a fee. For the first time, consumers can also benefit from such an offer.
On Oct. 14, 2025, Microsoft will end support for Windows 10. Security updates will end, making it basically unsafe to use a system any longer.
Not (officially) compatible
Upgrading to Windows 11 is free, but not a given. After all, Microsoft introduced an artificial minimum requirement for Windows 11: a system must have a TPM 2.0 module to be eligible for an upgrade. Slightly older computers that are still perfectly capable of running Windows 11 in terms of performance thus fall by the wayside. Microsoft is about to create a huge amount of e-waste in one fell swoop.
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Those who cannot or do not want to upgrade, and do not want to buy a new computer, have another option. Companies can traditionally invest in Extended Security Updates (ESU). Under the ESU formula, Microsoft still offers security updates for a fee. Earlier this month, Redmond announced that ESU will be available starting in November 2025. Licenses can be purchased starting now. Microsoft maintains a target price of $61 per device per year, though that price doubles year after year.
ESU for consumers
For the first time, consumers can now buy an ESU license, and for one year. The price for personal use is lower at $30. Further details will follow over the course of next year. The option is interesting, since there are still a lot of owners of a perfectly functional computer that is not ripe for the scrap heap. Such systems can thus still serve for another year.
In one way, the situation is also perverse: Microsoft is creating artificial obsolescence by no longer supporting Windows 10 while blocking an upgrade to Windows 11, based on artificial rules. Those who pay don’t have to recycle their device (yet).
ESU is certainly a good thing for business users: updating often takes time, money and effort that is not always available. For consumers, the ESU option is likewise a good thing, but little more than a curtain-raiser. An upgrade (paid if necessary) to Windows 11 would keep a lot of old laptops relevant a lot longer. After all, the best laptop for the environment is the one you already have.