Microsoft has a serious problem on its hands; and it's not about the controversies with the Windows 11 recall, although that may be related. We are talking about end of Windows 10what will happen this year if the company does not back down at the last moment; And if you don't, you could put hundreds of millions of computer users at risk.
Windows 10 end of support scheduled for next time October 14, 2025; Microsoft therefore has just over 10 months left to completely abandon the system and its users. This is something inevitable and what Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users have recently experienced; The big difference this time is the enormous success that Windows 10 still enjoys.
According to the figures of Statistical counter, Windows 10 is still present on 65.82% of computers with Windows installed, being by far the most used version; This percentage represents between 850 and 900 million users, according to figures from Forbesusers who overnight will start using an insecure system and become the target of hackers.
Even if from October 15, computers equipped with Windows 10 will continue to work, You will no longer receive updates of any kind.; This includes security updates, which include fixes for discovered bugs. In other words, from this moment on, if a bug is discovered in Windows 10, hackers and attackers will be able to take advantage of it knowing that Microsoft will not correct it. If the situation does not change, the IT sector could face an apocalyptic situation in the worst case scenario.
This is a familiar situation for Microsoft. As with Windows 10, Windows XP It was a very popular system that maintained a base of hundreds of millions of users even after the release of Windows Vista. As a result, even though support for Windows XP officially ended in 2009, Microsoft had no choice but to extend it until 2014, and even support some exceptions with updates until in 2019, ten years after the initial plan.
Microsoft wants to prevent something similar from happening with Windows 10 at all costs, and that's why it has been with a very intrusive promotional campaignwith Windows 11 ads that take up the entire screen and cannot be disabled; Windows 10 users can only ignore them until they reappear.
But this was not enough to convince users, quite the contrary: according to CounterStatistics, Windows 10 increased its market share in the last two months of 2024after six months of small falls. As it stands, the share of Windows 11 does not exceed 30%, clearly insufficient to be considered the “leader” in the sector.
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Windows 11 privacy scandals and extreme commitment to AI on desktop probably haven't helped; It may not be a coincidence that the Windows 11 quota abandoned at the same time as the release of the 24H2 update which brings new features based on AI.
For many users who simply want a fast, familiar system, these new features aren't a compelling reason to switch operating systems. Plus, it's not like Microsoft is making it easy; Remember that Windows 11 has very high requirements, and the company has publicly refused to lower them. As things currently stand, Microsoft will have to make an important decision in ten months: reverse its plans, or abandon hundreds of millions of users to their fate.