windows 10 will be officially dead by october 2025

Did you know Windows 10 was originally released July 29, 2015? At the time I write this, that was nine-and-a-half years ago. And if you didn't know, Microsoft's official end-of-support date for Win10 is October 14, 2025.

This does make me wonder if there will be a repeat of what happened to WinXP users when Win7 was released.

I remember back in 2009 when Win7 was new. I was all-in with it, but a ton of XP users had absolutely no intention of switching, with the thought of, "I'll run XP forever! Ha!" Well, we all know how that fared out, because nothing is forever.

The vast majority of those XP holdouts ended up with computers that got old, broke, data was lost, and they were forced into the uncomfortable position of buying new computers.

It didn't have to be that way.

It is amazing to me how the holdouts who use old operating systems do not prep for the future at all. Even something as simple as buying a 512GB USB stick (which is cheap now) to back up important data is something they absolutely will not do.

What's available now that wasn't back in '09 are cheap mini PCs. These things by design barely take up any space. You buy the thing, learn the OS, get used to it, and can switch over at a reasonable pace instead of being forced into it.

Did I do that? No. I did the "hard mode" thing, switched to Linux in '23 and continue to use it. But I wouldn't ask a Windows user to do that. Instead, I just say get a 512GB stick, copy over your stuff, get a mini PC, set it up to your liking, copy over your backed up data, and ta-da, done. Now you're ahead of the curve and don't have to be forced into any unnecessary computer purchases.

Will the Win10 holdouts take those reasonable steps? Smart ones will. As for the rest, they'll keep using Win10 after October, maybe get away with it for 6 months to a year, but then uh-oh, something on the computer broke. Could be hardware or software, but something will break. If it's hardware, the new replacement stuff won't support 10. If it's software, the new version won't support 10. You're screwed both ways.

"But everything works on 10 now!" Yeah, currently. But six months to a year after official support ends? Yeah, good luck with that. You'll need it.

Better to just back up your stuff and ready a cheap computer box now rather than when it's too late.

Published 2025 Jan 28