Windows 10 is due to reach its end of support on October 14th, 2025, despite the fact that it still has a substantial share of the Windows Desktop market. Consumer Reports has sent a letter to Satya Nadella arguing that Microsoft should extend this deadline in order not to "strand millions of consumers who have computers that are incompatible with Windows 11".

When Windows 10 was introduced in 2015 it's 10-year lifetime didn't seem unreasonable. It did, however, take much longer than anticipated for the operating system to be widely adopted. While at its launch Terry Myerson, made the ambitious prediction that the new operating system would be on 1 Billion Devices in two to three years, that milestone was only reached in 2020, after almost 5 years.

It is four years since the launch of Windows 11 and its take up has also been extremely slow. It was only in July 2025 that, according to StatCounter, its share of the Windows Desk exceeded that of Windows 10 on a worldwide basis. The StatCounter figures for August show that Windows 11 share fell back by 4.5% and both Windows 10 and Windows 7 gained users.

The reason for many Windows users reluctance to upgrade is the need to buy more powerful hardware. It has to be noted that gamers, who require the additional speed afforded by the specifications of new Windows 11 machines, transitioned much more quickly to the new operating system. For the rest of however, including Enterprise customers, the expense of Windows 11 hardware seems excessive. 

Last month a single individual, Lawrence Klein, filed a lawsuit in San Diego, California, that states Microsoft has used the end of Windows 10 support to drive people to purchase new devices:

"Microsoft’s decision to discontinue support for Windows 10 while most of its consumer base was still using it was part of the company’s larger strategy to force its customers to purchase new devices optimized to run Microsoft’s suite of generative artificial intelligence (AI) software such as Copilot, which comes bundled with Windows 11 by default."

It is unlikely that there will be a ruling in the case before October 14 but now a more influential group, Consumer Report, an American non-profit that advocates for consumer rights in the marketplace has called for an extension for free support of Windows 10, stating that:

As of August, 46.2% of people worldwide are still using Windows 10, which is about 646.8 million people based on Microsoft’s own estimates of 1.4 billion people using Windows as an operating system. There are also an estimated 200 million to 400 million PCs worldwide that cannot be upgraded to Windows 11. This is an incredibly high number of stranded Windows 10 machines. Microsoft in its own blog post warns that:

While these devices will continue to function, they will no longer receive regular security updates, making them more vulnerable to cyber threats, such as malware and viruses.

The fact that Microsoft is urging customers to upgrade to Windows 11 to bolster cybersecurity, but also leaving Windows 10 devices susceptible to cyberattacks is, the letter states, "hypocritical". It also criticizes the $30 fee for:

"a mere one-year extension to preserve their machine's security,"

and also decries the free support options that force people to use Microsoft products, the latest offering being free support in you opt for Microsoft Cloud backup.

Personally I intend to stick with Windows 10 and have no intention of shelling out for extended support or for cloud backup. I know this is a risk so I do hope Consumer Report can persuade Microsoft to give me and the other 600 plus million people a breather.  

More Information

Statcounter

Windows 10 support ends on October 14, 2025

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Got There - Windows 10 On 1 Billion Devices 

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