With 10 days to go until Microsoft ends free support for Windows 10, Windows 7 has seen an uptick in its market share, while Windows 11 has seen a slight downturn. A new petition is asking Microsoft to extend free support for Windows 10 to avoid millions of serviceable PCs being sent to landfill.

For months Windows 7 had a less than 3% share of the Windows Desktop Market. After a modest increase during August this rose to 3.6% and during September it shot up to 9.6%.

Meanwhile after having been the clearly dominant version of Windows, Windows 10 was overtaken by Windows 11 in July when its share fell to 42.9%. It rallied during August but then saw another drop during September to 40.5% This still puts it only 8.4% below Windows 11 which at the same date had a share of 48.9%.

After we reported on Consumer Reports plea to Satya Nadella to extend the deadline before Windows 10 End of Life, another consumer group, Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has launched a petition making the same request, to extend free support for Windows 10.  

PIRG points out that around 40% of PCs currently in use can’t upgrade to Windows 11, even if users want to as they fall short of the hardware requirements for Windows 11, despite being perfectly serviceable in every other respect.

So when Microsoft stops providing security updates for Windows 10, those computers will either be kept in service despite being insecure and unsafe or they will be thrown out. PIRG, argues that as less than a quarter of electronic waste is recycled, so most of those computers will end up in landfills, leading to:

the single biggest jump in junked computers ever

making it impossible for Microsoft to hit its sustainability goals.

So far, for individual users, all Microsoft has offered is extended support for the operating system through its Extended Support Updates (ESU) program but this either has to be paid for at a cost $30 or can be obtained by syncing your PC settings to the cloud or by redeeming 1,000 Microsoft Reward points. This is however is a temporary solution lasting only for 12 months and just postpones the problem.

A greener solution is proposed by Back Market a Paris-based company which is offering refurbished laptops for sale with Chrome OS installed as the operating system.

In its drive to counter e-waste, the Restart Project has produced an End of Windows 10 Toolkit for community groups to help them with extending the useful life of the PCs that can't be upgraded to Windows 11 - essentially installing Linux or Chrome OS.

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End of Windows 10 Toolkit

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