The Copilot AI love for Windows 10 is still ongoing, but it will no longer receive updates after its end-of-support date on October 14, 2025, as Microsoft noted in a recent IT Pro Blog post. However, to ensure that companies and potentially individual consumers have enough time to prepare for the eventual upgrade, Microsoft will soon offer an Extended Security Update (ESU) program for Windows 10.
Similar to the program created for Windows 7, organizations can purchase Extended Security Updates for Windows 10, which is currently locked at version 22H2, through a yearly subscription. The maximum extended life of the updates is three years, until October 14, 2028. It’s important to note that the program only covers critical and important security updates, and there will be no technical support beyond these patches.
An alternative option is to migrate Windows 10 PCs to Windows 11 in the cloud through a Windows 365 subscription. This way, the actual Windows 10 system on these machines will benefit from the Extended Security Updates at no extra cost, but still only for a maximum of three years.
Microsoft is encouraging users to upgrade to Windows 11, but as reported by Ars Technica, the tech giant plans to extend the ESU program to individuals this time. This is a change from the Windows 7 ESU program, indicating that Microsoft is well aware of Windows 10’s continued dominance, as it still holds approximately 68.02 percent of the market compared to just 26.63 percent for Windows 11, according to Statcounter as of November 2023. More details and pricing will be available at a later date.
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