The countdown has begun. On 14 October 2025, Microsoft will end support for Windows 10. This will leave millions of users and organisations with a difficult choice: should they upgrade to Windows 11, or completely rethink their work environment?
The good news? You don’t have to follow Microsoft’s upgrade path. There is a better option that puts control back in the hands of users, institutions, and public bodies: Linux and LibreOffice. Together, these two programmes offer a powerful, privacy-friendly and future-proof alternative to the Windows + Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
The move to Windows 11 isn’t just about security updates. It increases dependence on Microsoft through aggressive cloud integration, forcing users to adopt Microsoft accounts and services. It also leads to higher costs due to subscription and licensing models, and reduces control over how your computer works and how your data is managed. Furthermore, new hardware requirements will render millions of perfectly good PCs obsolete.
This is a turning point. It is not just a milestone in a product’s life cycle. It is a crossroads.
So, help me understand here, what will exactly happen when I try to turn on my Windows 10 computer on October 15th?
No updates for consumer versions of Win10. Including security ones. If on October 15th a zero-day exploit is out in the wild, Microsoft would not be obligated to patch it. They may regardless (see WannaCry Malware patch for Windows XP), but it will not be ongoing, and probably not all-encompassing.
The longer you use the machine on win10 after October, the more exposed you are to any exploit found in the existing windows 10 version.
What this post is trying to present is that Linux distributions almost never run into these issues - especially when it comes to running on legacy hardware. If you install Linux Mint today, you’ll still be able to update it in october and beyond, for the foreseeable future.
Edit: There will be a subscription option to receive extended security patches from MS for Windows10, but it will not be free, and the price will rise as time passes (similar to win7).
Sad truth but regular users don’t care about security updates.
The more who are aware, the more who will care. And hey, not like typing an honest answer hurt anyone here.
Thank you!
You’re welcome! Always glad to help ppl with these kinds of questions!
You said no updates for the consumer version, but there will be optional paid extended support available for consumer users who opt to pay for updates for a year.
Good point, I should have mentioned that. Although I think it would be reasonable to say that paying a subscription for security updates would be a non-starter for almost all of the home users.
You’d be surprised. I run a small IT business and I have many elderly customers on a fixed income. Linux is unfortunately not an option for most. Some have opted to buy a new or used W11 compatible PC, but many will be paying for extended support. For $30 for the whole year, it’s much cheaper than a whole new computer.
Those pesky reboots will stop!
/s