Neowin noticed that Microsoft has updated a help document about what it means if youâre using an unsupported version of Windows (spoiler alert: if youâre online at all, itâs a huge security risk), which currently means PCs running Windows 8.1 (or 8) and Windows 7, or earlier.
Itâs worth noting, however, that this will also be the case for Windows 10 devices in a yearâs time if their owners donât take any action, as the end of support rolls around for that OS in October 2025.
Microsoftâs article takes the form of a short discussion followed by a FAQ, and the main update applied to the document pertains to the options for staying supported with Windows, with a new choice added here: âRecommended: New PC with Windows 11.â
So, this is Microsoftâs primary recommendation if your unsupported PC isnât up to scratch, hardware-wise, for Windows 11 â get a new computer.
Given that, itâd be nice to see Microsoft working towards a solution in respect of somewhat newer PCs, which goes somewhere down the path of tackling some of the alarming stats weâve heard about the number of Windows 10 machines heading to landfill in the future. This is a potential environmental disaster that could see hundreds of millions of PCs lumped unceremoniously on the scrapheap.
And ever since those concerns have been raised, we havenât heard anything from Microsoft as to how they might be mitigated. What Windows 10 users (who canât, or wonât, upgrade) can do is pay for extended support beyond October 2025 â but that could turn out to be an expensive way to go, particularly beyond the first year if Microsoftâs previous pricing in these schemes is anything to go by.
Logically, then, Microsoft needs to be looking at a way of keeping Windows 10 alive â for those totally blocked by Windows 11âs more demanding requirements on the security front and elsewhere â which works out to be way more cost-friendly for users, in an effort to save what might be a much heavier price to pay for the planet. In short, âbuy a new PCâ will soon not be the answer we need frontloaded here, and pushing folks to make a purchase of a new computer is already a very dubious first port of call given what weâre facing down the road.
Machines that canât run Win11 arenât immediately obsolete. They can run earlier windows (even though support has ended or will eventually end), and Linux.
And while I sound like Iâm defending Microsoft, this is no different than Apple not supporting older Intel chips on their new OSâs. The big complaint here is the idea that all these unsupported machines are automatically destined for the landfill which I strongly believe is not correct.
There are a few fundamental differences here.
One: the existing hardware isnât lacking anything functional that the user requires. While it may be more secure implemented with TPM 2.0 its far from a hard requirement. After all bitlocker works on 10. The fact that you can presently work around it suggests the limitation is imposed from on high not a hardware requirement.
Two: The hardware isnât all that old. General duty cycle on a phone is around 3 years, about 6 years on a PC. Apple has dropped support for 6 year old phones and 10 year old PC. Especially because intel continues to manufacturer a given CPU long after launch and OEMs continue to integrate them people are going to find machines that they bought new off the shelf within the last 3 years unsupported which unlike a 10 year old Mac feels like a rug pull.
Exactly this. Itâs a completely arbitrary rug-pull made especially repugnant by the fact you can circumvent it quite easily with basically no loss of functionality.
While modding Win11 is a perfectly legit option for home users, itâs not for businesses - as such many, many business-spec computers will be âobsoleteâ once security updates for Win10 end.
Best you can hope for is that these computers pour into liquidation markets giving people the chance to buy decent quality PCs for cheap - but more likely theyâll become e-waste
Speaking of phones.
I just had to buy new ones recently for the older folks at home because of the lack of VOLTE support on their phones. Those phones were perfectly fine and adequate for their use case (basic call, message) and they wouldnât have to change phones if it were not for the 3G network termination.
Now they have new phones with functions that they will never ever use.
VOLTE is a hard requirement. Continuing to support them would require entire installations all over the country to be repaired, maintained, and installed in support of hardware that was mostly 7-12 years old long past expected lifespan. Itâs like the opposite of the Windows 11 thing.
Iâm literally making lists this past month for all our clients to tell em the hundreds of computers they need to dispose of because of compliance issues with their 7th Gen PCs. Hundreds of PCâs will be trashed all because windows garbage bullshit.
They shouldnât goto the trash but itâs not our call. Companies wonât repurpose them, wonât sell em as itâs too time consuming. So garbage they go. Itâs just the path of least resistance.
There are third parties you can contact that will take pallets of old computers and do all the secure cleanup, sorting and selling for you. They can recover cash for you or do the recycling if needed.
Do you have any links to such companies? Slightly curious
Thereâs everything from places like http://www.houstoncomputerrecyclingcenter.co/services.html to https://desktopdisposal.com
Just depends on what services you need. I forgot which one we used at a previous job, but they actually would come out and pick up pallets of severs and desktops, destroy the hard drives and resell them, mostly in bulk.
Also donât forget places like Free Geek - Iâm glad to see my local one collaborating with YouTubers to get the word out but Iâd like to see them do some more local outreach in the runup to W10 EOL (their computers often run Linux but encouraging people to switch to Linux is not their fight, imo). The donation might even be tax deductable.