I think this article is getting all anxious about a non-problem.
Microsoft ended up supporting Windows XP far, far longer than they expected to or wanted to. As long as people (especially corporate people) need to run Windows on hardware that Windows 11 rejects, Microsoft will extend the Windows 10 EOL date. They'll realize that charging all that for "extended support" will hurt them more than help them, and (mostly) drop it.
It's a little weird that the author didn't bring this up as a possible scenario. I think it's much more likely than any of the others listed. I expect the scenario where Microsoft relaxes the Windows 11 hardware requirements isn't that realistic; they seem to think those hardware requirements are critical for security (regardless if they are or aren't).
Eventually the hardware that Windows 11 doesn't like will age out to the point that Microsoft will actually EOL Windows 10. And the kind of people who will continue to still use that hardware are the kind of people who don't know what security updates are and/or won't care that they aren't getting security updates.
This all feels like a big nothingburger. Worse, the headline is super clickbaity, and I regret clicking it.
Why would charging for extended support hurt Microsoft? They "win" if you pay for it, or if you upgrade to windows 11. If you do neither, you'll probably get hacked down the line if you don't airgap, and Microsoft doesn't gain or lose anything (except goodwill, but that doesn't matter with the kind of monopoly they have).
>Eventually the hardware that Windows 11 doesn't like will age out
Until then it could be like covid, where older cars became more valuable.
Many people might prefer to keep an older PC just so they can keep running Windows 10 until the hardware is not just old, but finally wears out completely.
Kind of like a disease Windows is suffering from, people hope it will get better, but no drug company big enough is working on a cure and there should have been a vaccine against this kind of thing to begin with.
Microsoft ended up supporting Windows XP far, far longer than they expected to or wanted to. As long as people (especially corporate people) need to run Windows on hardware that Windows 11 rejects, Microsoft will extend the Windows 10 EOL date. They'll realize that charging all that for "extended support" will hurt them more than help them, and (mostly) drop it.
It's a little weird that the author didn't bring this up as a possible scenario. I think it's much more likely than any of the others listed. I expect the scenario where Microsoft relaxes the Windows 11 hardware requirements isn't that realistic; they seem to think those hardware requirements are critical for security (regardless if they are or aren't).
Eventually the hardware that Windows 11 doesn't like will age out to the point that Microsoft will actually EOL Windows 10. And the kind of people who will continue to still use that hardware are the kind of people who don't know what security updates are and/or won't care that they aren't getting security updates.
This all feels like a big nothingburger. Worse, the headline is super clickbaity, and I regret clicking it.