Consumer Reports has taken aim at Microsoft, calling on the company to keep supporting Windows 10 beyond next month’s cutoff. In a letter addressed to CEO Satya Nadella, the advocacy group urged Microsoft to stop charging for extended security updates and instead provide them free of charge. The concern is simple: once support ends on October 14, millions of devices will be left unprotected, and many of those machines cannot even run Windows 11.
The situation is not small. Nearly half of all Windows PCs are still running Windows 10, according to StatCounter, which works out to more than 600 million computers worldwide. Even worse, estimates suggest between 200 million and 400 million of those machines will never be able to run Windows 11 because they lack hardware requirements like TPM 2.0. That leaves a massive pool of devices that could quickly become security liabilities.
Consumer Reports points out that Microsoft has offered a one-year paid extension for $30, but that is hardly a long-term solution. It is a short grace period that leaves consumers with an unfair choice: pay a fee for temporary coverage, buy a new PC, or accept the risk of running an insecure machine. The group says this approach puts not only individuals at risk, but also the broader internet ecosystem, since unpatched machines can be hijacked to launch attacks.
The letter also takes issue with the way Microsoft handled the transition. Even after announcing the stricter requirements in 2021, PCs that could never run Windows 11 were still being sold in 2022 and 2023. Consumers buying those systems had every reason to expect at least a decade of use, given Microsoft’s long history of keeping new versions compatible with older hardware. Many owners of Windows PCs tend to hold onto them longer than other brands, making the sudden cutoff even more frustrating.
But here is the thing: Consumer Reports knew this deadline was coming. Microsoft announced the Windows 10 end of life date years ago, so sending a letter less than a month before the cutoff feels far too late. While I appreciate the sentiment, waiting until now to raise the alarm does not exactly help consumers prepare.
And let us be fair. Microsoft cannot be expected to support an operating system forever. Windows 10 was released back in 2015, and by the standards of software lifecycles, it has had a long run. Security concerns are real, but at some point, moving forward is inevitable.
Of course, there is always another option. Consumers who do not want to buy new hardware or pay Microsoft’s extension fee can look to Linux as a backup. Modern Linux distributions run well on older hardware and continue to get security updates without charging users. It may not be a perfect fit for everyone, but it is a viable lifeline for people who do not want to toss out perfectly good machines.
Microsoft argues that the tighter hardware rules improve security, and it is true that Windows 11 brings safer defaults and fewer exploits. But leaving hundreds of millions of machines stranded while pushing consumers to spend money does not sit right with Consumer Reports. The bigger issue is that the organization should have been louder about this much earlier.
