Keep an eye on Windows 10 long-term support options
Just as day follows night, a new release of Windows is generally aligned to the end of life of the version before the most recently shipping version. And this means that roughly every five years the industry gears up to a sales bonanza as people rush out to buy the latest and greatest Windows OS installed on the latest and greatest hardware.
The Microsoft Insider blog suggests the company is working on more and more Copilot+ PC features. Does that justify an OS upgrade?
Windows 10 end of life now seems like a line in the sand. It is a marker and Microsoft is encouraging everyone to get off Windows 10, but has acknowledged this is a tall order. Home users who are not connected to an Active Directory for work, can get a year of free extended support, which means they have access to the latest patches until October 2026.
But looking at the various alternatives it offers its enterprise customers, it is clear that Windows 10 is not going away any time soon. First there is the Extended Security Update (ESU) subscription, which provides Windows 10 updates on a yearly subscription, where the price increases in each subsequent year. This means that the longer a business continues to run Windows 10, the more ESU will cost.
Then there are two long-term operating system products. Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021, which offers support until 2027 (and extended support until 2032). There is also the Windows 10 Long Term Support Channel (LTSC) which guarantees long-term support for five years.
Microsoft publicly says these two operating systems are binary equivalents but are licensed differently.
All of these options should be of interest to anyone involved in desktop IT, Windows 11 migrations and planning PC upgrades.
Almost every organisation appears to be struggling to keep costs stable as they face the combined pressure of price increases from suppliers, caution from their customers. It’s a poor economic outlook.
Yet, on the face of it, it looks like Microsoft is using the end of life date for Windows 10 as a way to extract more money from its enterprise customers. Either they pay for an ESU or buy Windows 10 LTSC or – in specialist use cases – Windows 10 IoT.
One can’t help wondering whether the resources Microsoft has set aside to support Windows 10 LTSC, Windows 10 IoT and Windows 10 ESU comprise the same team, issuing the same patches – but at different price points based on the product the customer has purchased.
Given the dominance of the Windows platform, regulators need to have a long hard look at these long term support options and ensure everyone is getting value for money.