Why Microsoft doesn't want to talk about Windows 12

[harlan4096]

This year is very important for Microsoft. It is the year that the most popular Windows operating system, Windows 10, is reaching end of support. It is used by hundreds of millions of users worldwide and has a comfortable lead over its successor Windows 11.

End of support means that Microsoft won't create patches, security or otherwise, for the operating system anymore. Hold, that is not entirely correct. Customers who pay may extend support by a year if they use it at home, or by three years of they are a business.

For Microsoft, 2025 is the "year of the Windows 11 PC refresh". Microsoft's marketing department sees a clear path for all those Windows 10 customers: upgrade their devices to Windows 11 or, even better, purchase new PCs, ideally Copilot+ PC devices to fuel AI growth on Windows.

If Microsoft would have spent some time talking to its customers, it may have received different paths and answers.

• A few hundred million devices cannot be upgraded to Windows 11, because Microsoft changed the system requirements of Windows 11.
  
• An unknown number of users is perfectly happy with their Windows 10 PC. They see no reason to buy a new PC with Windows 11.
  

Microsoft can try to upgrade customer devices forcefully as much as it pleases, but it won't resolve the dilemma for a good chunk of loyal Windows 10 customers.

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