PieFed DKMicrosoft forced to make Windows 10 extended security updates truly free in Europe
Señor Monowww.theverge.com/news/785544/microsoft-windows-…
cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/post/1307800
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/49627853
You won’t have to enable Windows Backup to get extended Windows 10 security updates in the European Economic Area.
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kbalThere’s still a catch, though — you have to keep running Windows 10.
artyom
thingsiplayOne little snag: You need to be signed into Windows with a Microsoft account. Using local accounts won’t allow for the updates.
JohnEdwaGive the EU some time.
And if they don’t remove it, oooh I wanna see the GDPR report microsoft sends me after three years when I ask for it. Before I demand they delete my data :)
Already moved to Linux on a permanent basis and enjoying the better audio stability and routing for music production, so how much are they paying me to go back?
Yea I was wondering why the option to prolong updates hasn’t appeared yet for me. This explains it, and had been rumored. I wouldn’t upgrade to 11, and don’t mind keeping my win 10 partition around for a bit, as there are (thankfully rare) cases where I do need it.
Seems like a broad overview of what will happen for Europeans. Hoping a more laid out process for opting in so that me as an American can get it as well.
Still need a Microsoft account, but that gives many people one more year of breathing space. And who knows, maybe in this year the ridiculous hardware requirements for 11 might fall as well?
I still can’t believe millions of functioning hardware will be destroyed for this shit.
And no, the average computer user won’t switch to Linux, no. Sadly, but it is what it is.
Even if the HW reqs drop for Win11, it’s still a trash bloat/spy/adware filled system.
I just upgraded from Win10 to Debian on my primary/gaming desktop; every game I’ve played in the last 4 years in my Steam library is listed as compatible, most things I do on my computer are either a website, a game, or an application with a native Linux version or good wine compatibility.
As a personal user who does a wide variety of things on my computer, I don’t really need Windows anymore. I’m dual booting for the time being as I configure things, but I’m quickly running out of reasons to use the old Win10 partition. And all the weird slowdowns it was exhibiting? Totally absent in Linux. I expected performance to be a wash, but it’s noticeably improved.
BombOmOmAnd all the weird slowdowns it was exhibiting? Totally absent in Linux. I expected performance to be a wash, but it’s noticeably improved.
Things loading notably faster on Linux was not my expectation either, but it certainly is the case. My theory is the Windows AV randomly attacks things, and when it does, shit just sloooowwws down.
When your business model is “fuck your air gap” you can go fuck yourself.
Seriously. What the fucking fuck.
I still can’t believe millions of functioning hardware will be destroyed for this shit.
My mate,
half of my Network setup is currently running on 2 Fujitsu Futro S920s from over 20 Years ago, with 4 Gigs oft RAM and 8 Gigs of Memory, which I got thrown at for 10€ a piece. By how much Metal is in that thing, It would have been better for him to just recycle the 1,3kg of Steel and throw away the 10x10cm PCB in it. If some madman from eBay has hoarded that thing for years just for me, it won’t be different in 10 years for the next 100% certified autist stepping in my footsteps.
These PCs won’t be destroyed. The amount of 12 year old Autistic trans IT Linux evangeliststm will just increase exponentially.
It’s not about individuals, it’s about businesses. Many companies will not bother to sell any of these. The HDDs and SSDs will go into a chipper (for security reasons) and the rest will go into the dumpster. Dealing with old machines like this isn’t worth the salary to pay an employee to sell them, nor is it worth the headache to make sure that employee is selling them in a compliant way.
Most go to a tech recycler. They pay their client a pittance for the old equipment, then they refurbish/resell it on places like eBay. Yes, the SSD is often destroyed, and usually the mounting bracket with it. But the rest is fully functional and readily available.
If you want to see this firsthand, just go to eBay and search for “Thinkpad T490”. These are about 5 years old now, and at the end of the corporate lifecycle. They were also a very popular corporate device, and very rare for individual consumers. You will see an absolute ton of these, and mostly from recyclers. But they originally came from places like Coca-Cola and Chase.
I’m self employed and bought a T480 last year for work. Still runs like a dream with pop os, only downside is that it started complaining about the third party battery I bought.
MudManI mean, the hardware will keep functioning.
At most in a few years once businesses run out of ESU updates it will get cheap to buy discarded office PCs again and a handful of youtube channels will make some fun videos about it.
Clearly the requirements will not drop. But due to the passage of time, they aren’t quite as ridiculous anymore. The last machines that didn’t meet the requirements were made in 2017. It’s not unreasonable to require a device that’s less than 8 years old. Most individuals upgrade more often than that anyway.
Yes, it would be preferable to keep the older ones in service. But it’s a smaller pool than you think, and most of them will actually stay in use but unpatched.
For home users this is absolutely a problem that fixes itself on the next hardware refresh and is almost entirely irrelevant until then.
The hype about it is so out of proportion.
Signing in with a Microsoft account is too high a price to pay. Mandatory system-wide logins are my nemesis. I use LineageOS without Google for that same reason.
They were going to CHARGE for security updates?
How is Microsoft in 2025 worse than Microsoft in 1995?
BrikoXShould have required removing having to login into a Microsoft account to get the extension, since that’s been one of the reasons people don’t want to move to Windows 11.
So if you don’t want to log into a Windows account then might as well move to Windows 11 with there being ways to bypass it and keep getting security updates without signing in like Windows wants.
Or move to Windows 10 ltsc.
It still needs you to sign in, which they have been forcing on everyone in Win 11. So it is far from „free without a catch“.
For advanced users there are ways to circumvent that and to debloat Windows. But having to do that is already a big no no.
Yes. Installing Linux works.
A lifeline for some (especially companies?). Hope enough make a switch too linux, though.
I always thought that EU regulations on big tech would eventually be adopted in the US via public outcry. But it looks like they’re going in the opposite direction. Very sad.
Trump wants to sack the Microsoft CEO because of this. Or probably just because she’s a woman, actually.