The countdown has begun. On 14 October 2025, Microsoft will end support for Windows 10. This will leave millions of users and organisations with a difficult choice: should they upgrade to Windows 11, or completely rethink their work environment?
The good news? You don’t have to follow Microsoft’s upgrade path. There is a better option that puts control back in the hands of users, institutions, and public bodies: Linux and LibreOffice. Together, these two programmes offer a powerful, privacy-friendly and future-proof alternative to the Windows + Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
The move to Windows 11 isn’t just about security updates. It increases dependence on Microsoft through aggressive cloud integration, forcing users to adopt Microsoft accounts and services. It also leads to higher costs due to subscription and licensing models, and reduces control over how your computer works and how your data is managed. Furthermore, new hardware requirements will render millions of perfectly good PCs obsolete.
This is a turning point. It is not just a milestone in a product’s life cycle. It is a crossroads.
I know this is a definition question, but yes, Enterprise LTS versions of Windows 10 will be supported for 10 years. For normal versions, you will have to update to a newer Windows 10 version to be supported - just like Linux Mint.
I think you misunderstood. Windows 10 was released in 2015, and will have general support for all versions until October 2025. That’s 10 years.
The current version of Mint, 22.1, was released in January 2025, and will receive support until April 2029. That’s 4 years.
Had you installed the latest version of Mint in 2015, it would have been EOL in 2019. Had you installed Windows 10 in 2015, it would only be EOL later this year.
Generally though when you update Mint you won’t get bombarded with 20 UI changes and some AI crap and naggin and advertising and strong arm tactics to get you to use their cloud services.
No, not all Windows 10 versions will have 10 years of support. Example for home and pro: Windows 10 version 1507 was released in 2015 and support ended in 2017. Only Version 22H2 is supported into 2025.
Again, it is a definition question. For me “Windows 10” is a product name, like “Linux Mint” or “Windows Vista”. The version number e.g. 1507 or 22H2 is the version number, like 22.1 is for Linux Mint or “SP6a” for Windows NT 4.0. And it makes sense to differentiate between versions of Windows 10 and not treat them as the same, as there are big differences between version 1507 and 22H2.
There are LTS(B) versions available for Windows 10 that offers 10 years support and even some that is supported beyond 2025.
So you’re considering the 22H2 builds et al. separate versions, I just consider them service packs. They come with the regular updates, and the user experience doesn’t significantly change. I couldn’t ever tell you what “build” of Windows 10 or 11 I was on, but I usually know pretty well which distro version I am on.
But I guess it’s true that they contain more feature updates than typical Linux updates.