A legal action has been initiated against Microsoft by Lawrence Klein, a Windows 10 user, following the company’s announcement to discontinue official support for the operating system. Klein uses two laptops that do not meet the requirements for upgrading to Windows 11.
Approximately 240 million computers cannot upgrade to Windows 11. The complaint alleges Microsoft’s decision aligns with a strategy to drive adoption of AI-powered features such as Copilot, which is integrated into Windows 11.
Microsoft offers Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 10 at $30 per year, extending protection until October 2026. Users may also apply Windows Backup to OneDrive or use Microsoft Rewards points to obtain updates for free.
Klein argues these options should have been provided at no cost and maintained until Windows 10 usage declines significantly. The suit claims OEMs and Microsoft did not disclose potential costs or consequences related to the end of support.
The lawsuit states that Microsoft is effectively requiring users to purchase new devices by ending Windows 10 support. It highlights that 43% of desktop users globally still run Windows 10, according to July 2025 data from Statcounter, despite Windows 11 surpassing it in market share.
An advocacy site, End of 10, advises users that older PCs can continue operating with free GNU/Linux-based operating systems. LibreOffice joins this initiative.
The plaintiff seeks an extension of Windows 10 support until usage drops below a reasonable threshold.
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I don’t M$ will listen for consumer and even enterprise who wanted to stay to Windows 10 for a while, thinking when they are ready to migrate to 11 since it overtook Windows 10 in terms of active users, and they pour more efforts on 11 and AI bullcrap because no choice, 10’s death is coming two months for now.
Bypassing 11’s system requirements (via Rufus, or registry hack) may work, but M$ might crack it down, forcing them to buy a new PC.
It will be interesting to see what happens here. But I suspect it won’t change much.
For comparison, ask yourselves:
– Did Microsoft continue to support the then 10 years old Windows 95 in 2005? No, IIRC
– Did Microsoft continue to support the then 10 years old Windows Vista in 2017? No
Although Windows XP did get 13 years of support, it was probably the exception rather than the norm.
If Microsoft does end up doing an about-turn and supporting Windows 10 for, say, 3 more years, it will raise some eyebrows. Let us see how this plays out.
I think this is far more comparable to XP than 95 or Vista.
Why are people sticking with Windows 10? Because Microsoft WON’T LET THEM UPGRADE.
I have TPM 2.0 and all the other stuff. The ONLY thing standing in my way is that I have a 7th gen intel CPU and Microsoft arbitrarily decided to require an 8th gen. If Windows 11 required 6th gen CPUs, there would be a lot less people sticking with 10.
Why did people stick with XP instead of upgrading? Due to various missing driver issues. So this is really Microsoft’s own fault. If they don’t want to support Windows 10 for 13 years, then they should allow perfectly good computers to upgrade to Windows 11. The TPM is not the issue. The really stupid CPU requirements are the issue.
I don’t regard it as a problem since he can signup to 0Patch and continue using Win 10. https://www.0patch.com/Win10.html
In fact, if he were to be successful at persuading M$ to do an about face (Pigs might fly) he’ll probably be very disappointed in Windows 11. I have it on my other machine, but avoid using it whenever possible. I positively detest it and will stick to my Windows 8.1 machine until I’m forced to switch to Windows 11.