- Microsoft recently launched a consumer rescue buoy, offering alternatives to payment of $ 30 for extended support for Windows 10
- Pirg thinks that it does not go far enough in terms of avoiding an imminent calamity of electronic waste
- The organization suggests that Microsoft plans to provide longer -term support for Windows 10, or relaxes specifications for Windows 11
Microsoft’s recent rescue line to help those trapped on Windows 10 – due to not meeting the stricter hardware requirements for upgrading Windows 11 – is simply not enough, according to a group of consumer rights.
The register reports that he spoke to Lucas Rockett Gutterman, who heads the latest campaign designed for the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) in the United States.
As you may know, Pirg’s mission is to fight obsolescence and electronic waste. The organization previously leveled charges at Microsoft of its Windows 11 requirements, effectively pushing hundreds of millions of PCs that are perfectly usable in the discharge, the end of Windows 10 in October 2025. (The organization is not alone in there either.)
You may have seen this last week, Microsoft made a concession on this front. We have known for a long time that an option for consumers will be to pay $ 30 for an additional year of security updates (something that has never been offered before), but now Microsoft has just introduced other choices.
Instead of providing money, you can choose to use the Windows backup application to synchronize all your cloud settings (OneDrive). Alternatively, you can exchange 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points.
However, Gutterman remains clearly inspired by the new choices, indicating in the register that: “Microsoft’s new options do not go far enough and will probably not make a breach in up to 400 million Windows 10 PCs which cannot go to Windows 11.”
Gutterman adds that: “What [Microsoft hasn’t] Completed, he is committed to automatically providing longer support for Windows 10 or loosening hardware requirements for Windows 11. “
“It is obvious that users are frustrated,” concludes Gutterman. “They feel fired and don’t think that [latest] The announcement provides a viable solution. “”
Analysis: think beyond an extension of one year
To be fair to Microsoft, I think that giving Windows 10 users some new options to avoid paying $ 30 to maintain security updates for an additional year (until October 2026) is in fact a very positive decision – especially because the use of the backup application is not particularly heavy taxation.
I can see where Gutterman comes from with the points he does, but the suggestion that Microsoft could consider loosening the system requirements for Windows 11 is, I think, rather a loss of breath. This will not happen at this stage, and I think that the software giant has been clearly clear on this subject.
For me, the key point raised is to provide a Windows 10 support beyond an additional year for consumers, and that’s something I have been harpoing for some time. Although companies can get a program of three years of prolonged security updates (if they want so far), so far, Microsoft has only offers consumers in a single year.
Maybe the software giant considers that is enough, but it is really not the case – not when it comes to keeping all these Olds PCs out of the Scrapheap. Why does Microsoft not seek to extend the support for several years for consumers, from an ecological angle?
An additional second year of support would be a welcome additional breathing room, even if Microsoft charged it rather than offering any alternative angle type as the use of the backup application. Of course, an unpaid option would be better. I would even suggest advertising on Windows 10 to maintain these updates to come for two or three years.
What do you mean that it has already happened and that advertisements are everywhere? AHEM – In all seriousness, I think that allowing Microsoft to push more advertising notifications (still limited) in Windows 10 would be a compromise that many would take, rather than paying for a supplement to keep their adverts not windows 11 to 2027 or 2028.
Anyway, I fully agree with PIRG that one year extension for consumers is not good enough in terms of Microsoft responsibilities to prevent excessive electronic waste – and I hope that the company will see the sense of additional updates for consumers, not just companies.
