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Microsoft's Windows 10 Extended Security Updates Will Start at $61 per PC for Businesses 65

Posted by msmash from the it-ain't-cheap dept.
Microsoft will charge commercial customers $61 per device in the first year to continue receiving Windows 10 security updates after support ends, The Register wrote in a PSA note Wednesday, citing text, with costs doubling each subsequent year for up to three years.

Organizations can't skip initial years to save money, as the updates are cumulative. Some users may avoid fees if they connect Windows 10 endpoints to Windows 365 Cloud PCs. The program also covers Windows 10 virtual machines running on Windows 365 or Azure Virtual Desktop for three years with an active Windows 365 subscription.

Microsoft's Windows 10 Extended Security Updates Will Start at $61 per PC for Businesses More | Reply

Microsoft's Windows 10 Extended Security Updates Will Start at $61 per PC for Businesses

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  • Grumbling heard from IT and Accounting (Score:5, Interesting)

    by UnknowingFool ( 672806 ) on Wednesday February 05, 2025 @01:14PM (#65144347)
    I was talking to some IT guys and they were not happy about the Windows 11 upgrade cycle. Yes we have Enterprises licenses for 10 and 11 with planned eventual migration to 11. But the migration to 11 had to be accelerated for PC replacements as some PCs had to be retired early than they would have liked. Accounting was not happy as PC costs were going to be higher due to accelerated migrations. Also Windows 11 was released in the midst of major supply chain issues so the overall effect was Windows 11 cost way more than original budgeted.

  • Fail Your Way to the Top (Score:5, Insightful)

    by organgtool ( 966989 ) on Wednesday February 05, 2025 @01:20PM (#65144367)

    Microsoft will charge commercial customers $61 per device in the first year

    Microsoft, like many companies, has been trying to push people to software-as-a-service. After making a version of Windows so undesirable that many people would prefer to pay a yearly fee to remain on the old one rather than upgrade, I think they may have succeeded.

    • Most Enterprises will already have contracts for Windows 10 support after EOL; however, companies will have retire their hardware sooner than they would have liked because MS is so insistent everyone use 11.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Zocalo ( 252965 )
        Yeah, but it's still a case of picking your poison. Unlike consumers, I doubt many IT departments are still rocking hardware without TPM2.0 on the front lines (maybe in labs and other repurposed usage cases), but it is still going to require moving your users to the UI abomination of Windows 11 with all the migration costs, staff training, and other compatibility & support issues that entails at some point. Judging by current the lacklustre uptake, consumers are already baulking at the upgrade, whethe

        • You don't need Coffee Lake to run Remote Desktop and Teams. Ivy Bridge will do that just fine.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by DarkOx ( 621550 )

          Realistically - I don't see to many organizations keeping a large number of machines on Win 10. They might be willing to pay the $61 for some number of special use workstations/pcs that might be attached to some equipment, driving some display, embedded in some kind of vending machine etc, etc.

          They might even be willing to do it for a population of workstations, but that won't actually be a realistic choice. ISVs are not going to test or support their products on a version of Windows that isn't under gener

      • No "enterprises" are retiring hardware sooner. Virtually all enterprises run a hardware refresh cycle far faster than windows support periods. You need an 8+ year old device now to have something that is incompatible with Windows 11. Most enterprises refresh their hardware on a 3-5 year cadence and run Windows 11 along with their usual mega million dollar Microsoft contract agreements.

    • Windows 11 isn't undesirable, it's unattainable. Most people don't give a fuck what OS they have. They just don't want to buy new hardware.

  • Obsoleting many useful systems, reduced Start menu, constant challenges to Quick Launch, obfuscated right-click menu, increased memory and disk footprint, increased AI threat--and no new useful features.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by GoTeam ( 5042081 )

      Obsoleting many useful systems, reduced Start menu, constant challenges to Quick Launch, obfuscated right-click menu, increased memory and disk footprint, increased AI threat--and no new useful features.

      Those are all features. You just have to label them correctly.

  • For us plebs the Win10 ESU is only 31$ per year... (Score:3)

    by williamyf ( 227051 ) on Wednesday February 05, 2025 @01:25PM (#65144379)

    the first and only year we have available. Afterwards is either moving to Winserver 2022, going to 0patch + praying for no kernel level exploits (as 0patch can not patch kernel level stuff), the high seas, or bending the license like a pretzel if you want to keep usinng the Win10 code base securely.

    If you move to Winserver 2022, you will be supported until early 2033. And I would not trust 0patch beyond 2027.

    The ESU (both WinXP and Win7 and now Win10) has never been about making life easy for Orgs staying on the old version of windows, rather, is about (cattle)prod the orgs to move to the next version. Same this time around.

    And believe you me, the money MS collects from the ESU is a drop in the sea for them, again, the objective of the cost is to (cattle)prod organizations to move away from the old version.

     

    • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC has free security updates through 2032. It's also by far the best version of Windows 10 or 11 for normal desktop use, name notwithstanding. It is possible to buy a legit copy as an individual if you really want it and you're willing to jump through some hoops. But Windows 11 is so terrible imo those hoops are well worth jumping through if you're not willing to sail the high seas (even though you can get a hash verified download of the legit iso).
  • What about home users? Will they be paying the same price as the commercial users?

    • Re:What about home users? (Score:4)

      by UnknowingFool ( 672806 ) on Wednesday February 05, 2025 @01:40PM (#65144423)
      Home users have zero choice after October 14, 2025. Windows 10 consumer editions are EOL. They could upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC which unfortunately is not a real option for most home users. I suspect some home users will install a dodgy Windows 10 LTSC license they find on the Internet. The risk is that technically their home PC is now owned and maintained by the administrators of that license which means the admins can take over the PC whenever they like.

      • I would suspect *MOST* home users won't even think about it if they aren't already considering buying a new PC. They'll just keep using their PC. Unless Microsoft does a rug-pull and doesn't let Windows 10 boot when it hits end of support. Something tells me that would be a step too far for them at this point, though you never know. They are pretty greedy, and at times not real savvy when it comes to expected public reactions. I still suspect Windows 10 will just keep being used by people that aren't tech o

        • From what I can tell, most home users are migrating off PCs in general. Sure some people still have uses for desktops and laptops but phones and tablets can accomplish most of what the average home user needs. They would like to keep their existing PC if possible. If it runs EOL Windows 10, they'll just keep it. They won't consider buying a new Win 11 PC.

      • You can activate ltsc/iot with the same kms emulating activation tools as other editions of windows, or so I've heard, I would never personally avoid microsoft's unreasonable activation scam

        • I have never activated Windows with a key that I was not absolutely sure of the source. In this case, maybe there is a way around the activation that is the best case scenario for Windows 10 users. I am cynical that there is not a catch. If it was for a Win10 PC that was kept off the Internet, a dodgy Enterprise key may not be that risky.

      • Home users have zero choice after October 14, 2025. Windows 10 consumer editions are EOL.

        Wrong! As I clearly said, we home users (i.e. peasants) can buy one year of ESU for U$D 31 and be supported until Oct 2026.

      • The risk is that technically their home PC is now owned and maintained by the administrators of that license which means the admins can take over the PC whenever they like.

        That's not how mas, Windows, or computers in general work. Yes careless people can download a virus infested version, but with the real version there's just no scenario where someone can just take over your PC because they know the license key, even if they did.

        • That's not how mas, Windows, or computers in general work. Yes careless people can download a virus infested version, but with the real version there's just no scenario where someone can just take over your PC because they know the license key, even if they did.

          If you are installing an Enterprise version of Windows, it is not a consumer version. It is not the admins "know" the key. The user activated their copy of Windows to an Enterprise key. That version of Windows and that PC belongs to that enterprise. There are remote management tools for Windows Enterprise for the administrators. One of them is admins can take control of a user's PC if needed.

      • The risk is that technically their home PC is now owned and maintained by the administrators of that license which means the admins can take over the PC whenever they like.

        That isn't remotely how LTSC licenses work.

        • It is how Enterprise licenses work. Are you saying your IT admins don’t have control over Enterprise machines.

          • It is how Enterprise licenses work.

            Untrue. Enterprise licenses are just a different feature set. It still requires setup of remote desktop to allow remote connections, and that service can easily be disabled even if such a thing were configured.

            • Untrue. Enterprise licenses are just a different feature set. It still requires setup of remote desktop to allow remote connections, and that service can easily be disabled even if such a thing were configured.

              And how would it be disabled if the user has no admin privileges? Because no Enterprise machine I have ever used gave me any admin rights as a normal user.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Alumoi ( 1321661 )

      The alpha testers? They will upgrade to Windows 11 and will be happy about it.

    • What about home users? Will they be paying the same price as the commercial users?

      We home users are plebs. Therefore, as I said, is U$D 31 a year for us. But only one year. organizations get 3 years, at 61, 122 and 244.

  • Honest question, and it's not 100%, how many business PCs can run Linux? When you consider the overall costs of using Windows, between IT, upkeep, downtime, patching, security BS, administration, how much money does it cost to run a single Windows endpoint? How many PCs in the business world would be able to get by with Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, or another commercial ready distro?

    I'm not suggesting you throw Gentoo, or Arch on the accountant's computer, don't do that. From working in the business IT worl

    • Honest question, and it's not 100%, how many business PCs can run Linux?

      Many businesses run Linux; however, few of them run a large Linux desktop base for their average corporate users. Many businesses happily run Linux servers for decades now. Most of the companies I worked, the average corporate user needed some Windows/Microsoft compatible software. These days as more applications are browser based, the need for Windows is less.

      • Of course, but I pointed that out, Linux is the only real option in the server room, on IoT or embedded devices, but always lacks on the desktop.

        • Surprisingly I see more and more Macs at work these days as the reliance on Windows wanes. The main reason is that Macs (even Apple silicon) can run Microsoft software like Office and they still get hardware support. The tradeoff is they cost more. The IT guys have a love/hate relationship with Macs. On one hand they are far more reliable according to them and they do not get as many support tickets. On the other hand, Macs need a bit more improvement on the Enterprise management side of things.

          Server Linux

          • Yes, the major issue is that the serious hardware supplies don't supply, or support, desktop Linux. That has the added downside that once you put Linux on a Windows computer, then Dell, or Lenovo will just say: “Linux, we don't support that”. I have an outstanding issue with a bunch of Lenovo notebooks (terrible piles of crap), where the power buttons don't work correctly. It's a known hardware flaw in the model where if they sleep / suspend, you can't wake them up. It can get to the point y

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Sebby ( 238625 )

              The issue has nothing to do with the OS, you can trigger it in FreeBSD, Windows, Linux, OpenSolaris, but that one word “Linux”, stops the support.

              I'd say it's time for a lawsuit.

              • Why? We might have 15k worth of those notebooks, and a lawyer would cost 20k, so screw it. It has dropped Lenovo from our support hardware vendor list.
                • Also somewhere written in the Lenovo contracts is a clause that allows them not to support any OS they choose. It is probably just cheaper not to buy from them again.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Zocalo ( 252965 )
      All our x64 PCs (we also have some Macs) are currently deployed with Windows 10 Enterprise by default, but users can also request that one of four Linux distros be deployed in a dual boot setup that provide a choice of front-ends and centrally managed packaging/update systems. Most of our engineers and technical staff go dual boot, with nearly all of the support being peer-based rather than through the IT help desk, so the uptick in TCO is quite low. We have a smaller Linux uptake in other departments, bu
      • I said 50%, it's probably upwards of 90%, and I'm going to openly admit there are some use cases where Windows is a better fit, not many, but some.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Zocalo ( 252965 )
          I think it's upwards of 90% too, but our approach to date has been more a soft touch and reliance on word of mouth to sell the benefits, which seems to be working well enough so far. We do intend to start a bit of encouragement where we know it can work well as each department comes up on its next hardware refresh, but if users still want Windows, then that's what they'll have for at least one more update cycle - all carrots; no sticks. Like with the switch from ICE cars to EVs and range anxiety, there's
  • I have yet to install Windows 11 on anything. I have two Win10 machines, a gaming rig with my 3080-Ti in it and a home theater PC. I'm currently testing out some alpha Mesa/mpv/Vulkan/Plasma6 stuff to see if I can get HDR working in Linux. If I can watch stuff in HDR on Linux, there's no reason for VLC+Windows.

    As far as the gaming box, I wonder if we'll start to see a boom in SteamOS compatible games. I hope Valve rips the fucking gaming market out from Microsoft. If SteamOS gets enough of the PC/Desktop
  • So hot right now.
    • Just wait till extortion and pay per click. You want to open a file? 75 cents and don't forget the mandatory data mining government prevention fee. You don't want leon musk and his gang of street urchins selling your private information and erasing your votes?

  • .

    (And they're all signed so no worries about malware either).

  • If only [Windows 10] had some sort of, I don't know, [L]ong-[T]erm [S]ervicing [C]hannel to that could provide a solution.

    Unfortunately, such a solution could cause a [mass]ive departure from normal support channels resulting in [grave] consequences.

  • ...for considering Linux instead. Seriously, this is mostly about milking existing customers for more money and "creating" a hardware update dependency on it. This unholy backwoods agreement between MS and a certain PC manufacturer really needs to be investigated.

    Interesting reading:
    https://www.theantitrustattorn... [theantitrustattorney.com]

  • Windows 10 Home was $99, Pro was $199 and Pro Enterprise was $309 and were supported for 10 years.

    Adding 3 more years of support is $427.

    It's completely fair and rational pricing of security only updates for only 138% - 431% of the new price of the entire operating system, provided you are an executive at Microsoft whose bonus depends on it.

    I'm wondering how long before someone at Microsoft floats the idea of Microsoft themselves writing and releasing a virus for Windows 10 to speed up the payments/upgrade

    • Windows 10 Home was $99, Pro was $199 and Pro Enterprise was $309 and were supported for 10 years.

      Adding 3 more years of support is $427.

      It's completely fair and rational pricing of security only updates for only 138% - 431% of the new price of the entire operating system, provided you are an executive at Microsoft whose bonus depends on it.

      I'm wondering how long before someone at Microsoft floats the idea of Microsoft themselves writing and releasing a virus for Windows 10 to speed up the payments/upgraded ad revenue.

      The pricing is rational once you realize that the pricing structure is designed to (cattle-)prod organizations OUT of the old OS and into the new one and NOT to make life easier for the people remaining on the unsupported ones.

      It was the same price structure for WinXP ESU and Win7 ESU.

      And do not get me started on what Oracle, old SUN, HP, IBM, SAP and the others charge for special support for VOSP OSs, databases and SW suites....

  • This is the real reason for the TPM 2.0 limitation.

    It's cheaper to pay MS $61/yr than to upgrade the hardware.

    It's not about selling more hardware it's about converting the Win10 you already paid for into a subscription service.

    Zeropatch is probably a better option but few will choose it.

    • This is the real reason for the TPM 2.0 limitation.

      It's cheaper to pay MS $61/yr than to upgrade the hardware.

      It's not about selling more hardware it's about converting the Win10 you already paid for into a subscription service.

      Zeropatch is probably a better option but few will choose it.

      You got it backwards. TPM is not the problem.

      Win11 mandates HVCI (to protect against Driver hijacking attacks), and MBEC (to absorb the performance hit of HVCI, which is from 0% to 40% in theory with real life numbers between 15 and 30%).

      That means that only 7th gen or up intel or AMD Zen2 comply. In paralel to that, many 7th gen and Zen+ processors had iGPUs that not complied with another requirement: DX12 FL12 + WDDM 2.0 drivers. Couple that with intel and AMD wanting to simplify their support matrix (i.e

  • It's from 2015! How many Linux distros or Mac OS do you remember with that long support time? Most of you here are bitching while sitting on something like Ubuntu with a 2 year update period, 5 year for the long term releases.

    More than 9 years free updates on a standard desktop OS is better than almost everyone else. And MS still gets a shitstorm for EOL on it.

    I am aware that this isn't a popular opinion here on /. but that doesn't make it wrong.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jythie ( 914043 )
      Windows 10 has gone through 14 versions since its release, meaning its update period is only about 9 months.

  • I am not convinced of it. New releases mean new bugs, and new security holes. Hackers always target the most popular version.

    • I am not convinced of it. New releases mean new bugs, and new security holes. Hackers always target the most popular version.

      Unlike windows versions of the past, Win11 started life as a fork of Win10. they turned on some security stuff by default, updated the assembly instructions required (like RHEL is doing by requiring X86-64V3 for RHEL 10), and added some new security features (lie mandatory HVCI and MBEC to protect against bring your own insecure driver/driver hijacking attacks). So, win11 hardly counts as a "new release" ALso, many of the new features were backported to Win10, bugs and all.

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