Part one – Windows 10: The OS That Wouldn’t Die or do you mean Windows 7?

So, Microsoft has spoken. Again. Apparently, the digital Grim Reaper is sharpening its scythe for Windows 10, with October 14, 2025, being the official “you’re on your own, kid” date. Five hundred million users are supposedly teetering on the brink, a digital cliffhanger worthy of a low-budget thriller.

And you know what? Déjà vu. It’s like that awkward family gathering where Uncle Microsoft keeps telling the same slightly alarming story about the plumbing, only this time the pipes are our operating systems. We all remember the Windows 7 farewell tour – the one that lasted approximately three presidential terms in internet years. Yet here we are again, with the same dire warnings and the same underlying sense of… well, is this it?

The spiel is familiar: upgrade to Windows 11 or, and I quote, “recycle or replace the machine.” Charming. For the 240 million souls whose hardware is deemed too… vintage… for the privilege of the latest Microsoftian decree, the solution is apparently the digital equivalent of “let them eat cake.” Just pop down to the e-waste bin and pick out a shiny new box. Easy peasy.

Then there’s the small matter of active exploits. Apparently, the digital baddies are already having a field day poking holes in a system that still has support. It’s like being warned about a leaky roof while the landlord assures you the bucket in the attic is perfectly adequate.

And the pièce de résistance? The 500 million users who could upgrade, but aren’t. Why, you ask? Well, our astute observer in the digital trenches put it rather succinctly: perhaps they’re not exactly thrilled at the prospect of “upgrading” to an OS that, shall we say, hasn’t exactly won the hearts and minds of the masses. It’s like being offered a free upgrade from a slightly dented Toyota to a slightly dented DeLorean – sure, it’s newer, but are you really winning?

Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, talks of “business continuity, risk, and trust.” Coming from a company that seems to occasionally mistake user preferences for suggestions, the irony is thicker than a Silicon Valley fog.

Let’s be real. Windows 7 clung to life like a barnacle on a rusty hull long after its expiration date. Windows 10, being even more ubiquitous, will likely stage an even more stubborn resistance. Change is necessary, yes, but the sky-is-falling rhetoric feels a tad… dramatic. The digital world, for better or worse, will likely keep chugging along, powered by a mix of the new, the old, and the stubbornly persistent.

There’s even a wistful hope amongst some – a digital Hail Mary, if you will – that Microsoft might, in some unforeseen twist of fate, transform Windows 11 into something less… Windows 11-y before the final curtain drops. It’s a dystopian sitcom premise: clinging to the faint hope that the Borg will suddenly develop a fondness for open-source knitting circles.

Our insightful commentator also throws in the Linux wildcard. A glorious, if improbable, vision of the penguin finally waddling into the mainstream. One can dream, can’t one? Though, given the inertia of the average user, it feels about as likely as finding a decent cup of coffee at a motorway service station.

And yes, the stakes are higher now. The digital wolves are hungrier and their tactics more automated. Regulatory bodies are casting a more critical eye on our digital hygiene. A single unpatched machine in a hybrid setup can be the digital equivalent of leaving the front door wide open in a bad neighbourhood.

But here’s the kicker, the darkly comedic core of this whole saga: being told to abandon a perfectly (mostly) functional operating system for one that many view with suspicion feels less like an upgrade and more like being politely asked to evacuate a slightly listing cruise ship onto a smaller, equally leaky dinghy. Sure, one might sink slower, but you’re still getting wet, and the guy rowing might just steal your wallet.

Wouldn’t it have been… nice… if Microsoft had used this as an opportunity to champion genuine security and better digital habits, rather than just pushing a less-than-universally-loved OS? Imagine a world where the focus was on robust security practices, clear communication, and maybe, just maybe, listening to what users actually want.

Instead, we face the prospect of no more feature updates, no more tweaking those Group Policy settings we painstakingly configured, no more battling the telemetry we diligently turned off, and the looming threat of Microsoft deciding, yet again, to add features we never asked for.

So, as millions stubbornly cling to their familiar Windows 10 environments, isn’t there a rather large, flashing neon sign pointing towards Redmond? A sign that screams, “Hey! Maybe this Windows 11 thing isn’t quite the digital utopia you envisioned!” Perhaps the real risk isn’t missing a deadline; perhaps it’s ignoring the collective shrug of millions who would rather face the known risks of an aging OS than embrace the perceived quirks of the new one.

The clock is ticking, yes. But out here in the real world, there’s a distinct feeling that a whole lot of people are just going to keep hitting “remind me later.” And honestly? You can’t entirely blame them.