It’s time to move, Microsoft warns.
Around 700 million PC owners are now in Windows Limboland. Microsoft’s u-turn on killing Windows 10 support in October has been quashed, and it seems there’s now a free 12-month extension. But it’s not that simple, as Microsoft has just warned.
The Windows-maker has now told Microsoft 365 users that “although apps such as Word will continue to work after Windows 10 reaches end of support, using an unsupported operating system can cause performance and reliability issues.”
And here’s the blurry new line. General Windows 10 support is still effectively ending in October, that hasn’t changed. The extensions are only intended to ease the transition.
Microsoft tells enterprise users that “if your organization is using Microsoft 365 Apps on devices running Windows 10, those devices should move to Windows 11.”
This isn’t as dire as it might sound. “To help maintain security while you transition to Windows 11,” Microsoft says it will “continue providing security updates for Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 for three years after Windows 10 reaches end of support.”
That means you should avoid the worst downsides all the way through to October 2028. But this will be a static version of the apps you’re paying for. Microsoft 365 on Windows 10 “will only receive feature updates” until the following dates:
- August 2026 for Current Channel (including individuals and families)
- October 13, 2026 for Monthly Enterprise Channel
- January 12, 2027 for Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel
That means major changes before the end of the imminent 12-month support extension, which aligns with other warnings from Microsoft and even government agencies that the 700 million users still on Windows 10 should take the free upgrade now.
At least most of them should. There’s an indeterminate number of PCs — somewhere between 240 and 400 million — that are not eligible to upgrade. And the focus should now be on those to find a way to maintain secure systems.