Opinion Windows is at that awkward stage any global empire has to go through. Around one in five of the world population is a Windows user – 1.5 billion humans. Aside from the relatively small slice that Mac takes, everyone else is happy with smartphones, so until we make contact with credulous aliens, there are no new worlds for Microsoft to conquer. In an industry obsessed with growth, this is untenable.

It gets worse. For almost all of the existing user base, Windows 10 is perfectly fine, so Windows 11 has to be forced down their gullets at gunpoint. You cannot have a fifth of humanity pinned like a moth collection to your desktop and not monetize them. This has led, [1]as Dave Plummer notes , to an OS that's both tool and adversary, one that gives you AI whether you like it or not, and one that advertises and prods and pulls you toward paid services whether you like it or not. There is change for change's sake, and not for small change either.

This will not get better. Microsoft is unsure of or unable to communicate what's coming. Project [2]Hudson Valley , initially talked of as Window 12 with a 2025 launch, faded away as Hudson Valley became the AI-laden Uncanny Valley of Win 11 24H2. The marketing power of a new major version doesn't work if it's an amplification of a previous failure, but all that can mean is more bad AI you can't turn off, more monetization tweaks, more attempts to kill the older version. There may even be a push to a subscription licensing model.

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All of this is reprehensible from an engineering viewpoint. Windows used to be terrible, then it got good, now it's getting terrible again because it is exempt from competitive forces.

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Nobody talks much about Windows 12 because it doesn't matter, it's going to be even worse, it's going to hurt more. You may have more freedom to escape than you think, especially if you plan ahead. Cold turkey isn't the only way to skip free of an addiction. Think ahead to how things will be on recent evidence, then think on.

There's nothing to be done in big companies. Corporate IT at employee level is, like most experiences at employee level, all corporate, nothing employee. Budgets must be built up and spent down, boxes must be ticked, perceived risks minimized. A previous hegemony stood under the standard "Nobody ever got sacked for buying IBM." But that flag has long been captured by Microsoft. The user experience, the actual efficiencies in doing the job, the wishes and needs of those who use it, and those who keep the lights on, mean little to nothing. Thou shalt get what thou art given, here are some beer tokens, shut up already.

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Then there are those with choice and the capacity to use it. Independent developers, people in small companies where diversity is not denied, all those whose knowledge grants them autonomy. Some love Windows, some tolerate it because it interfaces with people who cut checks, some just have to use single-platform applications. Many have jumped ship to macOS or Linux. Some have burned out and live on riverboats with solar panels writing retro 6502 games on an original Commodore 64.

This could be you, at least in spirit. You don't burn out from a job you love, but you do when that job starts conspiring against you. Time to start plotting the detox before you hit that bleak Windows rock bottom.

First, give yourself as much runway as you can. [7]The Register is here for you with an overview of how to combine Microsoft's reduced fat semi-secret industrial long-term support options with a third-party package manager. This gives you another two years, possibly more, of Win 10 life served up how you like it. This is stuff designed for robots. You can't upsell a robot, so be a robot.

[8]Bad trip coming for AI hype as humanity tools up to fight back

[9]Official abuse of state security has always been bad, now it's horrifying

[10]Please sir, may we have some Moore? Doesn't look that way

[11]When even Microsoft can't understand its own Outlook, big tech is stuck in a swamp of its own making

With sanity secured for the short term, plan for the long. Many have been tempted to add a Mac to their fleet, as the entry-level Apple Silicon machines are consistently category-leading value for money. macOS contains the same tar pits as Windows, a closed ecosystem in danger of becoming a launchpad for AI, and plenty of onramps to proprietary services. Apple makes money from hardware, though, and seems more circumspect about forcing bad experiences on its users. It also has the best accessibility, which future you may appreciate.

Linux has a fetish for freedom that can still seem daunting, with a bouquet of options in an ecosystem that resembles a rain forest in its florid complexities. Pick a mainstream distro, preferably with a community of users you can get on with, and set about learning it. It will run on any old tat, although you'll do better with something swift, and it will never, never not ever, stick its feeding tube down your nose to pump in AI.

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Then, having picked an option that feels the best fit, start using it for the simple things in life, the online services and the experimental tasters of this or that new idea. Small projects that stretch you a bit. Keep using that de-bloated Windows 10 for the things you like Win 10 for, and the things you've learned so well over the years, but keep spending time picking up speed with your alternative. Avoid a single PC with virtual machines if you can – it's another layer to distract your most precious asset, your attention, plus it will always feel like a slightly inferior option to dedicated hardware. No, that's not justified by logic, only by your previous experiences of learning your first serious platform.

It's not a matter of switching after a few days, it's one of looking into the future and training for it. All the big OSes have converged from very different pasts, but their futures will diverge again. Now is the perfect time to decide which future will keep you happiest and most productive, a choice as much psychological and technological, and find a way to have fun as you take your chosen path. It's that or going to eBay for that Commodore 64. ®

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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/23/when_microsoft_made_the_windows/

[2] https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/regarding-the-new-hudson-valley-version-build-of/67a464da-1e88-42cd-a2d3-0bf811a4fff1

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aA9Ryl889TeecXgYWLPHxgAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/22/windows_10_ltsc/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/22/bad_trip_coming_for_ai/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/14/opinion_secret_state_security/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/07/opinion_column_moores_law/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/31/opinion_column_big_tech/

[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aA9Ryl889TeecXgYWLPHxgAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/