End of Windows 10 Leaves PC Charities With Tough Choice (tomshardware.com)
- Reference: 0176722307
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/03/15/016220/end-of-windows-10-leaves-pc-charities-with-tough-choice
- Source link: https://www.tomshardware.com/software/operating-systems/linux-or-landfill-end-of-windows-10-leaves-pc-charities-with-tough-choice
> So how bad will it really be to run an end-of-lifed Windows 10? Should people worry? [Chester Wisniewski, who serves as Director and Global Field CISO for Sophos, a major security services company] and other experts I talked to are unequivocal. You're at risk. "To put this in perspective, today [the day we talked] was Patch Tuesday," he said. "There were 57 vulnerabilities, 6 of which have already been abused by criminals before the fixes were available. There were also 57 in February and 159 in January. Windows 10 and Windows 11 largely have a shared codebase, meaning most, if not all, vulnerabilities each month are exploitable on both OSs. These will be actively turned into digital weapons by criminals and nation-states alike and Windows 10 users will be somewhat defenseless against them."
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> So, in short, even though Windows 10 has been around since 2015, there are still [3]massive security holes being patched. Even within the past few weeks, dozens of vulnerabilities were fixed by Microsoft. So what's a charity to do when these updates are running out and clients will be left vulnerable? "What we decided to do is one year ahead of the cutoff, we discontinued Windows 10," said Casey Sorensen, CEO of PCs for People, one of the U.S.'s largest non-profit computer refurbishers. "We will distribute Linux laptops that are 6th or 7th gen. If we distribute a Windows laptop, it will be 8th gen or newer." Sorensen said that any PC that's fifth gen or older will be sent to an ewaste recycler.
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> [...] Sorensen, who founded the company in 1998, told us that he's comfortable giving clients computers that run Linux Mint, a free OS that's based on Ubuntu. The latest version of Mint, version 22.1, will be supported until 2029. "Ten years ago if we distributed Linux, they would be like what is it," he said. But today, he notes that many view their computers as windows to the Internet and, for that, a user-friendly version of Linux is acceptable.
Further reading: [4]Is 2025 the Year of the Linux Desktop?
[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/14/1933221/lots-of-pcs-are-poised-to-fall-off-the-windows-10-update-cliff-one-year-from-today
[2] https://www.tomshardware.com/software/operating-systems/linux-or-landfill-end-of-windows-10-leaves-pc-charities-with-tough-choice
[3] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/01/06/0040246/millions-of-windows-10-pcs-face-security-disaster-in-2025-when-microsoft-ends-support
[4] https://linux.slashdot.org/story/24/12/31/205245/is-2025-the-year-of-the-linux-desktop
Let them use WIndows (Score:1)
In time all who se windows will be broke, fired for not protecting company assets, and looking for jobs.
But they won't know linux "Because it didn't look like Windows I ignored it."
Linux devs and admins rejoice watching this luddite train hurtle down a gentle hill.
You can learn how to use Linux now, or the inevitable is just Darwinism.
Re: (Score:2)
XFCE comes to mind, though KDE Plasma might be even better. Toss on LibreOffice and FireFox and I'd bet that more than a few people wouldn't even notice that they weren't using Windows.
Kids are the exception, of course. They'll have it figured out the instant they discover that Roblox doesn't work anymore.
Re: (Score:2)
Isn't FireFox still on the naughty list?
Customer choices (Score:2)
When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
Re: (Score:3)
It's not really customers though. It's what the charities decide to do. Do they leave the existing Win10 installed and pass the risks to the new users? Do they destroy the computers? Or do they install a Linux distro on each?
It more or less comes down to are they willing to put the effort in to install Linux vs just giving up on their efforts altogether.
Re: (Score:1)
Maybe MS will offer a free W11 upgrade?
Even if they do, the W10 laptops will probably not run W11 very well.
Most of these PCs aren't compatible (Score:2)
Last I checked, Microsoft had offered an upgrade without charge to users of licensed Windows 10 on a PC compatible with Windows 11. The problem is that a lot of PCs that run Windows 10 contain components too old to ever be fully compatible with Windows 11. Any PC running Windows 10 that had previously been upgraded from Windows 7 or 8.1 surely isn't compatible.
Forced Year of the Linux Desktop? (Score:2)
> individuals must choose between providing soon-to-be-insecure Windows 10 machines, transitioning to Linux
It would be a huge ironic self-own if Microsoft's arbitrary hardware requirements for Windows 11 ushered in a substantial "Year of the Linux Desktop" using older, but still very useful systems no longer capable of running - I mean, allowed to run - Windows. Practically, it wouldn't make dent in Windows usage, but perhaps symbolically.
I know I'll be switching from using my Windows 10 system (Dell XPS-420, 8GB RAM) to my Linux Mint 22 (Cinnamon) system (DIY: ASRock Z77 Extreme3, Intel i7-3770, 32GB RAM) f
ChromeOS Flex (Score:3)
ChromeOS Flex is not for everyone (and every PC), but where it runs it offers what many people now think of when using a PC (a web browser, and an office productivity suite), so should be considered as a possible alternative to what will soon be an unsupported Windows 10.
Re: (Score:2)
I was gonna say.
But frankly, once installed, Ubuntu is pretty usable for basic tasks. It only gets hard if you want to do something beyond the basics.
Re: (Score:2)
Most of the recycled PC charities use Ubuntu on the PCs they sell. This is because the OEM windows license is already iffy - you may or may not be able to sell a PC using a recycled windows license. So most just avoid the issue by instally Ubuntu.
For basic tasks - which is why you probably went to a recycled PC facility in the first place, it works well enough. And people who go there to pick up parts and other stuff, they probably have enough skills to use it properly or install Windows themselves.
You Only Need Windows For Games (Score:1)
And since businesses don't play games then install Linux and move on down the road. Then in your spare time you can still play games on Linux ;)
Linux (Score:2)
I'm not some Linux on the desktop evangelist, but realistically if the hardware is artificially being locked out of running Windows 11 and their purpose is to recycle PC's then switching to Linux is obvious.
And honestly in today's world if you're not gaming its not really a big deal. Most stuff that the average user does is web based anyways. Chromebooks have proven that many people just need a working web browser.
Will Windows 11 be any more secure? (Score:1)
Microsoft is always patching security problems. MS will patching up W11 soon. Windows is never fully and finally patched. So what's the difference?
Re: (Score:2)
The difference is that Microsoft is leaving known defects in Windows 10 without a public patch. Security researchers analyze changes to Windows that Microsoft releases through updates to Windows 11, and then intruders check if Windows 10 has the same defect, and if so, weaponize the defect into an exploit.
Ubuntu For The Win! (Score:2)
It runs fast on ancient laptops, it's well supported, and it's free! Almost all productivity data is in the cloud nowadays so migration isn't as hard as you might think. Why not?
"soon-to-be-insecure"... (Score:1)
Oh, no, no fearmongering there at all.
This is what makes "security" folks not trustworthy.
Re: (Score:2)
Pin this so we can make fun of you when more and more bot nets appear. SMFH.
They should just install Linux and get over it. Microsoft abandon them to force new hardware sales and further control.
Re: (Score:3)
An OS that regularly experiences security vulnerabilities, will most certainly continue to have new vulnerabilities discovered, and will no longer receive security updates is in fact insecure.
Re: (Score:2)
> An OS that regularly experiences security vulnerabilities, will most certainly continue to have new vulnerabilities discovered, and will no longer receive security updates is in fact insecure.
And is insecure now and always has been.