No one saw this coming. Microsoft’s campaign to push Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11 had been heading in just one direction. Until now. The Windows-maker has suddenly and quietly changed a critical deadline, which will surprise the 700 million PC owners yet to move to Windows 11.
In January, I reported on yet another Microsoft deadline to push Windows 10 users to take the free Windows 11 upgrade. While some 240 million users don’t have a new enough PC to run the latest OS, hundreds of millions can upgrade but are currently choosing not to — albeit that number is reducing month-by-month.
This deadline hit apps rather than the OS itself. “Microsoft 365 Apps will no longer be supported after October 14, 2025, on Windows 10 devices,” the company said. “To use Microsoft 365 Applications on your device, you will need to upgrade to Windows 11.”
In a support document, the company confirmed “Microsoft 365 apps will no longer be supported on Windows 10 after it reaches end of support,” just as “Microsoft 365 apps are no longer supported on Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 now that these operating systems have reached their end of support dates.”
That particular support document had not been changed at the time of writing. But as spotted by Neowin, “it looks like Microsoft has had a big change of heart. On a Tech Community blog post about Windows 10 extended security updates (ESU) it recently updated, the company has confirmed that Microsoft 365 apps will be supported for another three years till 2028. Neowin noticed this new addition while browsing.”
That browsing hit on a different, newly updated support document, in which Microsoft says “to help maintain security while you transition to Windows 11, Microsoft will continue providing security updates for Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 for three years after Windows 10 reaches end of support. These updates will be delivered through the standard update channels, ending on October 10, 2028.”
Microsoft warns that “using an unsupported OS can cause performance and reliability issues when running Microsoft 365 Apps. More interestingly, although “if the issue occurs only with Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10, with or without Windows 10 Extended Security Updates, and doesn’t occur on Windows 11, support will ask the customer to move to Windows 11,” Microsoft also says “if the customer is unable to move to Windows 11, support will provide troubleshooting assistance only; technical workarounds might be limited or unavailable.”
That comers across as a direct shout-out to the 240 million Windows 10 users who don’t have a TPM 2.0 PC and so can’t accept the free Windows 11 upgrade today. The primary issue for those users is security, and this has now been resolved for Microsoft 365 apps. Unlike the current plan for a Windows 10 ESU, this update extension offer is free.
“To help maintain security while you transition to Windows 11,” Microsoft now says it “will continue providing security updates for Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 for three years after Windows 10 reaches end of support. These updates will be delivered through the standard update channels, ending on October 10, 2028.”
This will come across as a soft three-year extension for those users to extend a move and to hold off buying a new PC. More critically, it also signals that Microsoft is bedding down for a prolonged period of Windows 10 users running PCs with no support.
It will now be less of a surprise to see other concessions as October 14 approaches. Is there to be a critical security update reprieve for all those users without the need to pay $30? A change of direction to avoid the impending cyber nightmare? Let’s hope so.
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