Bad Intentions

14 October 2025

If you’re one of the 600 million other people like me, you might’ve spent the past few days fretting over what to do about your Windows 10 installation. Microsoft has made the long-anticipated decision to discontinue support for a significant percentage of PCs running what was once thought to be the final version of Windows. While we’ve had a long time to prepare for this moment, many of us are now faced with a list of choices on how to proceed, none of which come without obvious drawbacks. Those who cannot install an alternative operating system, acquire extended security updates from Microsoft, upgrade their PC or purchase a new one altogether will be—knowingly or unknowingly—venturing into uncharted territory when it comes to the security of their digital lives.

As somebody who frequently works with Windows PCs as part of his job, it's clear to me that Windows 11 is not much different than Windows 10 under the hood. Both operating systems are characterized by a flat, utilitarian aesthetic that has colored the past fifteen-ish years of corporate design philosophy. Both versions operate under the free-to-install model, a significant departure from editions of the distant past, while relying on software as a service subscriptions for the flagship productivity applications. Both are also jam-packed with telemetry and content delivery vectors designed to spy on your habits while distracting you into certain patterns of behavior. The techniques of manipulation may have grown more sophisticated, especially considering the rise of AI technology and its integration into Microsoft services, but the same basic tenets remain.

The axiom that the user is now the product looks to be no less true today than it was when Windows 10 debuted in July 2015. While Microsoft has long been infamous for underhanded business practices in cornering the PC market, the past decade has marked a notable shift in strategy—one that represents an ideological evolution within the tech industry at large. The boldness of Microsoft’s strategy reflects a confidence in their brand dominance. They influenced large swaths of the world’s population to become dependent on their ecosystem, and they now reap the benefits of that status to boost shareholder value by any means necessary.

This is precisely why I remain perplexed by the recent forced upgrade strategy to an operating system that didn't need to exist in the first place. Microsoft has seemingly made the calculation that they can strongarm enough people into upgrading away from perfectly functional computers to the point that they won't need to worry about those who will either remain on Windows 10 or get fed up and abandon Windows entirely. The worst part: it could actually work out for them—at least, in the short term. The compulsory migration to Windows 11 will continue driving sales for Copilot-enabled PCs at the cost of everyday people’s security, our infrastructure, the environment, and perhaps worst of all, their brand image in the personal computer market.

Let’s take a look at what Microsoft touts as the main benefits of switching to Windows 11 on their website. One quick glance at the top of the page is all it takes to demonstrate that they’re sure you’ll be won over by dazzling AI-powered features, such as their proprietary Copilot chatbot and something called "Generative erase" for hiding unsightly objects in your photos. Smart App Control is another prominent AI-powered feature contained within Windows 11, using state of the art technology to predict whether or not an application you decided to install is actually safe for your PC. We can also reference this handy-dandy chart to compare versions, making it easy to discover if a specific feature can only be found on the so-called best version of Windows, ever.

There are some nice accessibility features bundled with Windows 11, and a few multimedia-specific improvements you may or may not even notice. Outside of this, numerous supposed benefits of Windows 11 that were puffed up on this marketing spread of a webpage—including some of the ostentatious AI-powered features—can also be found in Windows 10. This lends credence to the fact that Windows 10 is not functionally an obsolete operating system; there’s no reason why any of these features couldn’t have been added in a Windows Update.

What you won’t learn from Microsoft’s website are the many negative aspects found within Windows 11. The middle orientation of the Start menu on the taskbar is a controversial departure from the normally leftward alignment of the past, though it at least can be changed. The Start menu itself has fallen further into the depths of unusability and bloat, eschewing a compact design for an unwieldy, attention-grabbing rectangle of app icons and recommended items centered inside a pool of empty space. The new right-click context menu forced on people by default is a strict downgrade, there are simply fewer options to work with. The subjective concept of user experience has degraded in some ways, while the operating system’s sluggish performance bogged down by extraneous web services has objectively made the daily driving of Windows a worse experience for many PCs that previously ran Windows 10 at an acceptable level.

Windows 11 is the very definition of a “fix what isn’t broken” tech service. Windows, as a concept, was refined to perfection multiple generations ago. New versions of Windows now have to manufacture increasingly flimsy and desperate reasons to justify their existence as the only platforms where you can natively interact with .exe files. The digital marketing spread not only fails to convince tech professionals of Windows 11's utility in their workflows, it arguably does not make the benefits clear to consumers either—only conveying a general sense that it is new, and that new is intrinsically better than old. Microsoft seems to consider an AI-powered digital nanny or a bizarre corporate espionage tool masquerading as an AI assistant to be killer features of their operating system, suggesting a complete lack of understanding when it comes to what the average person wants from their computer.

These would be relatively minor concerns if such business decisions did not have real-world consequences. Microsoft has stuck by a galling decision to require ever-higher computational standards in order to upgrade to this operating system that, as we’ve established, barely does anything more than its ten-year-old predecessor. Despite a veritable onslaught of nag screens, millions of people will continue using Windows 10 after October 14, 2025, opening the doors for security concerns as potential vulnerabilities remain unpatched. Those that choose to purchase a new PC will almost certainly dispose of their old one, contributing to a global e-waste problem that is already out of control while squandering rare earth minerals that could serve a purpose other than sitting in a landfill.

It's a bit difficult to suss out Microsoft's motivation behind claiming Windows 10 will be the final Windows version, then backtracking on that statement, then releasing Windows 11, then forcing people to upgrade to this version or buy a new PC. Microsoft is not a PC hardware manufacturer, and while they do make money from pushing Copilot subscriptions on consumers, it's not like you can only use Copilot on Windows 11. I can say, however, that it's downright nefarious to foist seemingly arbitrary hardware requirements on people when there is nothing to gain for the consumer. This isn't the first time that a new wave of operating systems has caused people to throw out the old computer, but we've reached a point with desktop computing and the prevalence of cloud services that there's no argument to justify it anymore.

I would also argue that Microsoft going all in on AI technology represents the same kind of pathetic bubble-chasing impulses that guide all other modern tech giants. I can't speak for everybody, but I do not personally have any interest in Copilot or any other AI feature that would be bundled with my operating system, internet browser or search engine. Furthermore, the growing prevalence of data centers that enable AI technology to flourish are causing power bills to skyrocket while also guzzling up an ever more precious natural resource to keep processors cooled enough for complex AI computations. The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, who owns more farmland than any other individual in the United States, undercuts his nominally philanthropic ideals when his company actively abets a rapidly developing form of technology that contributes to fossil fuel-driven climate change.

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, where exactly do we end up with the opposite approach? Individual consumer choices only matter so much when market conditions are dictated by fewer and fewer voices. People might wake up to what's going on, but what difference will it make? You can do your best in the face of it all, and still lose.

Many tech-inclined people are saying it’s time to migrate over to Linux. I am sympathetic to this viewpoint, and it may actually be the only way to save millions of PCs from further clogging our already overstuffed landfills. I applaud people who make an effort to repurpose old computers with Linux operating systems, after all, what does it matter which operating system you use to open an internet browser or communicate with people? You could also heavily modify a Windows 11 build to debloat it as much as possible while maintaining necessary functions. Tools like Tiny11 and Chris Titus' Utility can help you achieve this, even on PCs that are not officially supported by Windows 11, but most people won't ever discover this as an option and there's no guarantee your system would have long term support in such a state, anyway.

One thing is for sure, the "End of 10" is not the end. Contrary to what clickbait YouTubers would have you believe, life still goes on after the credits roll. People will wake up on October 15, 2025 and boot up Windows 10 on their computers as if nothing happened. Microsoft has always wanted to set the terms of engagement when it comes to handling their userbase, but reality often plays out differently than how they want. Despite some potentially inflated statistics, millions of people still use Windows 7 (2009) at this late date. It took until July 2025 for Windows 11 to overtake Windows 10 as the Windows OS with the largest userbase, a sign that people aren't necessarily stumbling over themselves to upgrade.

Here's a dirty little secret about the security of old Windows operating systems: you can still find ways to use them safely on the internet, even decades after official support is discontinued. The scare tactics around post-support operating system security often end up being overplayed; people wait around in suspense for a massive exploit that some hacker group has kept in secret until the plug is pulled, one that never materializes. This isn't to say that it won't happen this time, or that I recommend you keep Windows 10 for the long term, or that I recommend you boot up Windows XP and log into your bank's website, but suffice to say I'm not planning on abiding by Microsoft's official timeline.

I’ve never particularly liked Windows 10. The first computer I remember using at home was a 486 running Windows 95, and that era of design sensibility has always resonated the most with me. Following the transition period away from Windows 98, I went from XP and then on to 7, which carried me through my adolescence and into adulthood. I never used some of the less well-regarded versions like Windows ME, Vista and 8, so I pretty much always had a positive experience. Even when I got a MacBook Pro in college, I had to at least dual boot with Windows 7—Macs were pretty terrible for, well, anything beyond productivity and creative apps.

When it came time to build a PC with my own money for the first time, Windows 10 was coming onto the scene. I decided to install it on the PC; I wanted everything to be fresh and new. If for no other reason than momentum, I’ve kept using Windows 10 ever since I first built that computer. I had some Windows 7 installs throughout the 2010s, as well as some experiments with the various flavors of Linux here and there, but this single constant has remained for the past decade. Sticking with Windows up to this point has been a means to an end. Niche games and obscure applications that serve a specific purpose are what keep me around, more than anything else.

If push comes to shove, I'll move my modern digital life over to Linux for good. I already use Fedora Workstation on my laptop and I've got years of experience with other variations of Linux behind me, so I'm at least prepared to take this on. Beyond that, I love to tinker with old computers, sometimes to the point that it's more than just a hobby. I actually wrote and edited the majority of this piece on a Windows 98 computer that I built this year from mostly secondhand parts. I tend to get more work done on a less powerful, offline PC because there are fewer distractions that keep me away from the task at hand. The relative lack of convenience breeds a spirit of intentionality in my work.

Most people aren't like me. They need a singular device to do as much as possible for them, within reason. A new Copilot-enabled Windows 11 PC would probably help them get a bunch of stuff done. I don't blame anybody for following the track that is laid out in front of them. As a wise man once said: "Don't hate the player, hate the game."