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Customers will have the option of a Windows 10 extended security upgrade (ESU) starting at around VND1.5 million ($61) for the first year.
That's because Microsoft will officially end support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. After that point, businesses and consumers will need to purchase an ESU license for each Windows 10 device they plan to continue using.
For businesses, the first year is $61. Starting in year two, they pay double, $122, and then double again to $244 in year three. If a business buys ESU in year two, they also pay for year one, as security upgrades accumulate.
In a post on the Windows IT Pro Blog, the software maker said that this price is only applicable to commercial organizations, with pricing details for individual users “to be updated at a later date.”
Microsoft typically only offers extended updates to businesses that need to run older versions of Windows. But this time it will include consumers, as there are still a large number of people using Win 10, the nine-year-old operating system released in 2015.
“Extended Updates are not a permanent solution, but a temporary stopgap,” Microsoft explains. “Customers can purchase ESU licenses for Windows 10 devices starting in October 2024, one year before the official end of support.”
Microsoft is offering a 25% discount for businesses that use cloud-based update solutions like Intune or Windows Autopatch.
Additionally, customers using Windows 10 laptops or PCs connected to Windows 11 cloud PCs through Windows 365 will not have to pay for updates because the cost is included in Windows 365.
Meanwhile, educational institutions such as schools will be offered licenses priced at $1 for the first year, doubling to $2 in the second year and $4 for the following year.
Millions of PCs are unable to officially upgrade to Windows 11 due to stricter hardware requirements as Microsoft focuses on security in its latest operating system. For example, Windows 11 only supports CPUs released after 2018 and devices with security chips.
That explains why version 11 lags behind Win 10 - the operating system that is a free upgrade from Windows 7 and Windows 8.
StatCounter says Windows 10 still accounts for 69% of all Windows users, compared to just 27% for Windows 11. This is a relatively large gap that Microsoft will have difficulty closing in the next 18 months.
TH (according to Vietnamnet)