Windows 10 turns ten years old today
Ten years ago today, Microsoft released Windows 10 for use – as the last supposedly major version of Windows.
(Image: charnsitr/Shutterstock.com)
On July 29, 2015 , Windows 10 took over from the unpopular Windows 8 operating system. Microsoft had a difficult task: to develop an operating system that would persuade users worldwide to abandon Windows 7. Windows 8 never made it onto more than a third of all Windows computers.
To achieve this, Microsoft turned back the touch elements with which the company originally wanted to conquer the tablet market. Microsoft completely discontinued the optional start screen with app tiles. In its place came a largely normal Windows desktop with optional app tiles in the start menu.
The success proved Microsoft right: depending on the data source, Windows 10 overtook its predecessor Windows 7 between spring 2017 and early 2018. By the end of 2021, Windows 10 was installed on more than 80 percent of all Windows computers.
Free upgrades for users of Windows 7 and 8 helped the spread immensely. At the time, Microsoft extended the free upgrade phases several times.
"The last Windows"
Until the end of the 2010s, Windows 11 was still supposed to be the "forever Windows". During the Ignite conference in 2015, then senior Microsoft developer Jerry Nixon called Windows 10 "the last Windows" for the first time.
In the Windows Internals manual published by Microsoft (seventh edition, part 1), the authors wrote: "There will be no official 'Windows 11'; instead, Windows Update (or another maintenance model for companies) will update the existing Windows 10 to a new version."
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Popular Windows 10 is followed once again by unpopular Windows 11
It was during the coronavirus pandemic that the rethink finally came: on May 26, 2021, CEO Satya Nadella spoke about a "next generation" Windows for the first time. The official announcement in the form of Windows 11 followed a month later, and the operating system has been available since October 5, 2021.
Although Microsoft is once again enabling free upgrades from Windows 10 to 11, its popularity remains low. Even a few months before the end of support, Windows 10 is still installed on over half of all Windows PCs and laptops.
There are two main reasons for this: Firstly, Windows 11 is largely a souped-up version of Windows 10, without any profound new features. Secondly, Microsoft has strict system requirements. On many PCs that are at least fast enough for office tasks, Windows 11 will not run without trickery. Microsoft excludes AMD's Ryzen 1000 and Intel's Core i-7000, for example. The company also caused confusion with the secure boot requirement. As a result, many people have no desire to use Windows 11.
Microsoft is unimpressed: general support for Windows 10 will end on October 14, 2025 and private users will no longer receive security updates from then on. Operating a Windows 10 PC with an internet connection will therefore soon pose a security risk.
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