Progress: 1 extra year of free Windows 10 updates for users in the EEA, but it’s only a temporary fix. Voluntary measures and vague EU rules aren’t enough. We need binding legislation to guarantee software and security updates that match the real lifespan of our devices.

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 10 users in the European Economic Area (EEA) will get one more year of free updates if they log in with a Microsoft account. This is a win worth celebrating. Our campaigning, writing and chanting forced one of the world’s tech giants to act. That’s no small feat and a clear sign that we have power!

But let’s be honest: this is just a 1-year snooze button.

  • micronicleEnglish
    1·
    16 days ago

    I’m in Britain so it seems I’ll not be getting any more updates for an older Acer laptop which will not upgrade to Win11 - not that I want it to, I currently have it as a duel boot with two separate 1TB drives, Win10 and Linux Mint. I only ever use the Win10 for Minecraft Bedrock and or ImageView microscope software. At the end of the day the Acer may become just useable for the ImageView so as to dedicate it completely to my microscopy projects. To be honest, I’m afraid to connect the Windows 10 to the internet in case Microsoft cause it to stop booting all together. I mean at one point, on my Lenovo, I was forced to update my Linux Mint to a newer version, because Windows/Microsoft was able to modify the bios somehow, preventing the old Linux to boot. I’m not knowledgeable enough to know if there was a way around that issue, but the experience makes me wonder just how far Microsoft will go to destroy the ability of my old Acer from working at all!!!