Particularly, why are they so desperately pushy about it? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE IN IT FOR THEM???
I would understand if I was having to pay for the upgrade. Then, ya know, they would be MOTIVATED by the fucking PROFIT MOTIVE.
But it's an apparently entirely free upgrade. So please, could someone fill in these blanks for me: "Microsoft wants me to upgrade to Windows 11 (and then 12) because _______. They will directly (or even indirectly) benefit in the following ways: ______________________"
Now, I'm not a complete fucking moron. I realize that they want to close out support for Windows 10. But that doesn't explain the out-and-out salesmanship that's going on, every time the fuckers try to get me to upgrade.
A couple other things, before you even start yapping at me:
First off, I will only upgrade to Windows 11 or 12 when I am absolutely forced to do so, on the day that Windows 10 becomes unsupported, and will therefore become a security risk.
NOTHING will convince me to "upgrade" my operating system before that date. Nothing. I don't care what you have to say. You WILL fail to persuade me. Don't even make the attempt.
In my opinion, Windows 7 should have been the last version of the OS. It should just have been patched forever, until some kind of major revolution in the whole basis of computing finally made its entire architecture fundamentally obsolete.
Updating an operating system is beyond drudgery, and each "upgrade" adds completely counter-productive, worse-than-useless bloat and nonsense. There is nothing to be excited about, when a new version of any operating system comes out. They should literally stop coming out.
Second, I'm not switching to Linux. I have used Linux in the past, for specific tasks and specific situations, but it will NEVER be my primary operating system, on my primary PC.
Do not bother trying to convince me to switch. Again: you WILL fail to persuade me. Do not waste your time. Linux is always 80-90 percent of the way toward being a true turn-key, user-friendly solution, especially for someone who has a long history of using Windows software, for both work and gaming. And 90 percent good simply isn't good enough.
The learning curve isn't worth it. No, I don't want to hear anything you have to say about that. I'm not interested in how good the current version of whatever Linux branch has gotten. Do not bother. I promise you, I will not be reading it.
EDIT: if you even mention Apple, I will just laugh in your face.
I won't claim to know for sure, but I'll place my bet on it still being about motivated by profit and growth. Supposedly Windows 10 was supposed to be the last Windows ever, and move to an eternal patching process, but I guess that didn't stick. So obviously just keeping you on Windows isn't enough, they found a need to create a refresh.
I did notice that refresh has new hardware requirements, like TPM modules and such. Deals with the OEMs to get people to buy/build new PCs?
There's talk of advertisements and sponsored links in the very Start Menu, so partnerships with advertisers to get closer to your daily activities?
I won't say I know for sure, because I only use Windows for video games. So, I too will be running Windows 10 until the games don't work anymore. Might I recommend, if you can get a copy, Windows 10 LTSC? It is a bared bones version of Windows made (by Microsoft) for enterprises and governments who would never buy into consumer features like advertising and analytics, so it's very clean, fast, and not full of spying junk or ads like the Home versions. And it hasn't bugged me once about upgrading. All my games run fine after some one-time minor command prompt foolery to get the Store and XBOX game pass apps back.
EDIT: Also, LTSC is Long-Term Support Channel, so additionally it will be supported longer than the regular editions, and be safer longer. Unless they change their minds this time around of course, but I doubt it. You don't rush the government through a PC upgrade if you want them to fund you.
LTSC also doesn't get incremental updates other than absolutely critical vulnerability fixes. It's specifically meant for machines that need everything to function exactly the same over a long period of time, e.g. point of sale machines, the accounting/inventory machine that hangs out in the back office, so on. You aren't going to get any major update or overhaul pushed to an LTSC version of Windows.
LTSC can also be a pain in the tuchus to get your hands on as an individual. If you have an MSDN account however (like through work or school) they often come with a bunch of keys for Microsoft products, including LTSC products. You can check here, just try logging in with your work/school email - even if it's non-Microsoft - and see what happens.
If you can't get your hands on an LTSC copy, then at a minimum try getting a copy of Windows 10/11 "N", which comes without Windows Media Player and Skype pre-installed. It's nowhere near as clean as LTSC, but every little bit helps.
I wouldn’t say it’s only Critical, LTSC still gets average security fixes. They don’t get Feature updates, but they still get Security updates, is how it’s normally put. And it’s not as bad as it sounds. Even as a gamer stability is a good thing, and there are plenty of third party softwares for any desirable “features” that get delayed or skipped. If LTSC gets any fewer security updates it’s because it has less built in crap to need updating.
I’ve never needed funny graphics in my taskbar search bar or Bing in my start menu or the Edge bar or whatever it was that now clutters my friend’s task bars as of the last Feature update. But I still get my security fixes and Defender definitions every Patch Tuesday.
But the trick is getting a copy, true.
That's probably a big part of it. I've become so jaded about that whole thing that I'm almost past objecting to it, on any philosophical level. I just wish new Windows versions wouldn't always add so much CPU and memory overhead.
I mean, shit, I've got an almost-four-year-old Android tablet that I use for watching YouTube (and pornography) from the comfort of my bed, and that thing manages to do whatever behind-the-scenes tracking of my activities it wants to do, without sucking up 28 percent of the whole system's resources, just to run the OS.
And that fucker wasn't any kind of top-of-the-line powerhouse, when I got it. And I expect to still be using it for at least another year, if not two.
Mobile OSs tend to be less resource intensive not only because they expect weaker hardware, but because they're not built around quite as much multitasking. It's not doing as much in the BG as your desktop...at least not as a computer.