Windows 10 reaches its End of Life in October 2025, and a California resident is especially disgruntled about this looming deadline.
He is not alone, in fact, however Lawrence Klein feels strongly sufficient that Microsoft is out of order in bringing the shutters down on Windows 10 in simply a few months that he has fired up a lawsuit towards the corporate.
As The Register reports, Klein has accused Microsoft of violating shopper authorized code and enterprise code (together with false promoting legislation) by winding up assist for Windows 10 too early, in his opinion.
The crux of the argument is that too many individuals stay on Windows 10 for the operating system to have assist pulled (there are nuances right here, which I’ll come again to). And that some 240 million devices do not meet the hardware requirements to upgrade to Windows 11 – because of Microsoft setting these PC specs at an unreasonable stage – and the potential e-waste nightmare that would immediate.
In quick, the upgrades required for Windows 11 – together with TPM 2.0 safety, in addition to ruling out some surprisingly latest processors – aren’t justified.
Furthermore, Klein argues that this improve timeline is all a part of Microsoft’s drive to push people to make use of its Copilot AI with Windows 11, in a broader push to get extra adoption for Copilot+ PCs – in different phrases, to purchase new machines and discard outdated Windows 10 {hardware} (and once more, we’re again to that e-waste difficulty).
You can learn the lawsuit in its entirety (it’s a PDF) here, however that is the gist, and Klein argues that Microsoft ought to postpone killing off Windows 10 and wait till far fewer individuals are utilizing the older working system.
As the swimsuit states: “[The] Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief requiring Microsoft to continue providing support for Windows 10 without additional fees or conditions until the number of devices running the operating system falls below a reasonable threshold, thereby ensuring that consumers and businesses are not unfairly pressured into unnecessary expenditures and cybersecurity risks [of running a Windows 10 PC without security updates].”
Is Klein justified on this lawsuit? In some respects, I feel so, and whereas I do not think about for a minute that this authorized motion will go wherever by way of the end result of the swimsuit itself, I’ve a sense it might come into play, and be vital, not directly.
What do I imply by that precisely? Well, let’s dive into the pondering behind Klein’s lawsuit, and the important thing the explanation why it’d power Microsoft to sit down up and take discover.
1. Windows 11’s hardware requirements really are unreasonable
Do we really need TPM 2.0 forced upon us? Yes, it ushers in a better level of security, I don’t dispute that – but hundreds of millions of PCs potentially heading to landfill seems too heavy a price to pay. For me, as already mentioned, the decision to rule out some relatively new CPUs in the Windows 11 specs is particularly baffling.
The key point here is that Microsoft has never pushed the PC hardware requirements as hard as it has with Windows 11, and that leaves it open to criticism, although this observation is nothing new. What is new, though, is that the lack of fairness in setting this higher hardware bar has become crystal clear with the number of people who are still using Windows 10, which brings us onto my next point.
2. This close to End of Life, there are clearly too many people still using Windows 10
The lawsuit cites outdated figures as to how many folks are still on Windows 10 – an estimate drawn from April 2025 suggests that 53% remain on the older OS. While that’s no longer the case, the level remains high.
Based on the latest report from StatCounter (for July 2025), Windows 10 utilization is 43%, which could be very excessive with the End of Life deadline imminent. Normally, an outgoing Windows model would have means fewer customers than this – Windows 7 had a 25% market share when it ran out of assist (and it was a well-liked OS).
There are all the time holdouts when a brand new model of Windows comes out, nevertheless it’s wanting like that is going to be actually dangerous with Windows 10’s finish of assist. This is Klein’s central argument, and I feel it is a key issue that Microsoft would not seem like considering – or maybe would not wish to withstand.
Maybe the software program big is pondering there will be a last-minute flood of Windows 11 migration, however given the outlined {hardware} necessities downside, I doubt it.
3. Proving the cynics right?
Another part of Klein’s case against Microsoft is the assertion that the company is using Windows 10’s end of support and Windows 11 upgrades to persuade people to buy new PCs that major in AI, namely Copilot+ PCs. And indeed Microsoft hasn’t helped itself here, overtly pushing these Windows 11 gadgets because the lawsuit factors out – and that features intrusive full-screen advertisements piped to Windows 10 machines.
That seems like a crass tactic, and makes it appear to be a part of that is certainly about pushing these Copilot+ laptops. Yes, by all means, promote Copilot+ PCs and their AI skills (that are restricted to date, I ought to observe) – however do not do it on this means, immediately at Windows 10 customers, and count on that to be considered in something apart from a detrimental and cynical mild.
4. Microsoft has already made a concession, true – but it’s not enough
It’s worth noting that not everything Klein puts forward in this suit seems reasonable. I don’t think you can argue that 10 years of support is stingy, which is what Microsoft has given Windows 10. However, Klein picks out ‘transitional’ support in his lawsuit, meaning the length of support after a succeeding OS has been launched – four years in this case – which isn’t entirely fair and looks lean. The problem here is not the length of time for support as such, but the different circumstances around hardware requirements.
Also, calling Windows 11 ‘wildly unpopular’ as Klein does at one point is equally unfair – even if adoption of the operating system has been very sluggish, admittedly. There’s a definite bias towards shooting the OS down across all fronts, and I think that weakens Klein’s argument.
But my main bone of contention here is that Klein ignores the concession Microsoft has made in terms of the extended year of support for consumers who want to stay on Windows 10. As the lawsuit states, this extra support through to October 2026 can be had for the price of $30, but recently, Microsoft introduced the ability to get this extension for free, effectively, type of. (Financially, you will not pay a penny, however it is advisable sync some PC settings to OneDrive, and I do not suppose that requirement is simply too onerous myself.)
That was an vital transfer by Microsoft, which it is not given any credit score for right here, however that mentioned, I nonetheless do not suppose the corporate goes far sufficient. As I’ve mentioned earlier than, an additional 12 months of assist is actually welcome, however Microsoft wants to have a look at an additional prolonged program for customers.
So, whereas the lawsuit does go off the rails (no less than for me) round these points, it does successfully put a highlight on how we’re measuring assist, and a unique perspective apart from a tough timeframe. Instead of speaking about ‘x’ years of prolonged protection, it mentions a stage of Windows 10 adoption that needs to be reached earlier than Microsoft pulls the plug on assist for the OS.
I feel that is a beneficial unique approach on this entire affair, and whereas 10% of whole Windows customers – which is the low bar Klein units for Windows 10 – possibly feels too low, there’s an attention-grabbing dialog available right here. (The different route Klein’s swimsuit suggests, which others have raised, is Microsoft simply relaxing the hardware requirements for Windows 11 – however I feel at this stage of the sport, we will safely conclude that this would possibly not be occurring.)
5. Under stress
My closing level by way of why this lawsuit might show a compelling kick within the seat of the pants for Microsoft is that whereas, as already noticed, I can not see Klein triumphing over the corporate, it is extra gasoline to the fireplace within the marketing campaign to stave off a probably main e-waste disaster.
Simply put, the PR round this – and it has been spinning up headlines aplenty over the previous couple of days – is another excuse for Microsoft to sit down up, take discover, and possibly do some rethinking over precisely how Windows 10’s End of Life is being carried out.
We’ve already seen one concession – the aforementioned free path to get prolonged assist for Windows 10 – in latest instances, which absolutely will need to have been a response to the frustration that Klein and lots of others really feel. So, maybe this lawsuit may very well be the catalyst to prod Microsoft into going additional in its appeasement of the sad Windows 10 customers on the market – fingers crossed, at any fee.