Windows 10 is done. The ransom note is $30.
Windows 10 support ended October 14, 2025; consumers offered a $30 one-year ESU
The market's verdict: +0.5% on MSFT in the week after.
What actually happened
On October 14, 2025, Windows 10, still running on roughly forty percent of Windows PCs, stopped receiving free security updates. Microsoft offered consumers a one year Extended Security Update for thirty dollars, or free enrollment for anyone willing to sync their settings to a Microsoft account or redeem a thousand Microsoft Rewards points, a loyalty program for extortion. Millions of perfectly good machines that fail Windows 11's hardware cutoffs got no option at all, just full screen nags recommending a new PC. The same hardware wall as 2021, now with a gift shop.
This one is officially acknowledged.
They did it more than once
They charged $30 for the lifeboat. The lifeboat leaked.
The hardware wall of 2021, collected on in 2025. Gift shop at the exit.
Every five and a half years: the same invoice, the same full-screen farewell.
Links
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Acknowledgement
- Microsoft Support (official)
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Context
- Windows Experience Blog (Microsoft) (official)
- Microsoft (official)
↳ caused by Windows 10 end of support (October 2025)
Timeline
- Oct 14, 2025 Stood by it Microsoft stood by it.