The countdown has begun. On 14 October 2025, Microsoft will end support for Windows 10. This will leave millions of users and organisations with a difficult choice: should they upgrade to Windows 11, or completely rethink their work environment?
The good news? You don’t have to follow Microsoft’s upgrade path. There is a better option that puts control back in the hands of users, institutions, and public bodies: Linux and LibreOffice. Together, these two programmes offer a powerful, privacy-friendly and future-proof alternative to the Windows + Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
The move to Windows 11 isn’t just about security updates. It increases dependence on Microsoft through aggressive cloud integration, forcing users to adopt Microsoft accounts and services. It also leads to higher costs due to subscription and licensing models, and reduces control over how your computer works and how your data is managed. Furthermore, new hardware requirements will render millions of perfectly good PCs obsolete.
This is a turning point. It is not just a milestone in a product’s life cycle. It is a crossroads.
At least with rolling releases this is not needed. You only install once, and only update this one version basically. EndeavourOS and Arch based distributions are like that. So its basically support without end, which beats Windows in that regard. :-) These are normal desktop systems BTW, not Enterprise.
The typical LTS support in Linux distributions are 5 years, but some have longer support available. With Ubuntu you can get additional 7 years by using the free for Home users “Ubuntu Pro” subscription. Which brings it to 12 years. Professionals have to pay a little bit (its not expensive) to get that support. For anyone who really considers using the same distribution for 10 years, they should consider Ubuntu Pro.
I use Arch myself (BTW :p), but I wouldn’t really recommend that for users who freshly migrated over from Windows.
Yes, there are ways to get extended support (on Windows too btw), but a thing that should also be kept in mind is that “support” only means security patches and bugfixes, and not feature upgrades. There is also no guaranteed continued hardware support, nor guaranteed support from third party applications. On Ubuntu there’s at least the HWE kernel, but that’s also limited in time.
It’s not criticism btw, it’s just worth mentioning that the support model on Linux looks a bit different than what you get with Windows, and users should generally be encouraged to keep up with the latest release of their chosen distribution.