Windows 10 end of life could prompt torrent of e-waste as 240 million devices set for scrapheap

of course no mention of upcycling these with linux and getting them into needy hands. with alll the solid state hardware now many of these machines are perfectly functional, and will be for some time. its the batteries that likely need a looking at

So what I'm hearing is, free Linux servers?

Cool, I need some cheap Linux servers to build out my home lab

Positive take: Lots of great Linux laptops on their way to eBay.

High-end corporate laptops from 5-10 years ago make excellent cheap and powerful Linux machines today (given a reconditioned battery, assuming you want to run them without mains, and a new SSD several times larger than the hard drive they came with). See all the sticker-festooned Thinkpads you see at conferences that spent the first few years of their lives handling executive email and PowerPoint presentations, now living their best lives.

Windows 10 should not require such a short life time. 11 isnt much different other than the security\TPM chip shit. And 11 is fucking terrible UX

Where can i get this waste .my linux pengiun will love it🤩.but it saddens me that people relay on windows so much.

All these machines will continue to run, so if they're not going to upgrade to win 11 and buy a new machine then what does it matter. They'll just use a win 10 machine with no updates forever. Security concerns aside obviously.

Embrace Linux and open source software

This will be interesting, maybe this will push for huge adoption for linux. This could also mean a lot of old hardware that are still very capable goes to 2nd hand market in turn lowering prices for pc. Or nothing happens and most of the people will be in a compromise OS for years similar to what happen with windows xp debacle. There also another situation where Microsoft does backtrack on its decision and the same status quo would remain for years to come.

I tried win11 for about 2 hours and installed linux on the third hour and haven't used a windows machine in over a year. Windows costs an obscene price AND they have so much tracking and spyware that it actively impacts gaming performance.

Complete trash OS. I won't be going back and I now actively avoid any game that doesn't function on linux.

Google should be pushing ChromeOS towards people and businesses with this kind of hardware. It’s a perfect way to capture market share from Microsoft.

I can't upgrade to W11, I can't afford nor am I ready to upgrade my gaming PC, its likely I'll be moving to Linux or keeping to use W10 w/o support.

Microsoft really did no favors with limiting official W11 support. Its not just TPM.

OK, half of them were trash, anyway. But the other half can still be a good Linux box. Wipe them, install Linux, and give it to schools so children can learn that there is something better than Windows.

How many non-tech people actually know about this? And how many of that small percentage are actually going to toss their computer as a result of it?

Because for the average computer user, they will never wonder why there are no more updates. And as long as their computer still browses the internet they don’t care even if you notify them.

Microsoft tried for years to get people off of fucking internet explorer and barely succeeded.

Use Linux.

Incompatibility with what? Things are only just starting to be incompatible with Windows 7. I've still got customers running variants of Windows XP.

And Windows 11 doesn't really contain much that won't work on 10.

I reckon the TPM and secure boot requirements will eventually be dropped. They're the Kinect of Windows 11.

It's 8 years old. FFS install Linux and have a little server or some shit if you really can't be bothered to upgrade.

Great time to buy a cheap used PC for linux

I just helped a friend who is still on Windows 7. I showed him my Linux boxes. Even offered him one for free. "but I can't live without this minesweeper". Seriously. I showed him minesweeper on one of the Linux boxes. "it's not the same one, I have a high score". Thankfully, this isn't a laptop, because he would not be permitted to connect to my wifi. Those that scrap their old devices for Win11 will either be businesses/corporations that have no other choice or slightly more advanced users that understand the benefits of active support. The general populace will likely keep their Win10 (or 7) computers until they have to upgrade the hardware, and they'll likely be super happy that they don't have to deal with the "annoying windows update that restarts [their] computer". To be fair, forced reboots is an annoying feature.

I've kept a Windows 10 install on a separate SSD for the programs that stubbornly refuse to run on Linux (games, in my case). However, I won't be upgrading that to Windows 11. I'll just reclaim that SSD for other purposes and use Linux exclusively.

Big corporations, screwing the environment, one greedy policy after the other

Year of the Linux deskt- haha just kidding. People are going to just go out and buy new stuff. All part of the system, even if it's capitalist hell.

I don't know how to install Windows 11 and I'm totally ok with it. I've been on linux for about 10 years.

Im still on a t430 🤷‍♀️

Honestly can't see people dumping their pcs due to 'incompatibility.' Windows 10 support ends officially in 2025 but it doesn't make it unusable for as long as the computer and programs are working as they should. My parents have a laptop from around 2018 that came with windows 10 and its not windows 11 compatible. They are going to use that thing until it can run no more. It's essentially a more functional iPad.

Most people who are replacing computers for windows 11 are either college students, people who work on large projects or people who are gaming from a very old set up. As long as everything works with an internet browser and can install proprietary software then most likely they will keep it until the equipment gets too old.

I will just go take all 240 million of them out of the garbage.

10 has only been superseded quite recently, 2025 seems like a very short deadline.

My computer more than meets the minimum spec for 11, and it's a free upgrade, so I'm not too worried, but it's still a surprise.

So 240 million potential new Linux devices...? I see this as an absolute win!

Everyone says "just install Linux" so I challenge all of you to do so. Please pawn it off on a small child who's just getting into computing. Time to pay it forward.

In the eWaste scenario, you can easily get an SSD for 100$ and bring anything back to life. What distro are you giving to your niece/nephew? The best thing you can do is tell them "If you wanna play fortnight, you're gonna have to figure out how to install windows".

Most of them will give up, but a small % of them will figure out how to get windows running on that heap of trash in spite of you giving them Linux and at that point your trash has added real value to the world.

Getting a child to install an OS is magical.

Happy Holidays folks

Torrent of e-waste? More like torrents of Windows 11

Another way to say this is the master race are about to upgrade their hardware

Siempre esta la opcion de usar Linux y mantener activos esos equipos

Hyperbolic bullshit. Incompatibility, my ass.

It's like the old 32 bit to 64 bit jump - care will be needed or a competitor might sieze the market as people get disgruntled over the cost of upgrading.

Where does the assumption that owners of these devices care about updates comes from? I regularly see people still using Windows 7, willing to use sketchy workarounds to continue using it. We all wish that this would mean The Year Of The Linux Desktop in 2025, but that would mean users would have to suddenly start caring about their OS.