When Windows 10 was released in 2015, Microsoft proudly stated that it would be the last version of Windows ever. Future upgrades, fixes and enhancements would be bolted on with patch releases. These would be incremental so there would no longer be the huge changeover and learning curve while users broke old habits and learned new. Those who remember the move from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95/98, then to Windows 2000 (hopefully skipping Windows ME for Millennium Edition), and then onto Win XP, and possibly Windows 7 (again skipping Windows 8) will remember the struggle. The struggle was real.

Well Windows 10 is due for retirement in 2025. Windows 11 is on the horizon.

Early marketing fluff from Microsoft suggests that Win11 will be all about absorbing users into the Microsoft empire. MS Teams will be built in so you have instant connectivity with your coworkers. OneDrive will be even more prominent (and possibly hostile to other cloud platforms like Google Drive or Dropbox), Like the current Apple Store, new apps will be curated through the Microsoft Store making it harder to download and validate third party apps that are not vetted by MS. Games will be delivered from the XBox store. And Microsoft is partnering with vendors to sell you new hardware in case your existing computers are too old to run the new release.

Which is all fine for companies that have jumped into the Microsoft universe with both feet and no life vest. But what about the rest of us?

Details are still sketchy but the first release will be coming out later this year. There is a good likelihood that anti-trust cases and hearings against Windows 11 will be initiated by both the EU and the American Commerce department and well as litigations by Apple and Google. The result of all that is likely to be a prolonged challenge that will ultimately weaken the monopoly that Microsoft is trying to create with this new release.

4 years is a long time in the computer industry. I’m not planning on upgrading until the roadmap forward becomes much clearer–and favourable to users.

But as new computers will probably be sold with Win 11 pre-installed, this would be a great year to refresh your older desktops and laptops with Windows 10 while you still can.

For more information: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57443598