With the next version of Windows expected to be unveiled on June 24, Microsoft is seemingly taking steps to begin sunsetting its current popular operating system.
The company has listed a “retirement date” for both the home and pro versions of Windows 10, indicating it would no longer support the software as of Oct. 14, 2025.
Four years is a long time, of course, but it does point to an aggressive rollout for whatever Microsoft has planned for its event later this month. At present, there are over 1 billion devices worldwide that use Windows 10—meaning one in seven people on the planet uses the software.
Windows 10 was released in June of 2015. The newly announced “retirement date” would put Windows 10’s life span at roughly 10 years, which is about par for the operating system. (The popular Windows 7, for example, debuted in late 2009 and saw support end in early 2020.)
Technically, there has been no “Windows 11” announcement yet—and the company once said Windows 10 would be its last numbered version of the operating system. Microsoft has scheduled a Windows event for June 24, though, where it plans to address “what’s next” for the OS. The announcement seemed to show an “11” in the light shining through the Windows logo, and the event is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET, an unusual time for the company (whose presentations tend to start a bit later for West Coast audiences).
CEO Satya Nadella, in a keynote speech at last month’s Microsoft Build 2021 conference, noted, “Soon we will share one of the most significant updates to Windows of the past decade to unlock greater economic opportunity for developers and creators.”
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