By Charles Miller
Microsoft’s newest Operating System named Windows 11 is slowly making its appearance on the world stage. Some of the newest models of computers sold in stores now come with Windows 11 and the numbers will surely increase in months to come. Windows 11 has been available as an upgrade to eligible users of Windows 10 since last October; the operative word being “eligible.”
Microsoft has chosen to try to withhold the Windows 11 update from all older systems; generally any computer more than 2-3 years old is not eligible. This was a completely arbitrary decision by Microsoft because Windows 11 runs just fine on older hardware; it just takes some hacking to install it by circumventing the restrictions Microsoft tries to enforce. Obviously Microsoft only wants the newest computers to use the newest OS, and that is one way to make sure the new Windows is not seen running sluggishly on old hardware.
So with a new version of Windows on the horizon I thought this would be a good time to look at what we in Information Technology call the “pumpkin dates.” This term is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the carriage created from a pumpkin by Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother that reverted back to a pumpkin at midnight.
In case you missed it, the pumpkin date for Windows 7 was January 8, 2020. That was the date beyond which Microsoft ceased to provide new features for that version, although it still provides some security updates. While exact data is hard to verify, Windows 7 still accounts for around 20% of PCs used in the world.
Users of Windows 8 have until January 10, 2023 when official support ends. W8 was never very popular and is thought to be used on a paltry 5% of Windows computers.
Windows 10 is a different matter, commanding more than 75% usage of all PCs. This is largely due to 2015 which is the year Microsoft coerced as many users as it could to upgrade to W10, and tricked the rest. All users of Windows 10 are now facing a pumpkin date of October 14, 2025.
As of this writing it appears that Microsoft is not planning to use the deceitful tactics of 2015 to force unwilling Windows users to upgrade to 11. In fact the opposite seems true as W11 cannot be installed on older computer without a bit of hacking.
The take-away here is that nobody should feel they have to update to Windows 11 unless they want to do so right now. The pumpkin date for Windows 10 is now 43 months away. Most IT professional’s opinions, backed up by several studies, hold that the optimal age for well-performing PCs is up to four years old. That means that even if you were to buy a new Windows 10 computer today, it would serve most of its best years while within the optimal age window for Windows 10.
Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant, a frequent visitor to San Miguel since 1981 and now practically a full-time resident. He may be contacted at 415-101-8528 or email FAQ8@SMAguru.com.
