Tech giant Microsoft has announced its plans to discontinue its operating system Windows 10.

The current and final update Windows 10 22H2 was introduced by the company in October 2022.

The company updated its product roadmap, stating that all editions of Windows 10 will be supported with monthly security updates until 14 October 2025.

According to a report, computers that fail to comply with the Windows 11 system requirements will no longer be able to receive officially supported Windows security updates after the 2025 cut-off.

As part of the move, the company has urged its users to transition to Windows 11, the post said.

However, this announcement has left millions of Windows users with a financial headache, reported Forbes.

Despite claiming in 2015 that Windows 10 would be the “last version of Windows,” Microsoft released Windows 11 in 2021 with higher hardware requirements that excluded many older PCs and laptops.

The most controversial requirement was the support for the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0 introduced in mid-2016 that would cost nearly $50 for older PC motherboards but support for this was patchy, the report added.

Forbes quoted Microsoft product manager Jason Leznek as saying: “We highly encourage you to transition to Windows 11 now”.  

Despite Windows 11 only accounting for a 20% market share, Windows 10 still holds over 70% of the total Windows market share, making it difficult for Microsoft to persuade most of its user base to make the switch to the newer operating system.

Last week, Microsoft’s $69bn acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard was blocked by UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

In a separate development last week, reports have emerged that Microsoft has plans to unbundle its Microsoft Teams video conferencing feature from it Microsoft Office suite.