Windows 10 Deadline Boosts Mac Sales

[theluggage]

Microsoft is destroying Windows in a way that no other company could.
Let's praise Microsoft, folks.

Windows may die (don't hold your breath) but Microsoft will only fail if they fumble the transition... a huge proportion of people "abandoning" Windows will take their Office 365 subscriptions with them to Mac/Android/ChromeBook & MS can leverage those to sell AI services and other cloud-based services. Windows is so huge that it will be years - if ever - before it, or the huge ecosystem it supports moves on, goes away, but MS could certainly start to kill it off in the consumer market.

Windows has peaked - if you look at the wider computing market, it's surrendered the mobile market to Android and iOS, Linux rules the supercomputer market and has a growing share of the server market (with many modern 'software stacks' being based on open-source Linux/Unix tools). They're strong in the PC market, but that's lost a chunk of the low-end to mobile and Chromebook, and they're at best holding their own over Mac. Gaming is a strong point, but it's not like the other consoles and multi-platform Steam aren't serious competition. Their unassailable point has always been "corporate" - but that's partly dependent on a legacy lock-in, which won't last forever. MS may look huge today, but there has been a dramatic change since the good old/bad old days of the 90s when it looked like wall-to-wall Microsoft.

Computer hardware has got so powerful that - certainly for 'personal productivity', general development and casual gaming - there's enough headroom to run everything from inside a standard 'runtime' application using scripting, emulation and virtual processors. The most obvious examples are browser-based apps and their widespread (but less-obvious) cousins using Electron or similar (Visual Studio Code being a prime example). The idea that applications need to be tied to specific hardware and OS features is a thing of the past.

One thing that Microsoft is doing with Windows 10 & 11 - is dumping a lot of legacy compatibility which, in the past, has been a major contribution to "Windows lock-in".

Mind you, a lot of the above reasoning applies equally to Mac OS... The future of consumer operating systems may well be just enough to support a HTML5/JavaScript/WebAsm runtime (the latter being quite capable of running code compiled from languages like C# and Rust, if you hate Javascript).

 

[chrfr]

The irony to me, and I say this as a long time Mac user, is that Windows 10 has been around and supported for about 15 years, while Macs don’t get supported operating systems for anywhere near that long.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

People are fed up with wasting money on new computers.

Source? Most people seem perfectly fine with splurging on the latest iPhone or Galaxy every 2 years, even when they don't need the incremental features. But upgrading their PC after 10 years would be too much to ask? And they would react by switching to Mac, whose hardware and software have a shorter lifespan? Nonsense.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

The irony to me, and I say this as a long time Mac user, is that Windows 10 has been around and supported for about 15 years, while Macs don’t get supported operating systems for anywhere near that long.

And to top it off, legacy software doesn't work well on Mac. If you have some old games or apps from 2010, chances are they will work just fine on Windows 11, but good luck running them on current macOS. This alone is a major reason why corporations - and many people - stick to Windows.

 

[Happy_John]

I work for a small business. My work laptop is a late 2021 Inspiron that was purchased from Costco. It has the nearly fatal flaw of being a Windows 11 machine shipped with a spinning hard drive instead of a proper SSD, a problem MSFT eventually fixed in future OS releases in terms of recommended spec. That hard drive makes me pay every work day. I consider it a badge of honor that I've been able to keep it running, because despite its published specs (16 GB RAM, 12th gen Intel processor), it stinks to high heaven. The screen hinge on it broke in the first three months. A co-worker that got the same laptop suffered the same problem. We don't have an IT staff, so some support is DIY. It doesn't matter because everything we do is in the cloud, which makes my machine a glorified Chromebook, nothing more. I know that there are good installations of Windows 11 all around. Mine is not one of them. When I play around with other newer Windows machines I am amazed at how slow they are, how bad their trackpads are, how terrible they are at resource management. People who are switching have plenty of reasons to do it. Microsoft is neglecting their product as they keep slinging CoPilot at everyone. I have mitigated it to the best of my ability until this thing can officially go on the trash heap.

It sounds like a partoculsrily awful laptop:-( ( I’m sympathising, not gloating). There are many very good uses for spinning disks in 2025 ( and in 2021), but a system drive is a laptop is not one of them.

There are very good windows-based laptops on the market, with excellent hardware ( some mentioned the latest version of the Surface laptops, as an example), but they’re not cheap.

The price difference between Apple and other manufacturers has completely vanished at the lower end of the market, when you add in build quality and performance ( not just processor performance - as you’ve said, trackpad performance does vary, and a badly performing trackpad is a nightmare if you’re used to a good one).

In these ranges, the Apple tax does still exist, but in memory and storage upgrades. Purely on hardware, the MacBook Air trashes almost all of it’s competitors in its price range.

It think Apple’s recent focus on making lower/entry level Macs really good, rather than budget, is a huge drive in people switching from PC to Mac. If most of the work is being done in office and platform-independent web-based systems, A low end Macs is a viable option, and not necessarily the “money to burn” option.

The main complaints I’ve between windows and macOS running on equivalent good hardware is simply 1) Windows trying to sell you stuff through the Os ( Apple does this too, but MS do this far more overtly) and 2) Windows ruining your work time with updates on boot up and shutdown. If ther’e’s One thing about windows that gets people to want to throw their machine out of the window, is Windows deciding to update when the user has something they need to get done.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

Yeah macOS updates are incremental enough that it is usually a very small learning curve if any to using the new version. Whereas Microsoft has redesigned their start menu completely with each revision..

This is a minor issue. If you don't like the new start menu layout, you can pretty much tweak it back to the previous version's style in a matter of minutes. That's the first thing I did in W11 and now it looks almost like W10. I didn't even need a third-party app to do that.
Windows is a very versatile, open system, maybe not as much as Linux but definitely more than macOS. And the learning curve between W10 and W11? Small, if not negligible. Microsoft has learned the lesson well since W8.

 

[maflynn]

Isn't it ironic that some of those frustrated users retaliate by switching to Mac? If you dislike being forced to upgrade your OS and/or computer every ten years, then I'm afraid Apple isn't exactly for you…

• Windows 10 came out in 2015 and was supported by Microsoft until 2025.
• macOS 10.11 El Capitán came out in 2015 and was supported by Apple until 2018.
• A standard iMac from 2015 became incompatible with the latest macOS in 2024.

You're not wrong, but I think there's other factors playing into the mix.
MS forcing people into their online account, punishing people who want a local account only
MS forcing people to buy new computers because of an arbitrary inclusion of TPM
Windows 11 increase in phoning home sending telemetry
Windows 11 increase in showing adds
Windows 11 performing worse on older hardware (provided you have a TPM chip).
Macos improved security and lack of malware
Many people already have iPhones, so macs only increase the functionality of the phone
TCO - you generally can own a mac longer then a pc
People are tired of microsoft.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

It sounds like a preset awful lap :-( ( I’m sympathising, not gloating). There are many very good uses for spinning disks in 2025 ( and in 2021), but a system drive is a laptop is not one of them.

There are very good windows-based laptops on the market, with excellent hardware ( some mentioned the latest version of the Surface laptops, as an example), but they’re not cheap.

The price difference between Apple and other manufacturers has completely vanished at the lower end of the market, when you add in build quality and performance ( not just processor performance - as you’ve said, trackpad performance does vary, and a badly performing trackpad is a nightmare if you’re used to a good one).

In these ranges, the Apple tax does still exist, but in memory and storage upgrades. Purely on hardware, the MacBook Air trashes almost all of it’s competitors in its price range.

It think Apple’s recent focus on making lower/entry level Macs really good, rather than budget, is a huge drive in people switching from PC to Mac. If most of the work is being done in office and platform-independent web-based systems, A low end Macs is a viable option, and not necessarily the “money to burn” option.

The main complaints I’ve between windows and macOS running on equivalent good hardware is simply 1) Windows trying to sell you stuff through the Os ( Apple does this too, but MS do this far more overtly) and 2) Windows ruining your work time with updates on boot up and shutdown. If ther’e’s One thing about windows that gets people to want to throw their machine out of the window, is Windows deciding to update when the user has something they need to get done.

Regular user of W11 here (10+ hours/day).
1) As far as I'm aware, there are no annoying marketing pitches in Windows, unlike what you sometimes see in Apple apps (F1 ads in Apple Pay, anyone?).
2) I don't see how Windows updating itself, once you log off/restart/shut down at the end of the day, is an issue, or how that "ruins your work time". If there's a system update pending and you "have something you need to get done", then just don't log off/restart/shut down, and wait until you've finished your work… It's just plain common sense.

 

[chucker23n1]

Where did I claim that companies upgrade their hardware?
Please read carefully.

Apple is unpopular with businesses because every system upgrade forces users to change their workflow.
A feature is removed here, an entire program is no longer supported there, then the feature is moved somewhere else...
This is poison for businesses.

That's why companies prefer to use Windows. Understandably so.

For legacy Windows apps, by and large all businesses need is an RDP server somewhere. Needing to locally run Windows apps is becoming less and less important.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

You're not wrong, but I think there's other factors playing into the mix.
MS forcing people into their online account, punishing people who want a local account only
MS forcing people to buy new computers because of an arbitrary inclusion of TPM
Windows 11 increase in phoning home sending telemetry
Windows 11 increase in showing adds
Windows 11 performing worse on older hardware (provided you have a TPM chip).
Macos improved security and lack of malware
Many people already have iPhones, so macs only increase the functionality of the phone
TCO - you generally can own a mac longer then a pc
People are tired of microsoft.

"MS forcing people into their online account, punishing people who want a local account only"
Not that I'm aware of. They do encourage you, but there's no forcing. Do you just know how many times Apple devices and/or apps have asked me to log into my Apple account?

"MS forcing people to buy new computers because of an arbitrary inclusion of TPM"
Pretty much the same story at Apple. Every time there's a new version of an OS, they arbitrarily decide that it won't work with this or that older device (that isn't even that old). For example, iOS 26 doesn't work on iPhone XR, iOS 27 will probably not work on iPhone 11, etc. Genuine technical limitations? Maybe. Planned obsolescence aimed at driving new purchases? Probably.

"Windows 11 increase in phoning home sending telemetry"
You can opt out of all this stuff. W11 asks you a few questions regarding this, the first time you use it. You can also opt out later.

"Windows 11 increase in showing adds"
I don't see a difference with W10. Personally I never see any ads in Windows, except in Edge/Bing (which I don't use).

"Windows 11 performing worse on older hardware (provided you have a TPM chip)"
Well duh.

"Macos improved security and lack of malware"
The price to pay for that is being locked in a closed system. There are many things you can't do in macOS, not just advanced geek stuff but also, sometimes, pretty basic quality-of-life tweaks.

"Many people already have iPhones, so macs only increase the functionality of the phone"
I agree. Continuity is one of Apple's strengths. But it's more a nice-to-have than an absolute necessity.

"TCO - you generally can own a mac longer then a pc"
No you can't. A Mac is a neat piece of hardware, but Apple artificially speeds up the moment when it becomes "obsolete" so that people have to buy a new one. And most Apple users seem to blindly buy into that strategy (no pun intended), possibly due to Apple's excellent marketing skills.

 

[maflynn]

"MS forcing people into their online account, punishing people who want a local account only"
Not that I'm aware of. They do encourage you, but there's no forcing. Do you just know how many times Apple devices and/or apps have asked me to log into my Apple account?

Try installing Windows 11 with a local account - you can't. The only way to install windows 11 is by logging into your Microsoft account

"MS forcing people to buy new computers because of an arbitrary inclusion of TPM"
Pretty much the same story at Apple.

Fair enough, though it seems many people are opting for macs over pcs, hence the article.

You can opt out of all this stuff. W11 asks you a few questions regarding this, the first time you use it. You can also opt out later.

LOL, you can opt out of a small amount, not all everything, did you know if you use Outlook, its reporting back info. The volume of data being sent back to MS servers is staggering.

I don't see a difference with W10. Personally I never see any ads in Windows, except in Edge/Bing (which I don't use).

There's a lot more pop up, and notifications being presented in windows 11.

The price to pay for that is being locked in a closed system. There are many things you can't do in macOS, not just advanced geek stuff but also, sometimes, pretty basic quality-of-life tweaks.

Macos is less closed then windows - Apple provides source code of darwin, its running a version of Open BSD unix, and there's no prohibition on installing apps. Please provide details of what's closed (other then being able install hardware like ram/storage).

Apple artificially speeds up the moment when it becomes "obsolete".

Please provide details, proof that apple artificially speeding up obsolences. They have well documented the life spans of computer, i.e., when they become vintage, and obsolete for all to see.

 

[Ethosik]

It is too bad Windows is the only place for full gaming support on computer.

 

[RedWeasel]

One thing that Microsoft is doing with Windows 10 & 11 - is dumping a lot of legacy compatibility which, in the past, has been a major contribution to "Windows lock-in".

Which legacy compatibility in particular are you referring to? I can for example still chose Windows XP compatibility modes or run 32 bit programs in Windows 11.

If Windows has one thing going for it, it's backwards compatibility - and Microsoft is well of aware of that.

 

[Ethosik]

Some of that is on the game designers, and some is on Apple. With the caveat that I am not a gamer it appears that Nvidia 4060 graphics performance is the low end for serious gaming and Apple Silicon is nowhere near that. Nor should it be given the 4060 draws 115 watts. The M5 is about 22 watts from what I read.

Apple would need to get graphics card support back in the Mac Pro AND make up with Nvidia. Then they have to convince the gamers that this time they really are serious about gaming. Everything in the OS has stripped to the max to support the holy grail of frame rate. Now I've just described Steam on Linux or at least where they are going.

The laptop market is far bigger and Apple has a good foothold already. Small form factor desktops are becoming more popular on the PC side and Apple was there first.

That said, more and more of my computing life is Linux because if you look objectively MacOS is also becoming bloated. Does Tahoe offer a choice to NOT install AI? I don't like the trend.

Apple can fix this by just partnering with Valve. Why are some games on Mac App Store and others have Steam support? Partner with Valve already and have them implement proton-like layer for macOS.

Even still, it won't fully compete. Despite all the praises and loud community of linux gaming, I still get performance decreases whenever I try it. Windows gives me the most performance out of my hardware.

 

[Ethosik]

The gaming area Apple is focusing on is mobile games, which are often just scams. The Candy Crush mom style games. They should stop being so boring and start make a serious attempt on bringing games on the Mac. Soon it will be the best time to enter the market because Xbox is on its last legs and an Apple TV Pro could fill the gap left by Xbox after Microsoft exits the console hardware market.

Mobile gaming is the most profitable - so that is where Apple spends all their focus.
AAA is not in a very good state right now.

Xbox is pretty much dead, Microsoft is becoming a third party publisher
Playstation had some SERIOUS failures and the latest games are not very good

PC gaming sucks with Unreal Engine slop and stuttering even on the most top of the line hardware.

 

[Ethosik]

Isn't it ironic that some of those frustrated users retaliate by switching to Mac? If you dislike being forced to upgrade your OS and/or computer every ten years, then I'm afraid Apple isn't exactly for you…

• Windows 10 came out in 2015 and was supported by Microsoft until 2025.
• macOS 10.11 El Capitán came out in 2015 and was supported by Apple until 2018.
• A standard iMac from 2015 became incompatible with the latest macOS in 2024.

The Windows 10 released in 2015 was NOT currently supported. Windows 10 version 1507 ended support in May 9, 2017. I had several systems that could NOT upgrade to 1607 for various reasons so I had to get new hardware.

 

[ngextreme]

After MS informed me my perfectly good laptop wasn’t eligible to install W11 I decided to switch to Mac. I did so about a year ago and have been very happy with my MB Pro. I might consider a Mac mini for my next computer when the time comes, something about it looks very appealing along with its price. Plus I prefer a desktop setup.

I’m also thinking of taking another one of my now obsolete W10 laptops and installing Linux to play around with. I have to deal with W11 at work but I no longer have to at home.

What will you do when Apple says you no longer can update the os?

 

[ngextreme]

Not sure if this drives people to macOS but one of the frustrations pf Windows 11 is that it made somewhat bizarre UI changes, most notably moving the start button from where it had been since 1995.

You can place the start button back in the old place.

 

[switz]

I put my G4 Cube along with its screen and speakers on display. The installed OS will still come up but the connectors to the external world no longer work. It was a great design idea that lasted less than a year.

Based upon our collective experience, a vehicle completely controlled by a computer with an operating system poses another unique situation. When the operating system can not be upgraded to the latest version with safety updates due to insufficient storage, does the vehicle suddenly pull of the road, tell the occupants to get out and then catch fire so it can not be driven?

Just wondering?

 

[ab2c4]

What will you do when Apple says you no longer can update the os?

Get a new Mac. I made the switch as it was the final straw for me with MS so to speak. Oh, I can’t keep using my perfectly good computer and are forcing me to buy a new one? Ok I will.

I work in IT and I have felt Windows has been going downhill for over 10 years now. I guess I was looking for a reason, that push, to leave Windows and with MS forcing me to buy a new computer that was what I needed to buy a new computer just not a Windows computer.

 

[triptolemus]

"MS forcing people into their online account, punishing people who want a local account only"
Not that I'm aware of. They do encourage you, but there's no forcing. Do you just know how many times Apple devices and/or apps have asked me to log into my Apple account?

Then you're not paying attention.

https://redmondmag.com/articles/2025/10/08/microsoft-ends-local-account-workarounds-in-latest-windows-11-build.aspx

No account? No Windows 11 for you, says Microsoft

: Workaround sent to the big OOBE in the sky with latest Insider builds

www.theregister.com

Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without an online account

Microsoft is disabling the best local account workarounds

www.theverge.com

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

Try installing Windows 11 with a local account - you can't. The only way to install windows 11 is by logging into your Microsoft account

Fair enough, though it seems many people are opting for macs over pcs, hence the article.

LOL, you can opt out of a small amount, not all everything, did you know if you use Outlook, its reporting back info. The volume of data being sent back to MS servers is staggering.

There's a lot more pop up, and notifications being presented in windows 11.

Macos is less closed then windows - Apple provides source code of darwin, its running a version of Open BSD unix, and there's no prohibition on installing apps. Please provide details of what's closed (other then being able install hardware like ram/storage).

Please provide details, proof that apple artificially speeding up obsolences. They have well documented the life spans of computer, i.e., when they become vintage, and obsolete for all to see.

"Try installing Windows 11 with a local account - you can't. The only way to install windows 11 is by logging into your Microsoft account"
You're right for W11 Home. My bad. A local account is possible in W11 Pro.

"LOL, you can opt out of a small amount, not all everything, did you know if you use Outlook, its reporting back info. The volume of data being sent back to MS servers is staggering".
You can opt out of most data being sent to Microsoft, and the rest (telemetry) can be deactivated with third-party tools or advanced tweaks. Remember: pretty much everything is possible in Windows, unlike macOS.

"There's a lot more pop up, and notifications being presented in windows 11".
Examples?

"Macos is less closed then windows - Apple provides source code of darwin, its running a version of Open BSD unix, and there's no prohibition on installing apps. Please provide details of what's closed (other then being able install hardware like ram/storage)"
I'm surprised you would even ask such a question. It's a well-known fact that Apple and Microsoft have two different philosophies about the relationship between the user, the machine, and the software. More specifically:

• macOS only runs on Apple computers (MacBook, iMac, Mac Studio…). It's officially impossible to install it on a non-Apple PC (so-called “Hackintosh” setups are unsupported hacks). Windows, on the other hand, can be installed on a vast range of machines, brands, and even custom-built PCs. This encourages diversity in pricing and configurations.
• Apple enforces strict rules for apps distributed via the Mac App Store, including manual review, system access restrictions, and mandatory app signing. Windows users can install apps from any source, without relying on a centralized store. It’s also easier to run unsigned or experimental software.
• Mac users have little room to customize the interface or deep system behaviors without resorting to unofficial/risky stuff, whereas Windows allows deep modification of appearance, shortcuts, system behaviors, and even replacement of core components like the file explorer or Start menu.
• Windows developers can create drivers, edit the registry, or interact with the system at a low level more freely than on macOS.

"Please provide details, proof that apple artificially speeding up obsolences. They have well documented the life spans of computer, i.e., when they become vintage, and obsolete for all to see."
There's no absolute proof because these decisions are confidential within Apple. However, this is not a new debate and beyond purely technical aspects, it's likely that there are commercial strategies, financial pressures, and company philosophy that don't exactly encourage the manufacturer to keep supporting its hardware and software longer than a certain amount of years, even when such products are still quite capable. If we take my example of iOS 26, the iPhone XR and iPhone 11 share a relatively similar architecture (A12 and A13 chips), which raises questions about whether this cutoff is technically justified.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

Get a new Mac. I made the switch as it was the final straw for me with MS so to speak. Oh, I can’t keep using my perfectly good computer and are forcing me to buy a new one? Ok I will.

I work in IT and I have felt Windows has been going downhill for over 10 years now. I guess I was looking for a reason, that push, to leave Windows and with MS forcing me to buy a new computer that was what I needed to buy a new computer just not a Windows computer.

OK, so basically, it'll be OK when Apple forces you to buy a new Mac (even though your current Mac will still be perfectly good), but it's not when Microsoft does the same. Double standard. You just don't like Microsoft in the first place and use W11 as an excuse to switch to Mac.

 

[ab2c4]

OK, so basically, it'll be OK when Apple forces you to buy a new Mac (even though your current Mac will still be perfectly good), but it's not when Microsoft does the same. Double standard. You just don't like Microsoft in the first place and use W11 as an excuse to switch to Mac.

I answered that exact question, just scroll up a few responses on this page.

And yes as an IT professional I have issues with W11. Xbox also actually.

 

[NewOldStock]

MacOs,IOS
Windows
Linux,
Learn a little bit about all of them not so bad. Just takes time.
They all have strengths and weaknesses.
Windows 11 Co-pilot is the new baby 1st and Apple OSes is the 2nd baby coming up.
Linux not much change but under the hood.