October 14th, 2025: The Day Millions Will Satisfy Their Mac Curiosity

[joeekaitis]

 

The unwritten rule that you can upgrade to at least 1 version of Windows is broken with Windows 11.  Though it was never official Microsoft policy, starting with Windows XP you were pretty much assured you could move up to Windows 7.  PCs that shipped with Windows 7 easily rolled up to Windows 10 with few exceptions.  With the official release of Windows 11, it's all over but the shouting, and, boy, are IT departments shouting.  PCs as new as a year or 2 are off the list unless a consortium of Microsoft, Intel, AMD and the PC makers come through with drivers and firmware updates by October 14th, 2025, the end of support for Windows 10.

 

If not, the big winner among consumer PC makers could be Apple.  Considering how technology moves, a thousand bucks will most likely buy a MacBook Air that outperforms the current offerings in speed, memory and storage.  Even so, current MacBook Air models will probably run whatever California landmark-named version of macOS Apple is pushing out.

 

We're a 2-Lenovo household but we might go back to Mac in 2025.

 

[gizmo]

Linux.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

This forum still runs fine on my old XP machine here at work.  

 

[foraloysius]

I'll admit it. I'm lazy when it comes to computer stuff! I hated Windows because there was always something going on. I'm too lazy to look into Linux, so I bought a Macbook a few years ago. I already had an iPad (Air from 2013) and I have an iPhone too. It all works together wonderfully without me having to think about such stuff. There are some things I don't like, but I'll live with those downsides. It's convenience for me all the way.

 

[sudsmaster]

I'm not particularly curious about macaroni.

Seems rather straightforward.

 

[brisnat81]

I don’t understand the kerfuffle here. Most machines that were new in the last couple of years will support Windows 11. By 2025 those machines will be 6-8 years old. The reality is that Microsoft are keeping the OS supported, so it’s not as if these Machines will instantly be deprecated.

Yes in the past a XP machine could be upgraded through Vista to Windows 7, but how windows fundamentally works, hasn’t changed in the last 20 years. The requirements that 11 brings in should help make the security and stability on par with Apple, because for the first time ever, Microsoft has deprecated Hardware.

This is no different to the three times Apple have changed their architecture and ended up removing backwards compatibility to all previous software. At least Windows will still run almost any 32bit software made in the last 25 years. You can’t do that on a Mac.