Following Windows 7, Windows 10 has also entered the countdown of its life cycle.Microsoft said this week22H2, released in the second half of last year, will be the last major Windows 10 update.
Microsoft officially released Windows 10 on July 29, 2015, and launched a major update delivery method twice a year. Starting in the second half of 2020, Microsoft will replace the month with H1 and H2 as the identification of the updated version.
according toWindows 10 Enterprise and Educationas well asWindows 10 Home, Pro versionWebpage, this update will end its life cycle on October 14, 2025, at which time the monthly security update will be terminated. Microsoft said that with the exception of some versions on the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC), all versions of 22H2 will be the last version of Windows 10, calling on users to upgrade to Windows 11, even if they cannot upgrade or must use Windows 10 enterprise organizations, these users must upgrade to 22H2.
LTSC is designed for devices that cannot or cannot be connected to the Internet and must use a desktop interface, such as financial or medical terminals, manufacturing production line computers, or PoS, Kiosk and other devices. Updates will be released every 2 or 3 years .According to microsoft webpagethe latest Windows 10 Enterprise and IoT Enterprise LTSC versions are 21H2, and the technical support for the two versions will expire on January 12, 2027 and January 13, 2032, respectively.
Microsoft also announced that Windows 11 LTSC, including the next update of Enterprise LTSC and IoT Enterprise LTSC, will be released in the second half of 2024. Regarding the technical details of this version update, Microsoft said that it will be announced in the future. If enterprises plan to upgrade Windows 11 LTSC, Microsoft encourages testing applications and hardware with Windows 11 22H2 of the existing GA (General Availability) channel.
Since the launch of Windows 11 on October 5, 2021, Microsoft has provided dual-track updates for Windows 10 and Windows 11. However, Microsoft has gradually prioritized Windows 11 for new features. For example, the latest Phone Link support version for iOS this week is only available for Windows 11.
Windows 10 is currently the most mainstream version of Windows PCs.According to statistics from the market research company GlobalStatsas of March this year, Windows 10 accounted for 73.5% of the market, Windows 11 accounted for 21.0%, and Windows 7, which has terminated support, accounted for 3.7%.
