The Cost of Comfort: Enterprises Face Billions for Extended Windows 10 Support
London – September 4, 2025 – As the official end of support for Windows 10 looms, many large organizations are finding themselves in a complex position, contemplating significant financial outlays to continue using their familiar operating system. A recent report by The Register highlights the substantial costs enterprises could face if they opt for Extended Security Updates (ESU) rather than migrating to newer versions of Windows.
For businesses that have built their infrastructure and workflows around Windows 10, the prospect of a sudden discontinuation of security patches and updates presents a considerable challenge. While Microsoft officially ended free extended support on October 14, 2025, they have offered a paid ESU program for those needing additional time. However, this program is not without its price tag, and for large enterprises, the cumulative cost could indeed run into billions of dollars globally.
The Register’s analysis points to a tiered pricing structure for the ESU program, with costs escalating each year a company chooses to remain on Windows 10. This “pay-as-you-go” model, while offering flexibility, can quickly become a significant operational expense. For organizations with tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of workstations, the per-device cost, multiplied over several years, accumulates rapidly.
Several factors contribute to the potential for such high expenditures. Firstly, the sheer scale of deployment in large enterprises means that even a seemingly small per-device cost becomes substantial when applied across a vast estate. Secondly, the ESU program is designed to be a temporary solution, not a long-term strategy. The annual price increases are intended to incentivize migration to supported operating systems like Windows 11.
The decision for enterprises to utilize ESU is often driven by a combination of factors, including the significant time, resources, and potential disruption involved in a large-scale operating system upgrade. Compatibility issues with legacy applications, the need for extensive user training, and the sheer logistical complexity of deploying a new OS across a global workforce can make migration a daunting undertaking. In such scenarios, the perceived “cost” of disruption and retraining can sometimes outweigh the immediate financial cost of ESU.
However, the report implicitly cautions that while ESU provides a crucial security blanket, it is not a sustainable long-term strategy. Organizations relying heavily on this extended support risk becoming increasingly isolated from future technological advancements and may face even greater challenges and costs down the line if they continue to defer migration.
Microsoft’s strategy with the ESU program is clear: to encourage a move to Windows 11 and beyond, thereby ensuring a more secure and modern computing environment for its enterprise clients. While the financial implications of the ESU program are significant, they underscore the evolving landscape of software support and the ongoing need for businesses to adapt to new technologies to maintain both security and competitive advantage. Enterprises currently evaluating their options are advised to carefully weigh the long-term costs and benefits of extended support against the strategic imperative of modernizing their IT infrastructure.
Enterprises sticking with Windows 10 could shell out billions for continued support
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