News

The Era of Windows 10 (and Some Office and Skype Editions) Officially Comes to an End

• By Chris Paoli
• October 14, 2025

Microsoft has formally withdrawn support for Windows 10 as of Oct. 14, 2025, bringing the curtain down on one of its most widely adopted operating systems.

With this retirement, Microsoft will no longer issue security patches, bug fixes or technical support for any Windows 10 edition, whether Home, Pro, Enterprise or Education.

An article on Microsoft's support page detailed that Windows 10 can still be used on PCs, though the lack of security updates would put users at higher-than-usual risk of malware and viruses. An upgrade to Windows 11 is recommended for all devices.

Microsoft is offering Extended Security Updates (ESU) through October 2028 for organizations needing more time to transition, though the program will require an annual per-device fee that increases each year. ESU subscriptions will also be available for individuals through Microsoft's cloud-based Intune management platform.

The company has made Windows 11 the recommended upgrade path, but hardware limitations remain a sticking point. Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0 and newer CPUs, leaving many enterprise PCs ineligible for the upgrade without replacement. According to StatCounter, Windows 10 still accounts for 40.5 percent of all Windows installations worldwide as of September 2025, underscoring the scale of the migration challenge.

Office 2016 and 2019 Join the List
Windows 10's retirement isn't the only Microsoft product being sunsetted. Office 2016 and Office 2019 also reached end of life on Oct. 14. Microsoft's official guidance encourages customers to move to Microsoft 365 or Office LTSC 2021, noting that unsupported Office versions will be increasingly incompatible with Microsoft 365 services and cloud-connected experiences such as Exchange and SharePoint Online.

While Microsoft has not blocked connectivity for Office 2016 and 2019 users, documentation clarifies that such use has not been supported since October 2023, and customers "might still be able to connect, but that connectivity isn't guaranteed to be reliable."

For those who cannot jump to the Microsoft 365 or Office LTSC 2021, Microsoft has the following alternative:

If your organization doesn’t use the full Microsoft 365 suite, upgrade to Microsoft 365 Apps to get desktop, web, and mobile versions of applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. The apps can be installed on up to 5 PCs, 5 tablets, and 5 phones per user, and updates are applied automatically.

Skype for Business Server Follows Suit
Adding to the list, Microsoft also ended support for Skype for Business Server 2015 and 2019 on Tuesday. Both products, once mainstays of corporate communications, have been succeeded by Microsoft Teams, which has become the company's unified communications and collaboration platform.

The Skype for Business team noted that organizations continuing to run on-premises servers will no longer receive updates or technical support. Microsoft recommends customers migrate to Teams, offering tools such as the Teams Upgrade Advisor and FastTrack onboarding assistance.

The simultaneous end of support for these products signals Microsoft's accelerating pivot toward cloud-based, subscription services. For IT leaders, the immediate concern is maintaining security compliance in legacy environments while planning budget cycles for upgrades or replacements.

Organizations in heavily regulated sectors, such as healthcare and government, face added complexity. Devices running unsupported software could fail security audits or breach vendor contract terms. Gartner recommends IT departments conduct an “end-of-support readiness assessment” at least 12 months before deadlines, identifying critical systems and prioritizing upgrades.

Microsoft's extended support and cloud migration tools are designed to ease the transition, but many IT departments are bracing for a long tail of legacy dependencies. With millions of Windows 10 devices still active and Office 2016/2019 widely installed, the post-support period will likely stretch over several years -- similar to the extended lifespan seen with Windows 7.