Windows 11 was officially released on the 5 October 2021.
In 2015, with the launch of Windows 10, developer evangelist Jerry Nixon (Microsoft) stated that Windows 10 was to be the final version of Windows
This has turned out to be untrue.
Windows 11 will be offered as a free upgrade, but only if your computer is capable of carrying out this upgrade.
To qualify for the upgrade, your computer must have what is called a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) installed. Many millions of computers do not have a TMP on their machines.
In effect, this means that millions of serviceable, functioning computers, may be rendered obsolete overnight.
Here at Infotech Bury, we ran some Microsoft checks on our computers and found that only two of them had the components needed for the upgrade. We will continue to use our other Windows 10 computers, but they are now on borrowed time. We will have to get rid of them eventually, but probably before they have come to the end of their useful lives.
This decision from Microsoft could not have come at the worst time. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, recent lockdowns have caused a huge shortage of computer processors worldwide. This has created an unprecedented demand for computers, which in turn is bound to drive prices higher than many people can afford.
The only route for many people being forced to upgrade to Windows 11 will be given no other option but to buy a new computer with TMP technology. However, many will be unable to afford one.
We doubt Microsoft’s bosses, with their big salaries and bonuses, will lose much sleep over this as it seems to only be about increasing their revenue. We wonder how Microsoft’s policy sits with its green credentials. They want to be seen as eco-friendly, and it has said it aims to be “carbon negative” by 2030. We do not know if that is possible but forcing users to throw away computers (with nothing wrong with them), seems to be sending the wrong message.
Finally, it’s fair to say that we have nothing against Windows 11. It seems to be a decent new system that makes some small, but useful improvements, to Windows 10. But to us, it feels like an upgrade that Microsoft should not have bothered with, given that we are all trying to be greener.
