Windows 10 to be retired in 2025, as new OS unveils
Microsoft says it will stop supporting Windows 10 in 2025, as it prepares to unveil a major revamp of its Windows operating system later this month.
Its predecessor, Windows 7, was retired in 2020, although businesses could pay Microsoft to continue receiving updates for Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise.
Windows 10 was released in July 2015 and dubbed "Windows as a service", which meant the software was gradually updated at no extra charge, rather than the company releasing a new version of its OS every few years.
Developer evangelist and Microsoft employee Jerry Nixon went further, describing it as "the last version of Windows".
And Mr Nadella added he was particularly "excited" by features such as digital personal assistant Cortana, which was intended to compete with Apple's Siri.
But Cortana never really took off and in April this year it was retired on mobile, focusing instead on productivity help in Windows 10, Outlook and Teams.
