Windows 10 is dead — time to get a new Mac?

Two big tech events took place last week: Microsoft declared hundreds of millions of Windows 10 PCs dead as the dodo — at least when it comes to continuing support — while Apple introduced the world’s best-performing AI PCs, equipped with its industry-leading M5 processor.

While it’s unwise to read too much into either event, it’s hard not to see some connections once you add things up. Because, while gently avoiding too overt a challenge to Microsoft (bar one amusing ad), Apple is clearly signaling to hundreds of millions of people stranded on Windows 10 that it might be worth getting a Mac.

All eyes on the AI

The company makes a good point. With its M5 processors, Apple now offers the world’s most powerful AI PCs, machines quite capable of running Windows in virtual machines, while also being up to the challenge of running large language models (LLMs) natively on the device. Well-designed, popular among employees, and highly performant, Mac in the enterprise is most certainly back.

Reflecting this, many in the Apple-focused MDM space are now looking to extend their services to also cater to legacy platforms like Windows — enabling IT admins working to deploy Macs to add all their legacy kit to the same device management systems. That means it has never been easier to deploy Apple devices in an existing Windows-based infrastructure. 

What about security?

Will PC users listen? It’s hard to say, but what is clear is that hundreds of millions must now make a tough and consequential choice: Do they risk continuing to use an operating system that isn’t supported any longer, accepting all the security risks that go with that decision? Do they pay the non-trivial cost of upgrading to Windows 11, which likely also involves major spending on new hardware? Or do they look at alternative platforms, including Mac, Linux or even Chrome? 

Doing nothing is also an option, but it’s a decision that exposes both consumer and business users to increased risk in the long-term. You just know that hackers will already be working to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in Windows 10, the difference being that Microsoft will no longer act to mitigate against them. Which means doing nothing will become a bigger and bigger risk as time passes, even as hackers scan the ‘net looking for machines running the old OS to attack.

Hackers aren’t stupid. They know, as I do, that as many as one in five Windows PCs will not run Windows 11, which equates to hundreds of millions of vulnerable targets, all running an operating system which, inherently and despite decades of “Patch Tuesdays” remains insecure. If you’re running Windows 10 PCs at home or in business, I’d advise you to take them offline immediately, before they are compromised.

What about sustainability?

Whatever the decision, the brutal truth is that hundreds of millions of PCs that can just about run Windows 10 will now be heading for the trash. While many will be taken apart for parts, this still leaves many businesses with a headache around sustainability. How do you equate deleting hundreds of PCs against existing sustainability targets? 

Apple is a sustainability leader at this point, with its commitments to carbon neutrality setting it ahead of the industry. The decision to balance Scope 3 CO2 emissions against renewable energy production isn’t just a good news story for Apple, it’s also an instant win for any enterprise purchaser seeking to deploy tech kit that helps meet their own business sustainability targets. This is because by compensating for the energy used during the life of its products, Apple is effectively giving IT a zero sum item to help balance their own internal targets. 

Get a Mac, and not only will the overall energy bill drop, but the environmental costs of using those Macs is already being written off, thanks to Apple; sustainability now ships in the box.

Life is about choices

I don’t run Windows 10. I kind of shifted to Mac when it was running System 6 and can still remember the thrill of the System 7 introduction. There are many millions of Windows users who feel an equal commitment to their chosen platform. However, if I pretend to be in the same situation as they now happen to be in, I think I’d be tempted to try something new.

That is because I can imagine that if Apple were forcing me to purchase a new Mac this year, whether I wanted to or not, and a competitor was offering a completely different platform that happened to be easier to use, cheaper to run, sustainable, faster, more secure and quite capable of running an OS I was used to as a VM, I’d be tempted to at least take a look. This is the choice hundreds of millions of Windows 10 users face in real time. It will be interesting to see how many of them end up with a Mac this holiday season.

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