Microsoft’s decision to end routine security updates for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025 has catalyzed a market response that is equal parts consumer-rights campaign, environmental argument, and opportunistic product offering — and Back Market’s new “Obsolete Computer” initiative is now at the center of that story. Back Market is publicly calling Microsoft’s move a form of "planned obsolescence," arguing that hundreds of millions of still‑serviceable machines will be pushed out of everyday use when Windows 10 stops receiving free updates. The refurbisher is offering low‑cost alternatives — preinstalled ChromeOS Flex or Linux options and a £99 Obsolete Box available in select markets — as a quick fix to keep older PCs useful, secure, and out of landfills. This report verifies the facts, evaluates the technical realities of the options on the table, and weighs the benefits and risks for consumers and businesses facing the Windows 10 end‑of‑support deadline.
Microsoft’s lifecycle pages and official guidance are unambiguous: Windows 10 support ends October 14, 2025. After that date Microsoft will no longer provide feature updates, security updates, or technical assistance for consumer editions of Windows 10; devices will continue to boot but will not receive fixes for newly discovered vulnerabilities. The company explicitly recommends upgrading eligible devices to Windows 11, enrolling in the consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for a limited bridge, or replacing the device with a Windows 11‑capable PC.
Why this matters: without vendor patches, a disclosed flaw in the OS remains exploitable in the wild. That increases exposure to malware, ransomware, and other attacks for unpatched devices — a security and compliance risk for households and organizations alike. The deadline has therefore forced a practical choice: upgrade hardware, pay for a time‑limited ESU bridge, or migrate to an alternative OS that will receive updates from a different vendor.
Those requirements are the crux of the controversy: many otherwise usable devices — particularly older budget laptops and enterprise desktops from certain generations — lack TPM 2.0 or have UEFI configurations that prevent Secure Boot. While there are unofficial workarounds to bypass product checks, Microsoft recommends supported hardware to ensure a secure, stable upgrade path.
Back Market’s Obsolete Box pricing and availability were reported widely in trade and industry press, indicating a £99 price point in certain European markets and a limited regional rollout (France, Germany, Spain, UK). The Obsolete Box is sold and described as a refurbished laptop preconfigured with ChromeOS Flex and covered by the standard refurbisher warranty. That positioning is consistent across Back Market’s product pages and help center.
Caveat and verification note: Back Market’s messaging is intentionally activist and commercial; its claims about “planned obsolescence” are persuasive rhetoric aligned with sustainability goals, but the political judgment that Microsoft intentionally fosters obsolescence is a normative argument rather than an empirical finding. The factual points — Windows 10 EOL date and Windows 11’s hardware baseline — are verifiable facts; the interpretive framing requires weighing motives and market dynamics.
For budget‑sensitive households and secondary devices, repurposing with ChromeOS Flex or Linux is often the best combination of cost, security, and environmental sense — provided you validate app compatibility, drivers, and critical peripherals. For primary work machines running specialized Windows apps, the safer route is to upgrade hardware to a supported Windows 11 configuration or secure an ESU enrollment while planning a controlled migration. Organizations must inventory and prioritize mission‑critical endpoints for upgrade, while treating ESU as a time‑boxed mitigation.
Back Market’s campaign sharpens the conversation about planned obsolescence, digital inclusion, and the environmental cost of platform change. Its products and messaging are a useful, market‑based counterweight to the hard choices imposed by platform owners — but consumers should balance the activist appeal with the pragmatic details laid out here: compatibility, warranty, maintenance, and long‑term support. If you own a Windows 10 PC today, take three immediate steps:
Microsoft’s lifecycle documentation and Back Market’s Obsolete program represent two sides of a broader ecosystem shift: platform owners raising security baselines, and circular‑economy actors racing to keep hardware usable. The practical questions for users are no longer theoretical — they are operational, dollarized, and immediate. The next steps should be cautious, evidence‑based, and oriented toward preserving both digital safety and hardware longevity.
Source: GB News This company is taking on Microsoft over its decision to kill Windows 10 next month, giving you a quick fix
Microsoft’s lifecycle pages and official guidance are unambiguous: Windows 10 support ends October 14, 2025. After that date Microsoft will no longer provide feature updates, security updates, or technical assistance for consumer editions of Windows 10; devices will continue to boot but will not receive fixes for newly discovered vulnerabilities. The company explicitly recommends upgrading eligible devices to Windows 11, enrolling in the consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for a limited bridge, or replacing the device with a Windows 11‑capable PC. Why this matters: without vendor patches, a disclosed flaw in the OS remains exploitable in the wild. That increases exposure to malware, ransomware, and other attacks for unpatched devices — a security and compliance risk for households and organizations alike. The deadline has therefore forced a practical choice: upgrade hardware, pay for a time‑limited ESU bridge, or migrate to an alternative OS that will receive updates from a different vendor.
The options on the table (quick overview)
- Upgrade to Windows 11 on the same hardware (if eligible) or buy a new Windows 11 PC.
- Enroll in Microsoft’s consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program to receive security‑only updates through October 13, 2026.
- Replace Windows 10 with an alternative OS — most commonly ChromeOS Flex or a modern Linux distribution — to keep older hardware useful.
- Continue using Windows 10 offline or in isolated networks (a temporary, risk‑prone stopgap).
Overview: what Back Market is doing and the claims it’s making
Back Market, the global refurbished electronics marketplace, has launched an initiative framed as a response to Microsoft’s decision. The company highlights a figure — nearly 400 million laptops and PCs — as the number of working devices that will be left behind by Windows 11’s hardware requirements, and it is promoting two concrete consumer products:- The Obsolete Box: a refurbished laptop sold at a low fixed price (reported at £99 in Back Market’s UK/European lanes), preinstalled with ChromeOS Flex and covered by Back Market’s standard refurbisher warranty. Back Market positions this as a sustainable, low‑cost alternative to buying a new PC.
- A set of tutorials, partner install services, and pre‑flashed devices offering either ChromeOS Flex or Linux (Ubuntu, etc.) as migration paths for users who want to repurpose existing hardware. Back Market’s messaging explicitly frames Microsoft’s policy as planned obsolescence and markets the repurposing option as both practical and environmentally responsible.
Technical verification: what’s required to upgrade to Windows 11
Microsoft’s minimum Windows 11 system requirements remain clear and unchanged: a compatible 64‑bit processor with at least two cores, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage, UEFI firmware with Secure Boot capability, and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0. These requirements are intended to enable hardware‑backed security features and a modern platform baseline. If a PC does not meet all the stated requirements, it may be prevented from upgrading via the standard path and will not be considered supported by Microsoft.Those requirements are the crux of the controversy: many otherwise usable devices — particularly older budget laptops and enterprise desktops from certain generations — lack TPM 2.0 or have UEFI configurations that prevent Secure Boot. While there are unofficial workarounds to bypass product checks, Microsoft recommends supported hardware to ensure a secure, stable upgrade path.
The ESU program: a verified bridge, with strings attached
Microsoft’s consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program is a time‑limited bridge that provides critical and important security updates for eligible Windows 10 devices through October 13, 2026. The program offers three enrollment routes:- Free if you choose to back up and sync PC settings with a Microsoft account.
- Redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points.
- Or pay a one‑time fee of $30 USD (local currency equivalent) per account that can cover up to 10 devices (subject to Microsoft’s terms). Enterprise licenses follow the established volume licensing ESU pricing model (Year 1: $61 per device; costs increase in subsequent years).
- ESU coverage is limited to Windows 10, version 22H2 devices that meet specific enrollment prerequisites.
- Enrollment will be available through a Settings wizard on eligible devices and will require a Microsoft account to bind the license.
- ESU provides security updates only — no new features, quality updates outside of security, or technical support.
ChromeOS Flex and Linux as alternatives: what they can (and can’t) do
What ChromeOS Flex offers
- Lightweight, browser‑centric environment maintained by Google, with automatic background updates and a small attack surface for typical web tasks. Flex is designed specifically for repurposing older hardware for web tasks such as browsing, streaming, video calls, and cloud productivity.
- On uncertified hardware Flex will still receive OS updates, but it lacks the same firmware management, verified‑boot, and vendor firmware update pipelines that OEM Chromebooks have. That means some platform‑level protections and seamless firmware patches are not guaranteed on repurposed hardware.
What Linux offers
- Modern Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, etc.) are fully supported and can be configured to run a broad range of desktop workloads with lower resource needs than modern Windows versions. They are an excellent option for users comfortable with a different software model and open‑source tooling.
Key limitations and tradeoffs
- Application compatibility: Neither ChromeOS Flex nor typical Linux distributions will natively run many Windows‑only desktop applications (e.g., legacy line‑of‑business software, many proprietary professional suites). Workarounds include web SaaS alternatives, virtualization, or remote Windows sessions — each with their own costs and complexity.
- Firmware and driver support: Some devices will lack full driver coverage on Flex or Linux, resulting in nonfunctional peripherals (fingerprint readers, certain Wi‑Fi chips, sensors, or touchscreens). This is especially true on older or highly specialized hardware.
- Security model differences: Flex on uncertified hardware is not identical to a vendor‑managed Chromebook with integrated firmware workflows and more robust verified boot and firmware updates. For purely web‑centric usage, Flex is often more secure than an unpatched Windows 10 machine, but it is not a drop‑in security equivalent to an OEM Chromebook or an updated Windows 11 device.
Back Market’s campaign: verified claims, marketing framing, and caveats
Back Market’s campaign materials and product pages verify the core elements of its offering: the company is marketing refurbished machines preinstalled with ChromeOS Flex or Linux, offering tutorial and partner install support, and running a giveaway/Obsolete Box promotion that highlights the scale of the Windows 10 problem. Back Market explicitly cites advocacy group research (PIRG) for its estimate that “nearly 400 million” devices will be ineligible for Windows 11 — a figure that sits within the range reported by several media outlets but is subject to methodology and timeframe variance. Readers should treat that million‑count as an estimate, not a hard Microsoft figure.Back Market’s Obsolete Box pricing and availability were reported widely in trade and industry press, indicating a £99 price point in certain European markets and a limited regional rollout (France, Germany, Spain, UK). The Obsolete Box is sold and described as a refurbished laptop preconfigured with ChromeOS Flex and covered by the standard refurbisher warranty. That positioning is consistent across Back Market’s product pages and help center.
Caveat and verification note: Back Market’s messaging is intentionally activist and commercial; its claims about “planned obsolescence” are persuasive rhetoric aligned with sustainability goals, but the political judgment that Microsoft intentionally fosters obsolescence is a normative argument rather than an empirical finding. The factual points — Windows 10 EOL date and Windows 11’s hardware baseline — are verifiable facts; the interpretive framing requires weighing motives and market dynamics.
A practical decision framework for readers
- Inventory needs and usage:
- If your daily work depends on native Windows desktop apps, drivers, or specialized software → prioritize Windows 11 upgrade (if eligible) or plan a hardware replacement or a cloud‑hosted Windows solution (Windows 365 / remote desktop).
- If your device is primarily for browsing, email, streaming, and cloud apps → ChromeOS Flex or a mainstream Linux distro may be the fastest, cheapest route to stay secure and productive.
- Check eligibility and options:
- Run Microsoft’s PC Health Check or consult your OEM to determine Windows 11 eligibility; verify if TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot can be enabled in firmware. If not, check whether firmware upgrades or an inexpensive hardware tweak (e.g., enabling TPM in BIOS) resolves the issue.
- Security and compliance calculus:
- If you need vendor‑supplied security updates and formal support for regulatory compliance, ESU or hardware replacement is the path of least risk.
- If you accept a different vendor’s update model (Google or Linux community) and your software needs are compatible, repurposing is reasonable.
- Costs and sustainability:
- Factor in potential subscription or purchase costs (ESU $30 for consumers; enterprise ESU pricing scales), time to migrate, and environmental benefits of reuse versus replacement. Back Market’s £99 Obsolete Box and similar refurbisher offerings lower the replacement cost but come with the tradeoffs described earlier.
Strengths of Back Market’s approach — why it resonates
- Pragmatic sustainability: Repurposing hardware reduces e‑waste and extends useful life, aligning with circular‑economy goals. Back Market’s program spotlights this benefit and supplies a tangible product for mainstream consumers.
- Cost accessibility: A £99 refurbished laptop or a DIY ChromeOS Flex install can be dramatically cheaper than purchasing a new Windows 11 machine, making secure computing accessible to budget‑sensitive households.
- Market choice: The refurbisher market offering alternative OS options increases consumer choice and pushes ecosystem players to consider long‑term device stewardship. This dynamic often pressures OEMs and platform owners to think about transitions more responsibly.
Risks and unanswered questions — what readers must watch out for
- Compatibility and hidden limitations: Preinstalled Flex devices are not full Chromebooks; firmware‑level protections and certain hardware‑dependent features may not be available or manageable. Buyers must validate that their essential peripherals and workflows function before committing.
- Data migration and continuity: Switching OSes requires careful data backup and potentially shifting to web/SaaS versions of apps. For small businesses with legacy Windows line‑of‑business software, repurposing may be functionally impossible without virtualization or reengineering.
- Vendor lock‑in and long‑term maintenance: ChromeOS Flex’s support model on uncertified hardware differs from OEM Chromebooks. Over time, driver or firmware mismatches could create maintenance burdens that are easy to underestimate at purchase time.
- Consumer pricing nuance: While Back Market’s Obsolete Box pricing is compelling, availability is regional and quantities limited; consumers should verify warranty, return policies, and the exact device spec being sold. Back Market’s broader service reputation has areas of customer satisfaction and complaint; buyers should practice due diligence.
- Unverifiable or variable estimates: The headline “400 million” figure is an estimate grounded in PIRG’s analysis and industry sampling. Different market‑share measurements will yield different totals; treat any single aggregated number as directional rather than definitive.
Final analysis and recommendation
Microsoft’s end of free updates for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025 is a verified, fixed milestone that alters the risk calculus for millions of devices. The choices available are pragmatic and binary in effect: either adopt a supported platform (Windows 11 on compatible hardware or ESU for a limited bridge) or intentionally migrate away from Windows to an alternative OS that still receives updates (ChromeOS Flex or Linux). Market responses like Back Market’s Obsolete Box provide a lower‑cost, sustainability‑centric path that will be appropriate for many consumers whose workflows are web‑centric.For budget‑sensitive households and secondary devices, repurposing with ChromeOS Flex or Linux is often the best combination of cost, security, and environmental sense — provided you validate app compatibility, drivers, and critical peripherals. For primary work machines running specialized Windows apps, the safer route is to upgrade hardware to a supported Windows 11 configuration or secure an ESU enrollment while planning a controlled migration. Organizations must inventory and prioritize mission‑critical endpoints for upgrade, while treating ESU as a time‑boxed mitigation.
Back Market’s campaign sharpens the conversation about planned obsolescence, digital inclusion, and the environmental cost of platform change. Its products and messaging are a useful, market‑based counterweight to the hard choices imposed by platform owners — but consumers should balance the activist appeal with the pragmatic details laid out here: compatibility, warranty, maintenance, and long‑term support. If you own a Windows 10 PC today, take three immediate steps:
- Check Windows 11 eligibility with Microsoft’s tools and your OEM.
- Back up your data and consider ESU enrollment if you need a guaranteed, vendor‑supplied short extension.
- Trial ChromeOS Flex from USB or test a Linux live image to determine whether a repurpose strategy meets your needs before committing.
Microsoft’s lifecycle documentation and Back Market’s Obsolete program represent two sides of a broader ecosystem shift: platform owners raising security baselines, and circular‑economy actors racing to keep hardware usable. The practical questions for users are no longer theoretical — they are operational, dollarized, and immediate. The next steps should be cautious, evidence‑based, and oriented toward preserving both digital safety and hardware longevity.
Source: GB News This company is taking on Microsoft over its decision to kill Windows 10 next month, giving you a quick fix