Windows 10 2004 ..Soon to be history

Microsoft issued a reminder that the first Windows of the pandemic, Windows 10 2004, was due for the chop. An upgrade to Windows 11 is in order, unless one is using Surface hardware bought around that time.

The impending demise of Windows 10 2004 has been etched, since its debut, in the calendar of the administrators who elected to install it. While its numbering might imply origins almost two decades ago, the 20 indicates the year 2020, while the 04 means April. So obviously it wasn’t until May that year before users got their hands on the code. The advice from the Windows behemoth is to upgrade to Windows 11 if possible. These include users of Microsoft’s own Surface Go, which was on sale as 2020 opened. The original Go was equipped with an Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y CPU, which sadly does not appear on the infamous hardware compatibility list for Windows 11.

The advice from the Windows behemoth is to upgrade to Windows 11, starting December 14 2021 updates won’t be released. These include users of Microsoft’s own Surface Go, which was on sale as 2020 opened.

As of October, Window 10 2004 was installed on 14.1 per cent of PCs. Upgrading to a later version of Windows 10 should be straightforward, an enablement package can be applied to activate the limited number of new toys that await.

Windows 11 should be easier to follow, with feature updates coming on an annual basis in the second half of the year and 24 months of support on tap for Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and Pro Education edition. Education and Enterprise editions get 36 months of support. Windows 10, on the other hand, enjoyed feature updates twice a year receiving 18 or 30 months of support depending on lifecycle policy.

Windows 10, the pig upon which Microsoft applied the Windows 11 lipstick, will continue to be supported until October 2025, more than a decade after the OS first made its debut.