Joseph De Veaugh-Geiss, Linux App Summit 2025:
Windows 10 security updates end on 14 October 2025, KDE's 29th birthday and also, ironically, International E-Waste Day (you cannot make these things up!). Hundreds of millions of functioning devices will become e-waste. This means manufacturing and transporting new ones, which is perhaps the biggest waste of all: hardware production alone can account for over 75% of a device's CO2 emissions over its lifespan.
Free software is a solution, today! We have an opportunity to coordinate a global, unified Free Software campaign over the next 6 months to raise awareness about the environmental harm of software-driven hardware obsolescence, at the same time upgrading users from Windows 10 to GNU/Linux directly to keep those devices in use and out of the landfill. Let's think big and act boldly! In this talk I will update LAS attendees on progress in the campaign and extend an invitation for contributors to make Windows 10 the last version of Windows end users ever use.
In more recent news, from Tom's Hardware:
- In wake of Windows 10 retirement, over 780,000 Windows users skip Win 11 for Linux, says Zorin OS developers — distro hits unprecedented 1 million downloads in five weeks
- Gaming-first Linux distro delivers a petabyte of ISOs in one month as users avoid forced updates to Windows 11 — Bazzite distro is another safe haven for Win 10 refugees
If you are looking for an empowering, freedom-respecting operating system for your computer, you are in the right place.