Microsoft agrees to 11th hour Win 10 end of life concessions

Consumer org forces Redmond to expunge list of requirements for free ESU in Euro Economic Area, just need a Microsoft account

Microsoft will give consumers in the European Economic Area no-strings extended support for the soon-to be-EOL Windows 10.

In October last year, users globally were told that they could get a year of extended security updates after the October 14 2025 sunset date for Windows 10 support, if they're prepared to pay a one-off $30 fee (local rates apply). Then, in June this year, Microsoft offered a "free" option – if customers coughed up Microsoft Reward Points or used Windows Backup to sync their settings to the cloud.

However, Luxembourg and Brussels-based consumer rights group Euroconsumers decided that this was not good enough. In July it wrote to Redmond [PDF] to argue that the policy was not in line with the Digital Markets Act or the Digital Content Directive ...