It is also not up to the end user to understand this.
Yes. The user must understand enough about it to make the right decision. If people think they can continue to use an old, unsupported version of Windows, then something is wrong somewhere. I’ll leave it open where things go wrong.
People don’t need to know exactly how a combustion engine works to understand that they have to refuel when the gauge is empty.
People who stuck with Windows 7 can skip Windows 8(.1) and move to Windows 10. With Windows 10, Microsoft has definitely changed its stance from before Windows 8. And the same before with operating systems Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
What did these people achieve? They didn’t stick with the old version of Windows because they wanted to skip the version. Promotion is not a goal in itself.
Sooner or later, they all died, usually when they bought a new computer. MS has not modified Windows on the points that matter to these people. Whether it’s privacy, advertising, or certain aspects of the user interface. People can postpone their promotion, but I don’t think it will impact MS in the areas that matter to them.
The postponement may make some sense because the government has time to rebuke MS and demand modifications, as it did regarding, among other things, Windows 10 telemetry. MS can’t ignore that, but this has nothing to do with postponing people’s upgrade.
MS is a company and only does something that makes money. A non-paying customer can still earn money (advertising, purchases in a platform store, …). MS has long moved away from the idea that it does something just for the sake of paying end users.
This is how I see it, Windows has basically become a platform to sell other MS services and products. If you look at it this way, you shouldn’t expect the changes to be for the user’s benefit. It would be reasonable to expect that every change will cost you money in the end.
My point remains that people have false expectations and think they can force MS to improve by not upgrading. It doesn’t work that way, these people mainly care about themselves.
The MOT is mandatory for cars anyway and has nothing to do with drivers.
But why is MOT mandatory? I think the reason is that not all drivers do it on their own and put the safety of others at risk. Risking your safety is ultimately your choice in a free country, and the rules are there to protect others.
Moreover, the comparison is flawed, because an old car that is no longer supported by the manufacturer can still pass the MOT.
Only as long as there is another manufacturer that makes the appropriate replacement parts. If you can no longer get new brake discs for your car, things will grind to a halt very quickly.
In the automotive world there is a wide range of alternative suppliers of circular spare parts. In the world of software (Windows) this does not exist. MS is the only one in the world that can support Windows.
In practice, there is a difference in the speed at which the process is performed. You can still buy new parts for a 25-year-old car, but with some software (like this version of Windows) you won’t get new parts (patches) after two years.
Often things go well. If things go well more often than not (the chance of being a victim is small), you already know what conclusions the crowd draws.
People are known to be bad at assessing risks, especially long-term risks. Everyone thinks the chances are slim…until things go wrong. This is where the safety of others comes into play. Often people do not even know that their computers have been hacked and are being used to harass others. We would suffer less from DDOS attacks and botnets if everyone always patched properly.
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