Windows 10 stopped a scandal as well social and ecological?

In a multipurpose room at the bottom of the 11th arrondissement of Paris gathered militants last week for a more inclusive digital. At the call of the Halte association in planned obsolescenceassociations, professionals and citizens met to debate the end of life of Windows 10.

Disconnected from October 14, 2025it is estimated that the Microsoft Star operating system is still running about 250 million machines. What generate a lot, a lot of more or less viable electronic waste, but also to complicate the lives of thousands of more or less precarious people far from digital.

Windows 10 “Alleged obsolete”

According to Alizée Colin, manager in the association “The digital fresco“, The problem is all the more serious when you know that”The ecological backpack of a laptop is more than 800 kg of excavated material“, The numbers go up quickly, note Alizée Colin.

According to figures published by the association Greenitthe renewal caused by the abandonment of Windows 10 could generate up to 37 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, or 10 % of annual greenhouse gas emissions in France. Obviously, the Windows 10 machines will not stop operating overnight and all will not be renewed Derechef, but they will be made vulnerable to safety flaws, gradually abandoned by the development teams and slowly left behind.

Or rather they will be “allegedly obsolete“, Corrects Frédéric Urbain, spokesperson for the association Framasoft. “”These machines work very well, they will only be obsolete from Microsoft’s point of view“, Adds the one who made the defense of the free software his workhorse. Asked about A possible hi on the side of Linuxthe manager appears enthusiastic, but careful. “”We can use free software and it will work very well“, but “For people who are in a return to employment phase, if we give them a Linux, they will not have the same bone as what they have in the company and it could be a handicap“.

A cost impossible to assume for many

Because the end of Windows 10 is not just an ecological problem. For part of the population, especially the most precarious, it is one more obstacle to access digital. “”8 million French people cannot already be equipped with computer equipment for lack of resources“, poses Arthur Aubree, project manager at Emmaüs Connect”With Windows 11 this figure will tend to increase“.

Indeed, Microsoft’s latest operating system requires more demanding technical characteristics than its predecessor mechanically increase the price of machines. The reconditioned sector, with which Emmaüs works to offer PCs to the least wealthy populations, is particularly affected since it recovers machines already old from a few years ago. Gold “If we predate the 8th generation of Intel, it will no longer pass“Sighs the manager.”Many of the machines purchased during the covid are not compatible“, Continues Arthur Aubrée.

Buy new being out of words for the less easy, you must anticipate. Pay for extensive care? Impossible, Microsoft invoices the service 30 €, a quarter to see a third of the prices of computers recovered from Emmaüs. Pass on Linux? Possible, but we find the issues mentioned above about the acclimatization and compatibility of the system with possible professional constraints.

So, for the moment, the response of the precarious Aid Associations Faces to the abandonment of Microsoft is twofold. On the one hand, we recover the PCs eligible for Windows 11 to distribute them to those who need them most, and, on the other, we blind Windows 10 with an antivirus and some good advice to avoid the worst. “”It is certainly an ecological, but also social drama for people who will no longer be able to use their machine“, One explains at Emmaüs.

System D as the only solution

While waiting to have a wider debate on software obsolescence, the lifespan of products or on the need for “Organize collectively away from tech giants», Adds a participant in the round table, the solution is therefore a good dose of D system.

In the meantime, the announced end of life of Windows 10 does not only have deleterious consequences. “”It’s interesting for us, we will have the opportunity to recover lots of machines that people will get rid of“, jokes Arthur Aubrée with a half -yellow smile.

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