Lawsuit accuses Microsoft of forcing an upgrade on the world

Remember when Microsoft said Windows 10 would be the “last version of Windows”? Yeah, that aged about as well as milk left in the sun. Now we’re staring down October 14, 2025, when Microsoft pulls the plug on Windows 10 support. No more security updates. No more help desk. Just you, your computer, and whatever hackers decide to throw at unpatched systems. But Lawrence Klein from San Diego isn’t having it. He’s taking Microsoft to court, and honestly, his story will likely hit home for a lot of us.

Klein has two laptops that work perfectly fine. They handle his daily stuff without breaking a sweat. But here’s the kicker – they can’t run Windows 11. Not because they’re too slow or too old, but because they’re missing something called a TPM 2.0 chip. It’s basically a security component that Microsoft decided was absolutely essential for Windows 11.

So Klein, along with about 240 million other PC owners worldwide, is stuck. His options? Buy new computers, pay Microsoft’s “Extended Security Updates” fee (starting at $30 and going up each year), or roll the dice with an unprotected machine.

That’s not really a choice; that’s extortion with extra steps.

Here’s what’s wild: Windows 10 still runs on around 43% of all Windows computers. We’re talking about 700 million devices. So this is not some tiny group of holdouts clinging to outdated software; it’s nearly half the Windows user base.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Windows Version Market Share

Klein’s lawsuit asks for something pretty reasonable: keep supporting Windows 10 until less than 10% of people are using it. He’s not even asking for money – just basic security updates so people don’t get hacked. You can read the full complaint in the embed below, or check it out here.

The environmental impact is also frankly insane. One analyst calculated that junking 240 million computers would create a stack of e-waste taller than the distance to the moon. Let that sink in. Meanwhile, Microsoft keeps insisting everyone needs Windows 11 for its AI features. But Microsoft itself has practically revealed that it doesn’t have to be this way. They already brought some of those features, including their Copilot assistant, to Windows 10. So why the hard cutoff?

Look, Microsoft has done this dance before. Windows XP died, Windows 7 died, life went on. But this time is different. Usually when they kill an OS, most people can upgrade their existing hardware. This time, millions of perfectly good computers are being declared obsolete because they’re missing one specific chip.

Reddit is full of people complaining that Windows 11 isn’t even that great. Some hate the new interface. Others don’t see any compelling reason to upgrade. When you combine that with the arbitrary hardware restrictions, it starts looking like Microsoft is manufacturing a crisis.

Klein’s lawsuit probably won’t save the day, because legal stuff usually moves at a snail’s pace, and October is coming fast. But it’s shining a spotlight on something that affects hundreds of millions of people. Right now, families and businesses are facing a choice nobody should have to make: spend thousands on new hardware, pay Microsoft’s protection money, or use an unprotected computer in 2025.

Microsoft promised Windows 10 would be the last version we’d ever need. Turns out, they meant the last one before they force everyone into their next money-making scheme.