Windows 10 end-of-Life Sparks Economic & Environmental Concerns
PARIS – โคThe impending end of support for Windows 10 is โtriggering ample costs for public andโข private organizations โขwhile simultaneously raisingโฃ alarms about a looming wave โขof electronic waste, accordingโฃ to reports. Organizations are facing โขsignificant expenses to maintain securityโข through extended update subscriptions or to โคmigrate to new systems.
Public service companies are already allocating substantial โฃfunds; one is reportedly paying Microsoft 2.5 million euros for aโ one-year โextension of updates for 48,000 positions. Larger-scale upgrades are estimatedโ to costโข as much as 15 million euros. These expenditures are driven by the critical need to avoid security vulnerabilities, highlighted by recent โฃcyberattacks targeting institutionsโฃ like the Universityโ of Rennesโ and hospitals inโ Normandy and Hauts-de-France.
“If someone getsโข hacked, the flaw โcan be โฃreassembled to all internal positions,” โฃwarnsโข Corinneโ Henin, emphasizingโฃ the systemic risk. Antoine Guillouโฃ adds, “We must be aware that we are manipulating โขdata onโ users, their income, their family, their address, their usesโฆ For these reasons, we know that we are targets for pirates.”
Microsoft justifies the transition as a natural and essential cycle, stating it allows users โฃto “benefit โfrom the latest advancesโ in security, performance or innovation,” according to executiveโ vice-president Yusuf Mehdi.
However, the upgradeโฃ cycle carries a heavy environmental price.The US consumer โฃassociationโ Pirg estimates theโค end of Windows 10 could โคgenerate 725,000 tonnesโ of electronic waste. Given thatโค 90%โ of a laptop’s carbon โfootprint is created during manufacturing – requiring energy and water-intensive mineral โextraction that causes “lasting ecological damage” – the replacement of obsolete computers is a major concern.
The HOP association calculates the โฃmaterial extraction needed for replacement computersโ equates to 32,000 Eiffel Towers โworth of raw materials and will generate overโ 70 million tonnes of greenhouse gases.