Extended support for Windows 10 could cost enterprises billions according to new research, prompting questions over why many are still plugging away with the operating system.
Analysis by Nexthink, released just weeks before Microsoft cuts off support for Windows 10, found maintaining custom versions of the operating system could cost in excess of $7.3 billion globally.
While businesses can choose to pay for extended support, this will set them back $61 per device for the first year. That price then doubles every year, for a maximum of three years, further compounding costs.
Enterprises and consumers alike have been moving away from Windows 10, albeit slowly, Nexthink found. Researchers at the company observed a 33% decrease in Windows 10 devices between 19 May 2025 and 1 August.
Figures from Statcounter also show the operating system still holds a 43% market share, with Windows 11 only recently overtaking it in popularity.
Based on current trends, this means even by the 14 October deadline around 121 million devices would still be running the operating system globally.
Sticking with Windows 10 poses risks
With this in mind, Nexthink said organizations need to ramp up efforts to switch operating systems ahead of the deadline, as failing to do so puts them at risk of cyber threats like malware and ransomware.
From a productivity perspective, failing to upgrade also has a marked impact on business efficiency, Nexthink noted. Similarly, partial upgrades can create their own issues, causing friction across teams due to “inconsistent experiences” between the two operating systems.
Tim Flower, digital employee experience strategist at Nexthink, said shifting to a new operating system “shouldn’t feel like a disruption”.
“It should be an opportunity to improve how employees work every day,” he said.
“That means understanding how devices and applications perform before the migration, anticipating issues and problems, and taking steps to ensure migrations and upgrades run smoothly.
“The goal is to avoid productivity being interrupted by an IT event, and help organizations see clear benefits from their investment.
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