Microsoft Offers Extended Security Update (ESU) Program for Windows 10 [View all]

Microsoft just rolled out an Extended Security Update program for Windows 10. The plan appears to have one of two options for sign up. The first one is pay a one-time $30 fee for a ESU license for up to 10 computers. The other allows you to get ESU for free, BUT to get this, you have to sync your PC settings, which means backing up personal data to OneDrive, using Microsoft Bing for web searches, and using Microsoft Edge.

I'm thinking of paying the $30 fee for the ESU license, as I don't want to back up data to MSFT's OneDrive and be compelled to use Edge/Bing. I was planning to migrate most of my home systems to Windows 11 over the next couple of months until I heard about this ESU program. Mrs Best has a employer-supplied computer running Windows 11 Pro and to be frank, I do not have any love for the Windows 11 OS.

I'd love to ditch Windows entirely and go 100% Linux (currently have one system that is dual boot Win 10/Ubuntu). But we both have applications we use for work and business that I don't think would function well in the Linux WINE emulator tool.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-consumer-extended-security-updates-esu-program-33e17de9-36b3-43bb-874d-6c53d2e4bf42