With the end of support of Windows 10 in 2025, 200 million plus Windows 10 desktops and laptops will be headed to landfills over the next year, many millions of them suitable for repurposing as productive Linux desktops. I am interested in organizing Linux promoters and enthusiasts in creating nonprofits where Windows 10 machines and their peripherals may be donated, collected, rebuilt with various Linux distributions and preinstalled productivity software and then redistributed without cost to educational and vocational organizations and disadvantaged families and individuals who could otherwise not afford a Window 11 or Apple computer.
The advantages are many: Millions of disadvantaged children will have access to a capable computer preinstalled with word processing, spreadsheets, graphics, browsers, email, and whatever other appropriate software supportive of educational development and participation in work and family environments. Almost everybody has a smartphone, or at minimum a cellphone, but the work of the world is done on desktops and laptops. Introducing young people to this environment, learning as they grow, will create a generation of Linux users that can easily adapt to a Windows or Apple workplace if required by future employment opportunities or in their own small business pursuits. Adults with little or no computer experience could likewise benefit from computer skills developed in the Linux world.
The sudden and dramatic increase in Linux users created through this program will stimulate growth in the Linux community well beyond the next year. Many of the new users will become enthusiasts themselves. Developers will create new programs and new desktops. Faced with this growth, familiar Windows and Apple software manufacturers, historically reluctant to invest in Linux software development, will expand their products to include Linux versions (Quicken for Linux anyone?)
It is debatable whether Microsoft's decision to end Windows 10 support is shortsighted or not, but what is not debatable is that this decision is a classic opportunity to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. The opportunity should not be wasted.
The advantages are many: Millions of disadvantaged children will have access to a capable computer preinstalled with word processing, spreadsheets, graphics, browsers, email, and whatever other appropriate software supportive of educational development and participation in work and family environments. Almost everybody has a smartphone, or at minimum a cellphone, but the work of the world is done on desktops and laptops. Introducing young people to this environment, learning as they grow, will create a generation of Linux users that can easily adapt to a Windows or Apple workplace if required by future employment opportunities or in their own small business pursuits. Adults with little or no computer experience could likewise benefit from computer skills developed in the Linux world.
The sudden and dramatic increase in Linux users created through this program will stimulate growth in the Linux community well beyond the next year. Many of the new users will become enthusiasts themselves. Developers will create new programs and new desktops. Faced with this growth, familiar Windows and Apple software manufacturers, historically reluctant to invest in Linux software development, will expand their products to include Linux versions (Quicken for Linux anyone?)
It is debatable whether Microsoft's decision to end Windows 10 support is shortsighted or not, but what is not debatable is that this decision is a classic opportunity to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. The opportunity should not be wasted.