Microsoftrevealed earlier this year, plans to end support for Office apps (Microsoft 365) on Windows 10 on October 14. Now, Microsoft has suddenly changed its mind and promised to continue providing security updates for Office apps on Windows 10 for the next three years.
"To help you maintain security during the transition to Windows 11, Microsoft will continue to provide security updates for Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 for three years after the end of Windows 10 support," Microsoft said in an update support article published last week. "These updates will be available through the standard update channel until October 10, 2028."
Microsoft quietly announced the three-year extension in late April in a separate support article for IT admins, reiterating that Microsoft 365 apps will "continue to run as before" but that businesses should upgrade to Windows 11 "to avoid performance and reliability issues over time."
This latest statement is significantly different from a blog post published by Microsoft in January. At the time, Microsoft warned businesses that Office apps would no longer be supported in Windows 10 later this year. "To use Microsoft 365 apps on your device, you need to upgrade to Windows 11," Microsoft said at the time.
Microsoft has been pushing consumers and businesses to upgrade to Windows 11 ahead of the end of support for Windows 10 on October 14. Although Windows 11 lags behind Windows 10 in adoption, the company announced at CES earlier this year that 2025 would be "the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh."
Microsoft has spent the past year trying to convince Windows 10 users to buy new computers with full-screen prompts. Consumers who don't want to buy a new computer or upgrade to Windows 11 will also be able to purchase extended security updates for the first time. You'll have to pay $30 to get an extra year of updates, while enterprise users can purchase extended updates for up to three years.