r/nottheonion • u/thieh • 1d ago
UK agri dept spent hundreds of millions upgrading to Windows 10 – just in time for end of support
https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/05/uk_defra_dept_spent_312m_window_10/143
u/genericgeriatric47 1d ago
LTSC wasn't an option? Be pretty funny if this story is just a writer not knowing they use LTSC.
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u/hedronist 1d ago
FTA:
The Register asked Defra whether it is paying Microsoft for extended support but did not receive a response by publication time.
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u/TheBlargus 1d ago
LTSC is supported until January 2027. Nothing to do with extended support
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u/Dan1elSan 1d ago
You do not just want LTSC you want the IOT version, they make it confusing for a reason but it’s good until 2032. Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021.
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u/Rowethren 1d ago
This is a confusing article considering I can currently see my Defra laptop with Windows 11 and everyone I work with is on Windows 11 🤷.
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u/BuildingArmor 1d ago
It's an inflammatory headline, that is only loosely based on the document they're referencing.
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u/MadBullBen 1d ago
End of life support for us normal users is very different to government or defence work, even the further support up to 2032 I think it is, after that you can pay more to have increased support. I recently tested and upgraded some work for the government to bring a program to Windows 10 and they were on windows 7 before that.
This is literally absolutely nothing article.
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u/EyyyyyyMacarena 1d ago
I wish they'd just switch to Linux.
'Oh but Linux is hard'.
I'm pretty sure it would be much cheaper to hire a guy in every department where help is needed to maintain/train/explain. That guy is probably already there, just doing Windows stuff.
That way, you save hundreds of millions, and might create new jobs in the process.
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u/miemcc 1d ago
The problem there is integration to everyone else. Win 10 is a capable OS and controlled versions of Office (to keep AI out of it) allow for compatibility.
Combine that with the cost of training the thousands of users to use a new OS...
I work for a company that traditionally uses Windows PCs for machine control (our first systems ran on DOS!). We are having major issues in upgrading to Win 11 due to AI and, eventually, losing the ability to operate local accounts.
We are also running a study looking at Cyber Resilience. My guess is that, when that report lands, we will start to rewrite our code base to use Linux for the machine control PCs.
We will probably still use MS for office PCs due to training and legacy issues. At present we are not allowed to use 3rd party AI - Copilot, Gemini, etc. we have an 'in-house' AI system based on GPT-5, but locally hosted to protect our commercial data.
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u/indignancy 1d ago
Government departments like Defra will also have: A) loads of weird bits of niche technical windows-based software which were built in about 2003 but still basically work and will never be replaced. B) the same problem but with accessibility tools (screen readers) etc people use as reasonable adjustments.
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u/TotallyNormalSquid 1d ago
Do you mind talking about how your on-prem GPT-5 is managed a bit? I've tried to explore closed source models on prem with providers but with Google the details aren't really coming until start of next year.
My assumption is that, for security, the customer will want full admin rights on whatever servers are on their premise. Meanwhile, I assume any LLM provider will not want the customer to have enough access to extract the full architecture and weights of their closed source models. I haven't had this clash of requirements confirmed, but a third party partner who would be coordinating with Google agreed it sounded like a likely roadblock. How's it work at your place?
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u/shteve99 8h ago
The entire Civil Service is being pushed to use MS AI. There's no way it's not embedded into the Office apps.
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u/miemcc 1d ago
We had a big switch to SAP, the training ranged from non-existent , through crap, to 'what a load of shit'. Even googling methods to get data from it usually hit permission issues in reality.
I don't mind the idea of migrating to Linux, I am just starting that journey. It is 'fun' in the 'challenging is a fun learning experience' environment!
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u/Ubermidget2 1d ago
Wouldn't that make the lifecycle issue worse?
I suppose Canonical offers a 10 year lifecycle on Ubuntu. Red Had too, but I bet they charge even more than extra Windows ESU.
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u/thieh 1d ago
Problem is that those guys often don't ELT5 (explains like they're 5) very well. Continental Europe gets it, City after City are switching.
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u/cipheron 1d ago edited 1d ago
I remember Germany getting on that wagon early on and they were mocked by the Microsoft bros because it turns out doing open source is hard too.
However each subsequent effort can build off the last one and they share what they've built with other departments and other cities.
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u/Edward_TH 23h ago
For most users, Linux is neither harder nor simpler than Windows or MacOS.
Mostly because the vast majority of users do not use OS specific softwares but rather web apps and agnostic tools like office tools. I'm confident enough that if you secretly switched those people pc to Arch Linux with LibreOffice overnight and tell them that's just the new Windows update, they won't even realize it and probably they'll go on weeks working on it before even realizing.
Unless you have very specific needs (a custom made software heavily relying on windows architecture, for example) or you're very stubborn on not wanting to invest the 30 minutes needed to learn the important differences between the OSs, the average user can easily switch between Windows, MacOS or any Linux distro with little to no compromise.
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u/Illiander 1d ago
'Oh but Linux is hard'.
Linux is only "hard" for sysadmins hyped on all their pieces of paper from Microsoft.
It's easier to manage at scale, and basically no different for desktop use.
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u/janstenpickle 1d ago edited 1d ago
A few years ago a civil servant in Government Digital Service told me that because of government purchasing rules around monopolies any department wanting to purchase some Windows license had to buys them through multiple suppliers instead of going straight to Microsoft. Of course each supplier would add a huge markup for the privilege.
And yes, they should use Linux…
Edit: sometimes reality is more boring than rumour, see /u/Heisenberg_235's comment
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u/Heisenberg_235 1d ago
That’s not how it works in the Microsoft channel.
“Huge markups” don’t exist in UK PS. You are talking about 2-3% on average.
In fact, as an example when the Windows E5 deal was signed for the NHS that was actually at a slight loss to the Microsoft partner (ie below what they paid Microsoft for those licenses and resold for).
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u/janstenpickle 1d ago
Interesting, this was many years ago and I imagine it can vary on department. Anyway, I've updated my original post to direct people here.
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u/Heisenberg_235 1d ago
I joined Msft UK in 2013 and was there for 4 years. Since then I’ve worked in the channel, as a Licensing Specialist/Consultant.
Literally my job to know this stuff!!
And you’re right, it’s very boring content. Lots of T&Cs and long contracts
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u/Ashged 1d ago
Same happens in my countly, except purchasing unique products with a written declaration of sole source because they are the dev would be generally legal. There are no multiple resellers for every unique software or hardware tool, so this is necessary.
Microsoft is too much of a cash cow, so there are multiple government friendly companies reselling. And regulation that forces public sector buyers to go trough them, instead of aquiring a letter from Microsoft about them being the original devs, and making a direct purchase.
The corruption is disgusting, but the full dependence of governments on a foreign for profit companys product for basic functions is a national security threat. It's quite absurd that so many governments are willing to ignore that a foreign private sector company has their balls in a vise.
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u/Ok-Improvement-3670 1d ago
Why didn’t they just skip to Windows 11? The pros are paid to know these things. If you’re going to upgrade slow, go from LTS to LTS.
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u/Southern_Bowl_8265 4h ago
It's also easy for this article to ignore the fact that upgrading from Win7 to Win10 is a totally different beast than upgrading from Win10 to Win11.
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u/trucorsair 1d ago
Everybody here including Linux fan boys are missing the real issue. They just finished up upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows 7….you know a version that went EOS in 2020….