Now that Windows 10 is no longer being officially supported for free by Microsoft, the pace at which organizations are expected to upgrade PCs that are optimized for artificial intelligence (AI) applications is set to dramatically increase.
AI PC market growth driven by Windows 11 adoption
According to the Futurum Group, global revenues for these AI PCs will reach $23 billion this year, growing to $124 billion by 2030. Corporations upgrading to Windows 11 will drive the first wave of increased spending through 2027. Consumers will start buying PCs priced under $1,000 starting in 2028, creating a second wave of increased spending.
That second wave of PCs is dependent on second-generation neural processing unit (NPU) processors that, as they become available in 2027, will reduce costs, according to the report.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is hoping to accelerate that timeline by continuing to infuse Windows 11 with additional AI capabilities, most recently by integrating an instance of Copilot, which recognizes voice commands and provides access to Copilot Vision, an AI feature that can analyze and give feedback based on the documents, video games and other activities happening on the screen.
Windows 11 update issues prompt MSP support
At the same time, however, people continue to make gaffes. A recent mandatory Windows 11 update, for example, broke localhost HTTP/2 connections, which means locally hosted apps can no longer connect to a network, and rendered Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) for troubleshooting the platform unusable because a bug blocks the mouse or keyboard on a PC from working. The team rapidly fixed these issues, but as organizations work to operationalize AI, many may explore alternatives that demand fewer regular—and often problematic—updates.
Regardless of the path forward, managed service providers (MSPs) will be called up to enable organizations to replace legacy systems that can’t be upgraded to Windows 11. Organizations need to acquire new PCs and update their Windows application environments. These tasks typically require significant effort, and MSPs typically manage them more effectively.
Windows 10 hangers-on pose rising support challenges
There will be plenty of organizations that will continue to run Windows 10 for as long as possible to avoid the cost of an upgrade regardless of the benefits of AI. Some of them will even sign up for Extended Security Updates through which security updates for Windows 10 will be provided through October of next year.
However, the longer an organization stays on Windows 10 the more likely it is that support costs will become prohibitive for MSPs as the number of security incidents starts to steadily increase. Approximately half a billion PCs run Windows, and while consumers own most of them, many corporate environments still actively deploy Windows 10. The challenge and the opportunity for MSPs is to enable organizations to migrate off of Windows 10 with minimal business disruption.
Photo: artush / Shutterstock
This post originally appeared on Smarter MSP.