According to Michaelsoft (thank you Big Daddy for that one!), Windows 10 no longer be supported as of October 13, 2025 (unless you pay them for support). This move (in addition to the release of Windows 11) has had an impacts on the PC industry, and those impacts hit DJs as well.
Only Team Denon can tell our community how long they plan on supporting Windows 10 after the EoL deadline, and if you depend on Windows 10, you have to begin to plan to mitigate this.
What does this mean?
Your computers will continue to work, however security & bug patches will be limited to paying customers only. This is absolutely important.
Let’s talk about options:
Do nothing:
This is where it gets to be interesting. Your computer will continue to work, though over time more and more bugs will continue to be discovered and exploited, increasing your risk of your machine getting compromised. IMHO, this is the cheapest, yet dumbest and most expensive of choices. Cheapest because it costs nothing to stay in the current platform, and it’s the dumbest because exploits & malware will only get more tenacious with the rise of AI programming. This will be the most expensive if your computer gets compromised and you lose everything. Choose wisely.
Free, but limited in scope. This has its own bag of worm issues, and not all PCs are capable of running Win11 (without patching, etc..). If your PC is not compatible, then a computer that is compatible with Windows 11’s Trusted Platform Module (TPM) will be required.
Change platforms:
Linux isn’t supported by Engine (ironic, given that Engine OS is Linux!) and is not for the feint of heart. The only platform change option is MacOS, which is stupidly expensive and has its own steep adoption curve (File system changes, user behavior, etc..)
My initial reaction to this news was really negative, but then I heard to some tech leaders speak to this and one of their main points was the following:
By the time Windows 10 will be EoL, it would have been > 10 years (originally released to the public July 29, 2015). A decade is an extremely long life for an OS.
IIRC, Windows XP was the longest supported OS (12+ years).
Windows 11 is a complete show when it comes to privacy, though many would say its architecture is far superior to Windows 10.
My biggest issue with Windows 11 are the privacy issues, such as the requirement for a MS account just to use the OS. It is also a massive platform for advertisements and apps get installed without the user’s permission. There are some tools that help with this, though I’ve not upgraded to windows 11 yet.
I have 3 windows 10 machines in my collection, and none of them can run windows 11 .
My work machine was updated to W11, and even in our extremely closed, zero ad world I don’t like it. It doesn’t really do anything better than W10.
My reliable DJ machine is a 2019 Lenovo C940. It can be upgraded to Windows 11 but it works perfectly fine on Windows 10 as is. I take regular images of the SSD so if anything goes Pete Tong after October it’s a 15 minute job to recover it to the previous backup.
I may try the Windows 11 upgrade if I have a spare day sometime.
Microsoft gives a 10 year support on all software and OS builds, so nothing new. Server, SQL, etc.
If Microsoft stops supporting the OS, so will any company with a normal sense of security.
We’ve been upgrading for the past year to get our customers to Windows 11. Some use Windows 10 Enterprise versions, but that will extend only one year.
To people who still fancy Windows 7. Time to also move.
TPM can be bypassed with a genuine copy of Windows 11 and the latest copy of Rufus, there are 5 registry entries that need to be done prior to the install.
Literally did both my boys older laptops that do not have TPM 2.0, CPU or memory requirements required for Windows 11
OK I took the plunge yesterday and updated my 6 year old Lenovo C940 to Windows 11 using the Windows 11 update assistant.
It all went smoothly apart from one issue where the CPU was spiking but it was a bug caused between Start11 and the 24H2Windows update. Easily sorted and it’s working as before with no issues (so far)
It depends on what each one needs, but in the case of using the Prime platform as a standalone, a desktop can be used for the Engine Dj desktop app. That being said, Apple is no longer as expensive as it was… I have the Mac Mini M4 base model and I am very happy with it. The price is around 650-700 Euro. Something equivalent on the Windows platform would have cost me more. I switched to Mac OS 4 years ago with a MacBook Air M1 which works very well even now if you want a laptop and its price is still around 700 Euro. I was a Windows user for 20 years and I don’t really feel like going back. My personal opinion for those thinking of switching to Mac OS.
Yes, I’ve always found Mac a much better overall experience for DJ use, built in core audio drivers being the number one reason, general stability being another.
This is from someone who spends 8/9hrs a day using a Windows laptop for work, and by and large enjoys using it.
(originally released to the public July 29, 2015). A decade is an extremely long life for an OS.
show when it comes to privacy, though many would say its architecture is far superior to Windows 10.
.
