Microsoft 365 repriced, with Copilot included
Copilot has stopped being an add-on and become part of the Business plans, and the base plans went up the same day. Here is what it means for a small business bill.
Windows 10 is out of support: what the August 2026 Office freeze means for you
Extended Security Updates bought most people until October 2026, but Microsoft 365 apps on Windows 10 stop getting new features this month. Here is what actually breaks, and when.
The bit that changes this month
From August 2026, Microsoft 365 apps running on Windows 10 enter what Microsoft calls a feature freeze. Word, Excel and Outlook keep getting security fixes, but they stop getting new features. Your Office does not break. It simply stops moving, while the version your colleague runs on Windows 11 carries on.
That sounds mild, and for a lot of home users it genuinely is. Where it bites is in businesses running mixed estates, because you end up supporting two different versions of the same software with two different feature sets, and the difference only shows up when somebody cannot open something a colleague sent.
Where the security position actually stands
Windows 10 itself reached end of support in October 2025. Consumer devices enrolled in Extended Security Updates are covered to October 2026, and businesses can buy ESU for up to three years, taking them to October 2028.
ESU is a genuine security patch stream, not a fudge. But it is critical and important fixes only: no new features, no new hardware support, and a bill that goes up each year it is renewed. It is a bridge, and bridges are for crossing.
Roughly a quarter of desktops worldwide were still on Windows 10 at the start of 2026, so if you are still there, you are not an outlier. You are just on a clock.
The two consequences most businesses miss
The first is insurance. A growing number of cyber insurers now ask about operating system support status at renewal, and some will decline a claim where an unsupported OS contributed to a breach. That is a policy question worth putting to your broker before renewal, not after an incident.
The second is drivers. Hardware vendors follow Microsoft. Nvidia, for one, has wound down Windows 10 driver support, which means a new graphics card or a new printer may simply have no Windows 10 driver. The machine stops being upgradeable long before it stops turning on.
What to do about it
For a home PC, check whether the machine meets the Windows 11 requirements. Many that were sold as "not compatible" in 2021 actually are, once TPM is enabled in the BIOS — that is a two-minute change, not a new laptop. If it genuinely will not take Windows 11, an ESU-covered device is fine until October 2026, and then it needs replacing.
For a business, the useful exercise is an inventory rather than a panic. Which machines are on Windows 10, which of those can be upgraded in place, which need replacing, and what that costs spread across the next twelve months. Most estates split roughly into thirds, and the third that upgrades in place is free.
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