You just won’t get support or security patches. While people should upgrade, industries will still keep w10 around for a long time, just like they do with XP, 98, NT4, etc.
Running an unsupported and insecure OS on the internet is untenable.
Windows 10 may be a 10 year old OS but Windows 11 has only been around for 2.5 years.
Last I checked, Windows was also an end-user product and not just for industries.
There will absolutely be computers that are less than 5 years old that will go to e-waste.
Turned out, a lot of people accepted that deal and stayed on XP. So many that MS got increasingly upset and put up pressure by adding nag screens, etc.
I'm completely sure, should enough people here actually try and stay in Win10, they will do the same. Especially since the main motivation for Win11 seems to be additional capabilities for DRM/locking down the system, so MS has a specific motivation to get as many people as possible to switch.
That, and more opportunities to insert adverts and related stalking for personal data to sell, which you agree to in the EULA.
If an enterprise computer, they'll have a dashboard for corporate IT, and if retail that dashboard will be for advertisers and 3 letter agencies.
If my main home machine didn't need some replacement anyway (there is something funky happening with USB connectivity, particularly for devices needing more than negligible power) it would definitely be moving to Linux rather than being replaced, even if I do upgrade it might anyway, but I am not the norm and I don't have time to help others make the same change and support them afterwards. To suggest that MS is OK to have performed this long-term bait & switch because other options exist is disingenuous at best.
Isn't an OS only as old as its last update? Like an online map which gets updated, the map is not considered "old" if kept updated.