Nat 1: Your PC gets taken out by a cryptoworm. You lose all of your data, and all of your accounts and passwords are compromised. BAD END
2: You switch to an LTSC license and pay Microsoft $183 for 3 years of Extended Support. Your applications slowly stop getting updated, and by November 2028 your PC still loses support. You now find it somewhat frustrating to use your PC, especially online. You’re now using an unusual browser fork you’d never heard of before, the UI is awful and half of your extensions don’t work. Since your Extended Support is now gone, you must now move to option 3.
3: You’re very careful with your computer. You use a PiHole on your network, you sandbox applications religiously. You only use old offline applications or niche long term support forks of open-source software that continue to support your OS. You regularly find, vet, and install unofficial community patches to your computer. You eventually realize you’re spending almost as much time trying to keep your PC secure as you spend actually using it, but continue out of frustration with Microsoft. Nevertheless, these patches stop being released around 2030. Many of your applications have also stopped being updated. Congratulations, you extended the life of your Windows install by 5 years! You’re now doing the equivalent of running Windows 7 in 2025 or windows XP in 2020. Was it worth it? Honestly, it wasn’t worth it for me. I did this with XP and tried with 7 but just gave up and moved onto option 4.
Nat 4: You end up installing Linux. You’re shocked by how straightforward and functional it is. Maybe once a month at most, you fire up a virtual machine with Windows because you need to use a single program you’ve not found a good replacement for. GOOD END
Roll 1d4 to see what happens!
Nat 1: Your PC gets taken out by a cryptoworm. You lose all of your data, and all of your accounts and passwords are compromised. BAD END
2: You switch to an LTSC license and pay Microsoft $183 for 3 years of Extended Support. Your applications slowly stop getting updated, and by November 2028 your PC still loses support. You now find it somewhat frustrating to use your PC, especially online. You’re now using an unusual browser fork you’d never heard of before, the UI is awful and half of your extensions don’t work. Since your Extended Support is now gone, you must now move to option 3.
3: You’re very careful with your computer. You use a PiHole on your network, you sandbox applications religiously. You only use old offline applications or niche long term support forks of open-source software that continue to support your OS. You regularly find, vet, and install unofficial community patches to your computer. You eventually realize you’re spending almost as much time trying to keep your PC secure as you spend actually using it, but continue out of frustration with Microsoft. Nevertheless, these patches stop being released around 2030. Many of your applications have also stopped being updated. Congratulations, you extended the life of your Windows install by 5 years! You’re now doing the equivalent of running Windows 7 in 2025 or windows XP in 2020. Was it worth it? Honestly, it wasn’t worth it for me. I did this with XP and tried with 7 but just gave up and moved onto option 4.
Nat 4: You end up installing Linux. You’re shocked by how straightforward and functional it is. Maybe once a month at most, you fire up a virtual machine with Windows because you need to use a single program you’ve not found a good replacement for. GOOD END