Opt Green: Coordinating a Windows 10-to-Linux upcycling campaign across Free Software communities worldwide

workshop
14:4040 mins08/11/2024

Windows 10 security updates end on 14 October 2025 KDE’s 29th birthday and also, ironically, International E-Waste Day (you cannot make these things up!). Hundreds of millions of functioning devices will become e-waste. This means manufacturing and transporting new ones, which is perhaps the biggest waste of all: hardware production alone can account for over 75% of a device’s CO2 emissions over its lifespan.

Free Software is a solution, and if we work together Windows 10 could truly be the last version of Windows users ever use! Let’s take this opportunity to coordinate a global, unified Free Software campaign over the next year to raise awareness about the environmental harm of software-driven hardware obsolescence, at the same time upgrading users from Windows 10 to GNU/Linux directly to keep those devices in use and out of the landfill. Let’s think big and act boldly! What should this campaign look like? Who is the target audience and how can we best reach them? What obstacles for new users exist and how can our communities best address them? Join the BoF to co-ordinate, together.