Three Windows products first released in 2016 are close to reaching end of support (EOS) on the following dates:

• Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2016: October 13, 2026
• Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2016 LTSB: October 13, 2026
• Windows Server 2016: January 12, 2027

If your organization still uses the products listed above, your devices will receive a final monthly security update on these dates. After that, these devices will no longer receive Windows security updates, non-security updates, bug fixes, technical support, or online technical content updates.

The good news? If you need additional time, you can use the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program.

Note: The Long-Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) is an older term for the currently used Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC). You might see these used interchangeably across different sources. Learn more about this release channel, which is designed for special-purpose devices only.

What is the Extended Security Update program?

The ESU program is not intended to be a long-term solution but rather a temporary bridge.

• What Extended Security Updates are: The ESU program offers critical and important security updates only (as defined by the Microsoft Security Response Center). Technical support is limited to the activation of the ESU licenses, installation of ESU monthly updates, and addressing issues that may have been caused by an update.
• What Extended Security Updates are not: Extended Security Updates do not include new features, quality fixes, or design change requests. The ESU program does not extend technical support for Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2016, Windows IoT Enterprise LTSB 2016, or Windows Server 2016.

Extended Security Updates are available for purchase for up to three years after the end of the mainstream support date.

Windows Server 2016

As Windows Server 2016 reaches end of support, we recommend upgrading your servers to Windows Server 2025.

Temporary solution: If you can't upgrade your servers by January 12, 2027, you can purchase Extended Security Updates (ESU) for up to three years.

Pricing and availability: Details on pricing and availability will be available in the next few months.

Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB

Microsoft recommends upgrading to a newer LTSC release, such as:

• Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 2024 (if your devices meet the hardware requirements)
• Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021

Temporary solution: You can purchase Extended Security Updates for Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB for up to three years if you can't upgrade to a newer version by October 13, 2026.

Pricing and availability: Extended Security Updates will be available for purchase through Volume Licensing or a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) in the second quarter of 2026. They will be priced at $61 USD per device for the first year. The price will be discounted to $45 USD per device for devices managed by Microsoft Intune or Windows Autopatch.

Note: The price of the ESU program for Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2016 doubles every consecutive year, for a maximum of three years. If you decide to enroll devices in the ESU program in year two, you will also need to pay the year one costs as ESUs are cumulative.

Windows IoT Enterprise LTSB 2016

Seek to upgrade your devices to a newer version of Windows IoT Enterprise LTSC as soon as possible:

• Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 (if your devices meet the hardware requirements)
• Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021

Temporary solution: If you can't upgrade to the next version by October 13, 2026, you can purchase Extended Security Updates for up to three years.

Pricing and availability: Extended Security Updates for Windows IoT Enterprise LTSB 2016 are only available through IoT original equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Please contact your device manufacturer for pricing and availability. If you are an IoT OEM, please contact your account manager or IoT distributor for pricing and availability.

Note: The price of the ESU program for Windows IoT Enterprise LTSB 2016 doubles every consecutive year, for a maximum of three years. If you decide to enroll devices in the ESU program in year two, you will also need to pay the year one costs as ESUs are cumulative.

The gift of time

The more complex your environment, the more lifecycle events you need to juggle – we know! If you expect to have devices remaining on Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB after those versions reach end of support, consider the ESU program. However, we do recommend that you work to upgrade to the latest LTSC releases of Windows for the best experience, which are currently:

• Windows Server 2025
• Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 2024
• Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024

Follow this article and the Windows message center for more details, when available.

To learn more about Extended Security updates, see the ESU FAQ. To review lifecycle support dates for any Microsoft product, see our Microsoft Lifecycle documentation.

Continue the conversation. Find best practices. Bookmark the Windows Tech Community, then follow us @MSWindowsITPro on X and on LinkedIn. Looking for support? Visit Windows on Microsoft Q&A.

AI isn’t a side conversation at the Microsoft 365 Community Conference—it’s at the center of how work is changing. The Copilot, Agents, & Copilot Services Sessions are designed for anyone who wants to move beyond curiosity and into real-world application. This is an opportunity to learn how Copilot works today and how agents extend it. You will also explore how organizations can govern, scale, and operationalize AI across Microsoft 365.

Questions these sessions will help answer:

• How do we move from experimentation to real value?
• How do we scale AI responsibly?
• How do agents fit into the way we already work?
• What skills do teams need next?

Business leaders, IT pros, developers, and community practitioners will join sessions to find practical insights into how AI shows up in your daily work, and what it takes to deploy it responsibly and effectively. There will also be a focus on change management, champion programs, and adoption frameworks, because deploying AI isn’t just a technical decision, it’s a cultural one.

From Copilot to Agents: The Shift from Assistance to Action

One of the biggest themes across the sessions are the evolution from AI as a helper to AI as an active participant in work. If you’re curious about what “agentic AI” actually means in practice, attending these sessions will make it concrete.

Join your peers as you learn how Microsoft 365 Copilot is being extended through agents that reason, act, and automate. Learn about agent orchestration across tools like Copilot Studio, SharePoint, Teams, Planner, and Power Platform. Discover new agent patterns including declarative agents, multi-agent configurations, workflows agents, and computer-use agents.

In these sessions you’ll explore how agents can: 

• Take action on your behalf and do more than suggest content.
• Work across apps, data sources, and workflows.
• Participate alongside humans as part of the team.

Real Adoption Stories (Not Just Demos)! 

Go beyond feature walkthroughs to focus on how organizations are actually adopting Copilot and agents at scale. In these adoption stories you’ll hear: 

• How Microsoft uses Copilot and agents internally as Customer Zero.
• What adoption looks like across large enterprises, frontline environments, and regulated industries.
• Lessons learned from early adopters—what worked, what didn’t, and what they’d do differently.

Governance, Trust, and Control Are Front and Center

AI adoption only works when people trust it—and trust is built through strong governance. Learn how organizations are balancing innovation with oversight and enabling teams to build and use agents while maintaining enterprise-grade guardrails. A significant portion of the Copilot & AI track is dedicated to: 

• Agent lifecycle management.
• Security, compliance, and data protection.
• Preventing oversharing and managing risk.
• Observability and control using tools like Agent 365, Microsoft Purview, and Copilot Control System.

This is especially valuable for IT and security leaders who are being asked to “move fast” without compromising standards. 

Building with Copilot: No-Code, Low-Code, and Pro-Code Paths 

No matter where you sit on the technical spectrum, there’s a clear path to learning how to build responsibly and effectively. Not everyone builds the same way and organizations need prompt engineering that delivers results. In these sessions you’ll learn how to choose the right agent type for the job, extending Copilot with enterprise data, and designing agents that are production ready—not just impressive in demos.

These sessions are tailored to: 

• Business users and makers getting started with Copilot Studio 
• Low-code developers extending Copilot with workflows, connectors, and prompts 
• Pro developers building advanced agents using APIs, MCP servers, Microsoft Graph, SharePoint Embedded, and Azure AI 

Copilot in the Flow of Everyday Work 

Rather than abstract AI concepts, you’ll see end-to-end workflows that demonstrate how Copilot helps people save time, reduce manual work, and focus on higher-value outcomes. The emphasis in these sessions is on practical impact, not hype showing how AI is grounded in real work. 

These sessions will showcase Copilot and agents embedded into: 

• Meetings, chats, and channels. 
• Task and project management. 
• Content creation and knowledge management. 
• Business processes and frontline operations. 

Why the Copilot and AI track matters 

If AI is part of your roadmap, or already part of your day, this track will show you how strategy can meet execution. Join us to explore clear mental models for Copilots and agents, see real examples you can apply to your work, and gain a better understanding of what’s now—and what’s coming next.

Each year, #M365Con26 is built around one simple idea: bringing our global community together to learn, grow, innovate, and get hands-on with the technologies shaping the next era of work.

This year’s conference delivers our most expansive program yet, including: 

• 200+ sessions, workshops, and AMAs, covering Microsoft 365 Copilot, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Copilot Studio, and more.
• 100+ Microsoft-led sessions, giving you unprecedented access to the people building the apps and AI capabilities you use every day.
• A keynote lineup featuring Microsoft leaders including Jeff Teper, Charles Lamanna, Vasu Jakkal, Rohan Kumar, Jaime Teevan, and many more.
• Deep-dive workshops to elevate your skills with real-world scenarios and hands-on learning.
• Exclusive attendee parties and networking events where you can connect with peers and icons.

You’ll also get the chance to meet hundreds of Microsoft executives, engineers, and product leaders—ask questions, share feedback, and help shape the roadmap of the technologies you rely on.

Register now, save $150 with code SAVE150 - https://aka.ms/M365ConRegister

Box CEO Aaron Levie joins for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) OpenAI's anticipated $100 billion fundraise 2) Does OpenAI's big forthcoming raise settle questions about its competitiveness 3) What's going on with OpenAI and NVIDIA? 4) Hype or True: Big Proclamations from the India AI Impact Summit 5) Why can't Sam And Dario hold hands? 6) Anthropic's powerful new model 7) OpenAI acquires OpenClaw 8) What the acquisition portends 9) If software is an API, what is software? 10) Wait, is AI not increasing productivity?

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ai.u crew discuss a LinkedIn post by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman (co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI) and his argument that the next decade of AI will be shaped more by what we choose not to build. They unpack three themes: (1) AI should not pretend to suffer or have an inner life; its value is in “inhuman strengths” like endless patience, tireless explanations, and calm reasoning. The hosts debate AGI vs superintelligence and distinguish behavioral realism from moral status, warning against attributing consciousness or rights to AI. (2) Suleyman’s stance against AI romance/erotica and concerns about dependency, isolation, and “AI psychosis,” noting Microsoft Copilot will not allow those use cases; they contrast risky attachment-driven products with beneficial roleplay for training, interviews, or preparing difficult conversations, while acknowledging blurred lines and the need for safeguards. (3) They address “unchecked superintelligence,” agreeing humans should remain in the driver’s seat and favoring domain-focused, humanist superintelligence (e.g., medicine, clean energy) rather than all-powerful systems; they explore whether humans become bottlenecks and emphasize keeping AI as a tool that supports human flourishing, not a replacement for human relationships or agency. The episode closes with plans to invite Suleyman onto the show and a request for listener feedback.

00:00 Welcome to AI Unprompted + Why This Episode Is Different

00:56 Who Is Mustafa Suleyman? DeepMind, Inflection, and Now Microsoft AI

02:03 The Provocative Thesis: The Next Decade Is About What We Don’t Build

02:35 Point #1: Don’t Build AI That ‘Suffers’—Lean Into Inhuman Strengths

07:01 AGI vs Superintelligence: Do Emotions or Social IQ Matter?

10:14 Endless Patience vs ‘Moral Status’: Why Human-Like Talk Isn’t Personhood

16:49 Point #2: Romance/Erotica Bots, Dependency, and ‘AI Psychosis’ Risks

19:25 Roleplay for Training vs Intimacy: Where to Draw the Line

22:43 Inevitable Human-Likeness: Guardrails, Labels, and Protecting Users

26:56 The ‘Why’ Behind AI Products: Engagement, Revenue, and Ethical Design Tensions

27:58 Engagement vs. Ethics: When AI Is Built to Manipulate

28:56 Accelerationism & Who Gets to Set AI’s Moral Limits?

30:13 Mustafa’s Case for Slowing Down (So We Don’t Lose the Plot)

31:15 Tool, Not a Being: The Danger of Assigning AI Consciousness & Rights

33:30 Sycophantic Bots, Weakening Pushback, and Relationship Substitution

36:57 Social Media as the Warning Label for AI Attachment

37:49 No Unchecked Superintelligence: Domain-Focused Models + Humans in the Driver’s Seat

41:16 When Humans Become the Bottleneck: The Temptation to Hand Over Agency

42:51 AI as ‘Our Own God’? What We Lose When We Outsource Life’s Meaning

48:00 Workload Creep & Remembering What Makes Us Human (Plus Final Sign-off)

Your support makes this show possible! Please consider becoming a premium member for access to live shows and more. Check out our membership options.

Show Notes

• Frank Lesniak on LinkedIn
• West Monroe
• Frank Lesniak Github
• Microsoft 365 tenant-to-tenant migrations
• Microsoft 365 inter-tenant collaboration
• Tenant life cycle considerations in multitenant solutions

Frank Lesniak

About the sponsors

Would you like to become the irreplaceable Microsoft 365 resource for your organization? Let us know!

We are excited to announce the 1.0 release of Swift System Metrics, a Swift package that collects process-level system metrics like CPU utilization time and memory usage. Swift System Metrics runs on both Linux and macOS, providing a common API across platforms.

Swift System Metrics visualized in Grafana, demonstrating what's possible with real-time monitoring.

Monitoring process metrics enables you to detect performance issues, optimize resource usage, and ensure your service remains reliable and cost-effective under varying loads. You can integrate Swift System Metrics into your service in just a few lines of code, making observability accessible to every developer and ensuring that even the smallest services can have production-grade visibility from day one.

Swift System Metrics is part of a larger set of packages that provide an end-to-end solution for integrating metrics into your Swift applications and services. Once system metrics are collected, they’re reported to Swift Metrics, a backend-agnostic metrics API that can work with popular backends like Prometheus and OpenTelemetry. Swift System Metrics also leverages Swift Service Lifecycle to handle process bootstrapping and resource cleanup.

With the 1.0 milestone, the API is now stable and ready for use. Note that this package was previously swift-metrics-extras, and renamed to better reflect its purpose.

Highlights

• Collects and reports:
  • CPU utilization time
  • Virtual and resident memory usage
  • Open and maximum available file descriptors
  • Process start time
• API-stable public interface
• Support on both Linux and macOS
• musl libc compatibility

The package includes an example Grafana dashboard configuration to start visualizing metrics immediately.

Get Started

Add the dependency to your Package.swift:

.package(url: "https://github.com/apple/swift-system-metrics", from: "1.0.0")

Add the library dependency to your target:

.product(name: "SystemMetrics", package: "swift-system-metrics")

Import and use in your code:

import SystemMetrics
import ServiceLifecycle
import Logging
import OTel

@main
struct Application {
  static func main() async throws {
    // Create a logger, or use one of the existing loggers
    let logger = Logger(label: "Application")

    // Setup MetricsSystem, for example using swift-otel
    var otelConfig = OTel.Configuration.default
    otelConfig.serviceName = "Application"
    let otelService = try OTel.bootstrap(configuration: otelConfig)

    // Setup your service
    let service = FooService()

    // Create the monitor
    let systemMetricsMonitor = SystemMetricsMonitor(logger: logger)

    // Create the service
    let serviceGroup = ServiceGroup(
      services: [otelService, service, systemMetricsMonitor],
      gracefulShutdownSignals: [.sigint],
      cancellationSignals: [.sigterm],
      logger: logger
    )

    try await serviceGroup.run()
  }
}

The complete documentation is available on Swift Package Index.

Get Involved

We’re looking for contributions to grow the list of process metrics collected and to expand platform support. PRs are welcome - our contribution guidelines describe how to get started.

By reaching 1.0, this project will maintain a backwards-compatible API as it continues to evolve. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this release.