MicrosoftI agree that businesses should be running up to date hardware and value security highly. This should be factored into their cost. And used enterprise machines are wonderful deals for consumers. And that's all well and good. But you are way too dismissive of the home user. Whether this post is intended for IT admins or not, this applies to non-commercial users as well. People, so their situation matters.
You mentioned Windows 10 and Linux as options. Linux cannot run all software a consumer may need well, and even those you can make work with WINE will often be above the average consumer's ability. Windows, unfortunately, is a requirement for many. Windows 10 loses support in a year without paying a fee. And then it loses support a year later regardless.
By not allowing individuals to upgrade without a TPM and ending support for older versions of Windows, Microsoft is taking these old systems from not top-notch secure to very insecure. Right now, it is mostly safe for the average customer to connect their Windows 10 machine to the internet without a TPM. The risk of something bad happening is low. However if you connect a Windows XP system to the internet, which is long unsupported, the risk is quite high. This makes Windows 10, right now, a viable OS for most individuals and Windows XP not. Without support, Windows 10 will become more like Windows XP, and there is NOTHING an end user can do about it. That is what everyone is up in arms about. That should not just be brushed away with a "but enterprise."
Connecting XP to the Internet, last tried in 2023, results into
