Extended‑Support Upgrade Fragmentation

When vendors phase out free OS support but offer paid or regionally varied extended security updates, adoption fragments: consumers, EU organisations with free ESU, and cash‑constrained enterprises follow divergent upgrade schedules. That fragmentation creates an uneven security landscape, higher long‑run costs for late adopters, and systemic patch heterogeneity across countries and sectors. — A persistent OS upgrade bifurcation affects national cyber‑resilience, enterprise procurement budgets, and where regulators may need to intervene on patching or extended‑support policy.