18 December 2025
Introducing Saved #
At saved.co.nz I'm proposing a novel approach to solving the impending e-waste disaster caused by Microsoft ending support for Windows 10.
An estimated 400m Windows 10 devices can now be saved, not for spare parts and metals, but for a reimagined life as enduring, useful, affordable, and just cool laptops for most people.
A novel approach #
E-waste recycling and re-use initiatives already exist and they are rewarding experiences to be part of. These approaches often rely on grants to support volunteers to learn skills and refurbish devices and then gift them. Which in every respect is awesome!
The challenge for the charitable model is the sheer scale of e-waste—even without the enormous number of Windows 10 laptops in the pipeline.
Volunteers struggle to support the supply of e-waste, and as a result they can't support the demand for enduring, useful products.
Either the e-waste minimisation sector needs huge funding increases from benevolent givers, or novel approaches need testing.
Saved is a novel approach for three reasons:
- Saved receives its funding at the end of the laptop upgrade cycle—when it provides something of value—not at the start
- Saved uses process automation to reimagine Windows 10 laptops at scale
- Saved uses its brand and IP to take on the bigger picture and achieve sustainable growth
With risk #
Among the many risks for any venture, a notable risk for Saved is that organisations could be reluctant to supply their end-of-life laptops to a venture that could put a price back on them after creating new value (versus supplying them to charitable organisations that have already received their funding to refurbish them and give them away).
But there is precedent for it to work: Echo.
The bigger picture #
Windows 10 laptops won't need saving forever.
The bigger picture is believing that we can be saved. Saved from:
- The dominance and entrapment of bigtech
- Loss of identity and data sovereignty
- AI disrupting professional labour markets
- Digital inequities exacerbating wider inequalities
- Precarious education and employment prospects for young and old
Saved is a venture designed to tap into the emerging zeitgeist.
It's not just that Windows 10 can't be upgraded for so many, it's that Windows 11 is shit, by design.
Like the other bigtech platforms, Microsoft has changed their strategy from building products for us into providing services for them.
I've touched on where we're heading before, and you can find a growing collection of links documenting the enshittification of the internet and the bigtech backlash at saved.co.nz.
If all this sounds like something, please have a read of Saved: a venture proposal.
It's licensed under Creative Commons, so if you think you can do a better job of all this than I can, you are free to pick up the proposal and run with it! 🙂
