What Happens To Free Windows 10 Upgrades After July 29?

Megalith

Megalith

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Do you think Microsoft will actually start charging for the OS, or will they simply extend the free upgrade period?

When the company first announced the terms of that offer last May, it literally included an asterisk and fine print. Those terms have changed slightly over the intervening months, but one element has remained constant: The offer is good for one year after the availability of Windows 10.
 
"due to overwhelming demand and positive feedback we are extending the free upgrade offer indefinitely...we want all our customers to experience the amazing features and benefits of Windows 10...we will also continue to cripple Windows 7 until everyone is forced to upgrade...thanks"
 
polonyc2 said:
"due to overwhelming demand and positive feedback we are extending the free upgrade offer indefinitely...we want all our customers to experience the amazing features and benefits of Windows 10...we will also continue to cripple Windows 7 until everyone is forced to upgrade...thanks"
Click to expand...

Best translation of Microsoft's actions on this so far.
 
polonyc2 said:
"due to overwhelming demand and positive feedback we are extending the free upgrade offer indefinitely...we want all our customers to experience the amazing features and benefits of Windows 10...we will also continue to cripple Windows 7 until everyone is forced to upgrade...thanks"
Click to expand...

Correct.
 
Bunch of drama queens...

Yes the free upgrade nag is a bit lame but it is no where near "crippling" Win7.
 
polonyc2 said:
"due to overwhelming demand and positive feedback we are extending the free upgrade offer indefinitely...we want all our customers to experience the amazing features and benefits of Windows 10...we will also continue to cripple Windows 7 until everyone is forced to upgrade...thanks"
Click to expand...

Hopefully they announce this change at least a month before so I don't waste my time.
Otherwise, in order to future proof my home systems, I'll have to take an image of each, upgrade to 10, and then put the original Windows 7 image back.
 
Supposedly those who have upgraded nothing it is new upgrades after july 29 that won't go. But i would think that they will continue it as it still requires the purchase of a copy of 7 or 8 to do it. I already did all of my copies i had...
 
dandirk said:
Bunch of drama queens...

Yes the free upgrade nag is a bit lame but it is no where near "crippling" Win7.
Click to expand...

The nag is not the only problem. The biggest one I keep running into is windows updates are broken on fresh installs of windows 7 even with sp1. They update process eats up about 2gb of RAM and takes days instead of hours. This started happening not long after the Windows 10 launch and microsoft doesn't care enough to fix it.
 
dandirk said:
Bunch of drama queens...

Yes the free upgrade nag is a bit lame but it is no where near "crippling" Win7.
Click to expand...

LOL... Boss, I am not able to do any work anymore on the computer because MS has crippled it, so can I have a few months paid leave till it gets sorted out please? :)

I bet it doesn't work.
 
Kardonxt said:
The nag is not the only problem. The biggest one I keep running into is windows updates are broken on fresh installs of windows 7 even with sp1. They update process eats up about 2gb of RAM and takes days instead of hours. This started happening not long after the Windows 10 launch and microsoft doesn't care enough to fix it.
Click to expand...

There is a hotfix for this: KB3102810

Run it first and the updates search up in about 5 minutes and install normally.
 
polonyc2 said:
"due to overwhelming demand and positive feedback we are extending the free upgrade offer indefinitely...we want all our customers to experience the amazing features and benefits of Windows 10...we will also continue to cripple Windows 7 until everyone is forced to upgrade...thanks"
Click to expand...

BOOM. nailed it.
 
polonyc2 said:
"due to overwhelming demand and positive feedback we are extending the free upgrade offer indefinitely...we want all our customers to experience the amazing features and benefits of Windows 10...we will also continue to cripple Windows 7 until everyone is forced to upgrade...thanks"
Click to expand...
You do that a little too well.

LigTasm said:
There is a hotfix for this: KB3102810

Run it first and the updates search up in about 5 minutes and install normally.
Click to expand...

Thanks, bookmarked and noted.
 
Microsoft might extend the time for the free upgrade period, but I don't think it will become permanently free, at least not initially. If 10 were a permanently free upgrade it would be more difficult to explain the aggressiveness of the upgrade process currently. Even if the upgrade process is too aggressive Microsoft can use "sense of urgency" as a rationale.

I think it will boil down to how Microsoft sees 10's market share and just how much help keeping the upgrade free would help. I honestly don't think that keeping the upgrade free beyond a year would make a lot of difference, at least not this summer. Now where it could make an impact is when 7 goes out of extended support in 2020. At that time, whatever it's called, there will something considerably newer than Windows 10 and I'm sure it will have some free offer to cover when 7 goes out of support.

My guess is that the free upgrade ends this summer but the upgrade pricing will be substantially lower than Windows upgrades of the past, like $10 or $20 and that they'll do another free upgrade promotion as 7 goes out of support.
 
Wrecked Em said:
"We'll give you $5 if you install our new operating system"
Click to expand...

Actually there's more truth to this than you might think. If you use Cortana with voice control, you get Bing points for those searches. Of course you get Bing points for searches on Windows 7, 8.x but I find that I'm doing more searches just because I can blurt out random stuff I'm thinking about, like celebrity trivia or what not. So the points add up pretty quickly, I'm getting $5 in Bing rewards around every 3 to 4 weeks now without thinking about.
 
heatlesssun said:
Actually there's more truth to this than you might think. If you use Cortana with voice control, you get Bing points for those searches. Of course you get Bing points for searches on Windows 7, 8.x but I find that I'm doing more searches just because I can blurt out random stuff I'm thinking about, like celebrity trivia or what not. So the points add up pretty quickly, I'm getting $5 in Bing rewards around every 3 to 4 weeks now without thinking about.
Click to expand...

Same here. Might not be a huge amount of money, but I am already searching for stuff on my pc and phone so if I can get myself enough money to buy a game or two a year without doing anything special why not take them up on it.
 
Well, if they could resist releasing another competing windows right away they could shift to a low upgrade price and rely on OEM versions to gradually displace the older versions of Windows as people replace their ageing computers ... even with the shrinking PC market I suspect that around 50% or more of the PC purchases are replacements for existing machines and not new first time buyers ... except for Enterprise (where companies have contracts with MS allowing them to stay on previous Windows versions with support) most users will receive the newest versions of Windows with their new systems, so they can win the percentages by attrition
 
I suspect they'll announce that due to popular demand the promotion has been held over another year. And they'll do that every year for the next 5 years.
 
Gorankar said:
Maybe they will rename it to Windows Forever?
Click to expand...

Knowing them and the direction they are going windows 365 for 19.99 a month comes with an amazing calculator and the office 365 suite. Or maybe Microsoft 365 will be that and windows 365 will be 4.99 a month...
 
LigTasm said:
There is a hotfix for this: KB3102810

Run it first and the updates search up in about 5 minutes and install normally.
Click to expand...

i already installed this, it doesnt work. i had to manually kill the process repeatedly through resource monitor to stop wupdate from eating 60% of my cpu & a gig & a half of ram for days at a time.
 
Guess I should start working on upgrading my two technet subscription keys. If I do a few keys a day, I should be able to finish before the deadline.
 
SparkedFire said:
The only problem with Windows 10 is the annoying update notifications.
Click to expand...

Worse is the inability to delay windows updates on the home version. I'm really getting annoyed at how my tablet always seems to update when I'm in a hurry. I normally set my systems to download the updates & let me know so I can update when I have time. I'm to the point where I'm going to something like disable the service, which means I'll likely forget and end up going months between updates. Exactly the opposite of that they intended by not giving update options.

What they really should have done is to nag you about the updates, and let you say no for a few days before it automatically updates.
 
Microsoft doubling down on Windows 10 is like George Lucas doubling down on Jar Jar binks. Oh, you don't like it? Here's more!
 
*insert joker meme*

Apple and Google can completely change their OS every year and no one bats an eye...


anyway they should just offer 'Windows OS' and it will make it easier for them to push upgrades
 
After July 29 the upgrade switches from optional to mandatory, and all computers are force-upgraded to Win10 whether the owner is ready or not.
 
Why you think Microsoft is forcing people to upgrade to Windows 10? If there's enough of a user base, they can charge for Windows 10. If not enough people upgrade, they may have to give it away for free.
 
sir-gold said:
After July 29 the upgrade switches from optional to mandatory, and all computers are force-upgraded to Win10 whether the owner is ready or not.
Click to expand...

And even if the computer is compatible or not...
 
LigTasm said:
There is a hotfix for this: KB3102810

Run it first and the updates search up in about 5 minutes and install normally.
Click to expand...

I just had to fully 'reset' a Windows 8.1 machine this weekend and update a 6 months Dormant Win7 machine. And the experience is more unpleasant than it should be. This is good to know now, thanks. The hotfix is great for companies with IT departments that can help implement it and spread the word. I don't have the time to debug bad installation when I don't know for sure what the cause was. Thanks for the post though.
 
DukenukemX said:
Why you think Microsoft is forcing people to upgrade to Windows 10? If there's enough of a user base, they can charge for Windows 10. If not enough people upgrade, they may have to give it away for free.
Click to expand...

The reason is simple, Microsoft is trying to grow the Windows 10 base quickly to make universal app development more appealing to help out on the mobile end in particular. But even if that effort doesn't work, and for now it looks like that's not working, universal apps still cover all of Microsoft platforms. So however it's sliced Microsoft wasn't developers creating universal apps, even if they are just for x86 devices like PCs and the Xbox One.

Part of the free upgrade is also related to the fact that direct sales of Windows to consumers, both retail and upgrade licenses, haven't been a big business for Microsoft for a while now. Long gone are the days when consumers lined up to buy boxed copies of Windows 95. So using the free upgrade as a way to force sales of Windows 10 later doesn't make a lot sense.
 
nutzo said:
Worse is the inability to delay windows updates on the home version. I'm really getting annoyed at how my tablet always seems to update when I'm in a hurry. I normally set my systems to download the updates & let me know so I can update when I have time. I'm to the point where I'm going to something like disable the service, which means I'll likely forget and end up going months between updates. Exactly the opposite of that they intended by not giving update options.

What they really should have done is to nag you about the updates, and let you say no for a few days before it automatically updates.
Click to expand...

For me it comes down to, who owns my computer? Me or Microsoft? It is the 2001 computer saying, "I'm sorry Dave, but I WILL upgrade you RIGHT NOW".
 
I wouldn't hold my breath for Microsoft to extend it. Those who wanted it will get it by then, there will be a last minute rush for those who waited until the last possible minute, and then there will be folks who simply will stick by Windows 7.

I like Windows 10, but I upgraded from Windows 7, and the primary reason was to access all 32GB on my system. However, I also see a good reason to go from Windows 8/8.1 to 10. Windows 7... not so much.
 
If they could, Microsoft would charge users for NOT updating to Windows 10.

Thankfully, I still have a few unused Technet keys for 7, and I can recycle some as I de-commision old systems. I have a few Windows 8 keys, in case I get desperate. I just installed 7 on a new Skylake system booting from a Samsung 950 nVME drive, so that will probably last me into 2019 or beyond.
 
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