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Microsoft Reveals Windows 10 Will Be a Free Upgrade
mpicpp was one of many to point out this bit of news about Windows 10."Microsoft just took another big step toward the release of Windows 10 and revealed it will be free for many current Windows users. The company unveiled the Windows 10 consumer preview on Wednesday, showcasing some of the new features in the latest version of the operating system that powers the vast majority of the world's desktop PCs. The developer preview has been available since Microsoft first announced Windows 10 in the fall, but it was buggy, limited in scope and very light on new features. Importantly, Windows 10 will be free for existing Windows users running versions of Windows back to Windows 7. That includes Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows Phone. Microsoft specified it would only be free for the first year, indicating Windows would be software that users subscribe to, rather than buy outright. Microsoft Corporate Vice President of the Operating Systems Group Joe Belfiore showed off some of the new features in Windows 10. While Microsoft had already announced it would bring back the much-missed Start Menu, Belfiore revealed it would also have a full-screen mode that includes more of the Windows 8 Start screen. He said Windows machines would go back and forth between to two menus in a way that wouldn't confuse people. Belfiore also showed a new notification center for Windows, which puts a user's notifications in an Action Center menu that can appear along the right side, similar to how notifications work in Apple OS X. Microsoft Executive Vice President of Operating Systems Terry Myerson revealed that 1.7 million people had downloaded the Windows 10 developer preview, giving Microsoft over 800,000 individual piece of feedback. Myerson explained that Windows 10 has several main intents: the give users a mobility of experience from device to device, instill a sense of trust in users, and provide the most natural ways to interact with devices."
More details are available directly from Microsoft.
I think the key question is what happens after the first year? How much does it cost after year 1? If you don't pay will it brick your PC or just stop providing updates?
(If at first you don't succeed, do it different next time!)
indicating Windows would be software that users subscribe to, rather than buy outright.
I sure hope that indication is wrong.
Comment received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
It doesn't "indicate" subscriptions.
It says pretty damn clearly that the upgrade to Windows 10 costs exactly 0 if you upgrade during the first year after it's released.
English, motherf***er. Do you speak it?
If you aren't paying for it, then you aren't the customer.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets...
"Once a device is upgraded to Windows 10, we'll be keeping it current for the supported lifetime of the device," said Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Operating Systems Group.
Sounds like it could be either.
Google and Android are now getting old. And so are Apple and its iPhone's and Mac's. It's about time we see newer companies like Microsoft, Xiaomi etc. come up with amazing new products. Although I do agree that it will be hard for a new and small company like Microsoft to break-in into big markets, but so were Google and Apple many years ago. I wish companies like Microsoft, Xiaomi all the best.
McAfee free for 30 days. Windows 10 one year. What a hell it will be to buy a Dell laptop next year.
The summary is wrong. What they were saying is that you can upgrade for free during the first year after Win10 release. Then it works as usual, you get automatic updates etc.
Windows 3.11: Better than dos!
Windows 95: now 32 bit!!
Windows 98: uh...3 more than 95!
Windows ME: grinds cats into freezer meat!
Windows XP: We've been told you dont want or like having cats ground into freezer meat...so this one doesnt do that. also we're doing letters now for real instead of numbers. Dont question it..
Windows Vista: Reboot simulator included!
Windows 7: ok so lets just do numbers again. 7 is less than 95, plus 3.11 minus the square root of 2000 is....eh....we changed the start button for you
Windows 8:: Hello there youths! we're told you like touched screens! Also we have an app store now and that has always been there. check out the full-screen start menu there now isnt that nifty?
Windows 9:: Maadamme Romani threatened to unravel my lifeweave if we ever used 9. seriously. its cursed. also all our code would mistake it for 95 or 98.
Windows 10: We gave you back the start button, but also included a mini start screen in it as a big fuck you for not accepting the start screen. Also its free...because uh...Ubunt...er...apple is still our competitor...yeah.
Good people go to bed earlier.
From what i've read on other sites...free for a year means...that they will offer the upgrade free for just one year...If you want to update to Win 10 later...you'll have to pay...I've seen nothing to indicate that means Windows is going subscription.
indicating Windows would be software that users subscribe to, rather than buy outright
No thanks. Just like with Adobe CS, it looks like it's time to buy up some licenses before they disappear. I have no interest in renting my software.
Renting software, especially non-essential software, is one thing, but renting the OS, without which the system won't even function, is more akin to renting ransom-ware. (good move M$, he said sarcastically)
If, on the other hand, the system will still function - at full capacity - but just w/o further updates, then I predict many, many out-of-date systems (because people are fugal) - that is, until, more complete uses of "trusted computing" take hold and routers and/or network services deny access to systems that are not fully-patched. (off in the distance, he hears RMS giggling and muttering "wait for it...")
Also, how is this subscription service suppose to work? Am I suppose to give M$ my credit card number for recurring charges? I don't think so - although I imagine that's what many Apple consumers do (I don't know).
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Not free as in free speech. :)
Not free as in free beer.
Free as in AOL.
Please remember the words of your younger, wiser self. If it is free, then it must not have any value.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
If you are building a home PC, it's still going to cost you around $100 for the software. Big OEM producers, current license holders get to upgrade or install for free.
But screw you home builders. Pay the tax to join the club. No free OS for you. Once you are "in" THEN you can upgrade for free.
It turns into Vista, the equivalent of a pumpkin.
Table-ized A.I.
I upgraded my laptop to Windows 8 when it came out because they had a special price of $39. If they can sell windows at that price to the end user, I could see them selling a lot more copies. I'm looking into getting a new desktop PC, and it's a choice between settle for some HP/Dell/Whatever machine that doesn't quite meet my wants, but get it because windows is included for free, or build my own machine exactly the way I want it, and run Linux. The reason I don't want to run Windows on the PC I build myself is because I find that $100 for the OS on a $500 computer to be a little bit much to ask. If the cost of the OS was lower for end users, I could see a lot of people getting it, even if they are only running it as a second OS.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
> Microsoft specified it would only be free for the first year,
Continuing the practice of using early adopters as unpaid beta testers, I see. Whatever revenue they lose with this practice will more than be made up in all the free bug reports.
Initially you could get Windows 8 for $49. I couldn't pass that up, but in retrospect it was a lot of hassle for nothing (as I ended up regening windows 7 on the machine). The only saving grace is that I fixed a registry glitch regarding screen resolution, and later when trying to find a solution to a different problem in the microsoft forum, ran across many people requesting assistance on the problem I had just fixed. The Microsoft offshore admins were as usual handing out useless scripted responses ("please to be sure that you are having the latest video drivers installed") and I was able to actually help some people. Unpaid, of course. But hey, it's for the children.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
> Beer is never free. Someone has to pay for it.
beer wants to be free
The linked article has Pete Pachal's unfounded speculation that Windows 10 will be an annual subscription, touting it as fact.
The actual quote from a MS executive is, "Once a device is upgraded to Windows 10, we'll be keeping it current for the supported lifetime of the device," said Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Operating Systems Group.
So, no, you won't be losing your upgrade after a year. Like Apple, once your device has reached it's supported lifetime MS isn't guaranteeing that you'll be able to upgrade anymore and you'll be stuck with an OS that has basically been EOL'd as far as support is concerned. This is really a way to (1) get you on the hardware upgrade train (2) reduce version fragmentation in the Windows sphere and (3) reduce legacy OS support for the vast majority of MS users.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Sigh.
http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/01/21/the-next-generation-of-windows-windows-10/
"This is more than a one-time upgrade: once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device – at no additional charge."
The article is 100% wrong and as far as I have seen they are the ONLY ones making hints at subscriptions.
Because 7 8 9
Did M$ actually say the OS would become a subscription model? Perhaps saying it would only be free for the first year simply means that if you wait longer than a year to upgrade, it will cost you. I could see them doing this to encourage a lot of early adopters
Trying to implement a subscription-based OS would be akin to their attempts to create a a walled garden like they did with Windows RT. Stupid. Hopefully they learned from their experiences with RT...
By being vague about the subscription aspect of this they can then backtrack later on if it looks like people won't stomach the the idea of a subscription model.
Go back about four iterations of the EULA. No one has owned their Windows operating system in quite some time.
The upgrade download always has an option to download the email to burn to DVD. Once you have the iso you can turn the iso into a USB stick this from Microsoft if you don't have blank DVDs or a DVD writer. It's open source too, so likely no nefariousness there.
The previous 200 comments have not satisfactorily answered the question: will it be free forever or subscription based?
Have gnu, will travel.
Used to be computers were replaced every year or two and at most 3, giving Microsoft a short turnaround in selling Windows for continual income.
With hardware being more reliable and in more of a limited set of new features, people don't need to upgrade as often and MS sees their OS income in long term decline.
Anyone who tells me Microsoft is not moving toward yearly subscriptions is doing spin.
One of the reasons, "Windows 9" could be detected by some soft as "Windows 95" or "Windows 98" to be safe they skip the 9 and jumps to 10.
I think MS made up that excuse. The real reason is that it's way too fun to shout Windows! Nine! while clicking your boot heels together.
You're quoting the mouth diarrhea of Pete Pachal, a Mashable "reporter" who can't discern between facts presented and his own, flawed interpretation of a slide show line.
Here's the actual quote from MS "Once a device is upgraded to Windows 10, we'll be keeping it current for the supported lifetime of the device," said Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Operating Systems Group
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Blows the subscription model idea out of the water.
My reality check bounced.
The much-maligned UI is actually just the Windows 7 UI with a full-screen Start menu, which I find interrupts my workflow to exactly the same extent that the Windows 7 Start menu does, meaning minimally.
The fact that it's forced full-screen rather than snapped is the problem. At least with the Windows 7 Start menu, I could see a bit of what I was working on in the corner of my screen, which provided some subconscious continuity. In fact, if I had a program snapped to the right side (Windows+Right), I could see all of it while the Start menu was open. But with Windows 8's Start screen, everything is covered up. The full-screen context switch imposes a cognitive burden similar to going through a doorway and forgetting what you came in for. That's why the first thing onto every Windows 8.1 PC that I use regularly is Classic Shell, which reproduces the functionality of Windows 7's Start menu.
I wonder if the server version of Windows 10, likely Windows Server 2015 or 2016, will have a similar update program, or if it will follow the same steps as previous server versions.
Windows Server editions are not as flashy as the client releases... but a single feature or set of features can impact the enterprise in a very large manner. For example, the deduplication ability of Windows Server 2012 and Storage Spaces/ReFS has put the OS near parity with ZFS for defending against bit rot, and the ability to add hard drive space without having to rebuild an array.
If an edition of Windows Server came out with a Hyper-V kernel on par with VMWare in management ability (as in RAM compression/deduplication/ballooning), with real-time drive deduplication. Couple this with Infiniband support and the ability to access another machine's hard drive volumes (in a clustered way, so locking between boxes is preserved), and this would allow a bunch of Windows boxes to not just act as a compute node farm... but also provide SAN-like access and redundancy. More drive space would be easily added by tossing more computers in the array as well as adding disks.
I have a feeling the server version will likely stay the same, with no real incentives to get people from 2012 or 2012R2... mainly because the UI (for the most part) isn't an issue, because one ends up using SCCM/SCOM/SCVMM for most management duties anyway, so the UI on the server doesn't matter as much.
Ars Technica was present at the announcement, and the Q&A afterward was both insightful and confusing. They clarify the free upgrade to Windows 10 as follows (emphasis mine):
Update: Microsoft fielded some questions about this upgrade in its Q&A session after the event. The company "hasn't decided" how it will handle upgrades from Windows 7 or 8.1 after the first year of Windows 10 availability ends, and it is "working on an update for Windows RT," but doesn't have further details to share.
Update 2: A blog post from Terry Myerson clears up what "Windows as a service" means, though the duration of "the supported lifetime of the device" is still foggy. "This is more than a one-time upgrade," writes Myerson. "Once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device—at no additional charge."
It seems to me Microsoft is still keeping the details close to the vest. So, for my money, the jury is still out for what happens in a year.
Still, as a strategy to get people to move off Windows 7 in a hurry, this is pretty good. You'd only wonder what would have happened to the XP user base if Vista or 7 had been free. On the other hand, this Windows 10 ecosystem is a really big gamble, and Microsoft desperately needs developers to make their platform compete against iOS and Android. Based on that, giving the first taste away free is a pretty ballsy move.
I only hope they don't try to recoup some of that lost revenue by filling Windows 10 with trackware and clickbait, forking out tons of your personal data to Bing servers because, well, that's where the action is.
Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...