Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

People Are Obtaining Windows 7 Licenses For the Free Windows 10 Upgrade

Posted by Soulskill on from the cheap-is-relative dept.

jones_supa writes: Windows 7 has quickly started increasing its market share of desktop operating systems, nearing 61%. If you're wondering why this is happening when Windows 10 is almost here, the reason is this: Windows 10 will be available as a free upgrade for those running Windows 7 and 8, and the new OS will have the exact same hardware requirements as its predecessor, so the majority of PCs should be able to run it just as well. Because Windows 7 was launched in 2009, a license is more affordable than for Windows 8, so many users are switching to this version to take advantage of the Windows 10 free upgrade offer.

14 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. 10th post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Used to be 7th post.

    1. Re:10th post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The 9th post has been removed to prevent confusion with the 95th and 98th posts.

  2. Enable the 'act now' crowd by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Part of this approach is simply that the offer allows people that are considering new hardware to go ahead and do it, and not wait for W10. In the past, many would hold off as a new OS was on the horizon. So its not necessarily all about saving $$.

  3. Alternatively by clickety6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Alternatively, people have seen that Windows 10 is just as bad as Windows 8 and are hurrying to buy Windows 7 licenses as the only decent version of Windows with a reasonably long remaining support window...

    --
    ----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
    1. Re:Alternatively by PRMan · · Score: 5, Informative

      Except that Windows 10 is much better than Windows 8. Although I agree that I slightly like Windows 7 better, but not enough to forgo a free upgrade and more years of bugfix support.

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
  4. Re:Article conclusion is quite a stretch by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Informative

    Wow, this article really pulls a conclusion out of its butt. They look at some vague web statistics, notice that Windows 7 has gone up a tad - likely due to seasonal usage differences or many other things - and then draw a wild conclusion that people are using it to get Windows 10?!

    I can only speak for myself, but I bought a Windows 7 license at least partly because I would be able to upgrade it to a Windows 10 license... and partly because I feared that Microsoft would raise the prices or make them unavailable when Windows 10 came out. So a little from column A, a little from column B. Why are you surprised?

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  5. Err, okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let's apply Occam's Razor:

    People are buying Windows 7 instead of Windows 8 because the former is cheaper and most people seem to prefer it.

    Sure, they get Windows 10 as well. Woohoo. If it's unusable for the first year, their fallback OS isn't Windows 8.

  6. Re:For me it's the reverse by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Informative

    Many Linux distributions are totally fine booting on a computer with activated secure boot, using a boot loader that was signed by Microsoft.

    Do you have any source for your claim that that will not work anymore? Otherwise I call FUD.

    They were spreading the same crap about Windows 8 machines. I haven't found a machine yet that I can't install Linux onto.

    And there is always Macs - although running a Unix-like OS on a machine that is also Unix-like might be something for the department of redundancy department.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  7. Re: Assumptions are the mother of all ... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Funny

    Technically the reason is the reason regardless of whether you have yet proved it is the reason.

    A very reasonable statement.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  8. Or people hate Windows 8 by Culture20 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    People could just as easily be wanting anything "not windows 8" but can't wait to buy a computer until windows 10 is released. That would mean Windows 7 or some other OS. Inertia means Windows 7.

  9. Win 7 lower priced??? by bev_tech_rob · · Score: 3, Informative

    Because Windows 7 was launched in 2009, a license is more affordable than for Windows 8

    Where can I find it cheaper? Just checked on Newegg for Win7 pricing and it is the SAME as Win 8.1. 6 year old OS .... smh..

    --
    You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
  10. I don't think so - they WANT Win7 by dbIII · · Score: 4, Interesting

    No. I think they are doing what I'm doing and buying Win7 for people's PCs because they want people to have Win7 to give them a desktop instead of a block puzzle with hidden offscreen controls.

  11. Re:"simple trick"? by Stewie241 · · Score: 3, Informative

    You should see this One Weird Trick for getting rid of weird trick spam.

  12. Re:Can't "buy" Windows 10? by SScorpio · · Score: 4, Informative

    What you heard is wrong, Microsoft has said time and again that the 7/8 to 10 upgrade is NOT a subscription. After upgrading you will be able to do a full clean install directly to Windows 10 if you want to.

    You are also able to preorder full OEM versions of Windows 10 right now on Newegg.