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Microsoft: Windows 10 Will Remain Free For People With Accessibility Needs (betanews.com)
Reader Mark Wilson writes: The free ride is coming to an end. Windows 10 was always going to be free for the first year after release, and this year is up on 29 July. There are, of course, still ways to get your hands on Windows 10 for free beyond this date. One way is to buy a new PC with Windows 10 installed, although not many people would regard this as a free upgrade. But Microsoft has also confirmed that people with accessibility needs will still be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free after the deadline. Writing on its Accessibility Blog, Microsoft points out that the 29 July cut-off point does not apply to people with accessibility needs.From Microsoft's blog post: As you may have heard, the free Windows 10 upgrade offer for customers running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 is set to end on July 29, but we want to clarify that that deadline will not apply to customers who use assistive technologies. We are continuing to deliver on our previously-shared vision for accessibility for Windows 10 and we are committed to ensuring that users of assistive technologies have the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 10 for free as we do so.
Are they not merciful? All hail Microsoft!!
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
I dont think they are really leaving a loophole, its because they dont want to have to backport features. There are a huge amount of accessibility requirements that came down from the FCC for all manner of electronics and software that has to be implemented by the end of this year (thats why there have been multiple accessibility articles as of late, companies using this for free good press as they push out their solutions). So Im guessing MS does not want to have to backport features to win7/8/etc to keep those who need them happy and would rather they just upgrade for free
Forget all the "Windows 10 is spyware" stuff for a second; the interesting thing to watch is the tactics they're using. In my opinion they're pursuing a good strategy (for them) but it's going to really anger most "prosumer" users and smaller business users.
The interesting thing about Windows 10 is that it's not a "free upgrade," it never was "free," The consumer versions (Home and Pro) of Windows 10 use data mining to pay the bills with Web 3.0 bubble money. From an IT perspective, the only option these days is Enterprise if you want full control over the machine. You only get Enterprise if you sign a Software Assurance agreement, meaning you basically are paying on an ongoing basis for the OS. The big difference is with Windows 7 and 8, small to medium shops would usually just re-use the Professional license that the OEM obtained when they built the PC, without having to re-license it, because the Professional version gave enough control over the computer. With Windows 10, you can't disable the Store or the telemetry on anything except the Enterprise version, nor can you access the Long Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) which is the closest thing you can get to the old RTM + Service Pack update cadence.
Honestly, it's just semantics. Since it's still a "product," Microsoft still needs to tout a free upgrade as the stepping stone from the previous OS versions. They're just taking a one-time revenue hit pulling everyone up onto the same version of the operating system much the same way Apple has been trying to do. In return, they get all the "grandma PCs" running ancient versions of Windows out of the ecosystem and can redeploy all those development resources doing legacy stuff to the new versions. Windows 8 is basically in the coffin, and Windows 7's end-of-support date is constantly being moved up in such a way that they don't violate any promises, but they do make it hard to deploy new copies of it. In reality they're going to be offering whatever channels they can for free upgrades to Windows 10; there's no upside for them not to at this point.
proof of recent psychiatric admission.
Sounds like a good start. Require a psychiatric evaluation for anyone wanting Windows 10.