Windows 10 will be a free upgrade

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Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users

It’s official, folks: Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for existing Windows users—as long as you claim it quickly.

Kicking off the consumer-focused Windows 10 event in Redmond on Tuesday, Microsoft operating system chief Terry Myerson announced that current users of Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone 8.1 will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free for one year after the operating system launches. Once you’ve claimed the upgrade, Microsoft will keep you updated for the supported lifetime of the device.

“We think of Windows 10 as a service,” Myerson said.

Is there a catch? Here's the fine print from the Windows 10 page on Microsoft's site:

“It is our intent that most of these devices will qualify, but some hardware/software requirements apply and feature availability may vary by device. Devices must be connected to the internet and have Windows Update enabled. ISP fees may apply. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 Update required. Some editions are excluded: Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT 8.1. Active Software Assurance customers in volume licensing have the benefit to upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise outside of this offer. We will be sharing more information and additional offer terms in coming months.”

The decision to make Windows 10 a free upgrade for existing users—at least for a limited time—makes sense. Windows 8 users have vocally expressed their displeasure with the operating system, prompting happy Windows 7 users to stay put on that OS. That hinders Microsoft's ability to execute its vision for a service-centric, cloud-connected future for Windows; making Windows 10 free could spur more users into embracing a modern Microsoft operating system.

And hey, it'd be weird to charge for Windows 10 after Windows 8 flopped so hard and Apple started giving away OS upgrades. Right?


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I'm still waiting for reviews before I jump. A year is plenty of time to let other people flesh out the shortcomings. I'm content with 7.

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Not terribly surprised at this. Satya Nadella, unlike his idiot predecessor, understands the electronics and software industries of 2015. Ballmer was firmly planted in 1997--maybe 2001 on a really progressive day. In reality, this is where EVERYONE ELSE in the industry already is, and has been for years. Microsoft has no choice but to modernize in this regard. But it's good to see it actually happening. I don't think it would be if Ballmer were still in charge--he'd be stubbornly arguing that Microsoft products are still "first and best on Windows" which is a philosophy as outdated as the man himself.

There are some subtle rumblings within Microsoft that are going surprisingly unnoticed by the media. This is the second.

The first was Microsoft's dramatic change in attitude toward open source and Linux in particular. Ballmer was famous for calling it a cancer. Nadella is embracing it as a key component of Microsoft's enterprise solutions. Microsoft's Azure platform has conspicuously dropped the Windows name while simultaneously adopting support for Linux VMs. That's friggin' HUGE. Linux boxen dominate the enterprise VM landscape, and the ability to use one platform for Microsoft's proprietary services as well as more common open solutions is going to be a big draw for potential customers.

The third is one that I'm surprised hasn't caught more wind yet:
Microsoft will be offering free developer editions of Windows 10 with support for non-desktop devices. One of the flagships of this initiative is the Raspberry Pi, whose version 2 was just announced alongside official Win10 support from Microsoft. That's really, really big. Getting affordable devices and free development tools into the hands of developers is what helps Linux and Android grow at ridiculous rates. Just a couple years ago, Microsoft was CHARGING MANUFACTURERS for every copy of Windows Phone sold. Meanwhile, Apple built their own devices to in-house standards and Android licensed varying versions of Android (with or without varying levels of Google Services support) for free to anyone interesting in building a mobile device. The result was a market that was strongly averse to Microsoft's platform. This didn't do anything productive for the software ecosystem on the OS. Microsoft pretty much took the common software "chicken or egg" problem and ground both steps to a halt in one fell swoop. So this IoT developer support program is a sign of an incredibly dramatic shift in thinking within the company.

Another big paradigm shift for Microsoft is willing and deliberate support of Microsoft products and services for NON-Windows platforms. Bing and Office are expanding to every device type under the sun (including web browsers). This is exactly where Microsoft needs to be. Twenty years ago, trapping people in your OS ecosystem and then shoving your licensed proprietary software on them for more money was the way to go. Now, it's exactly the opposite: you get people participating in your software ecosystems by offering services appealing and integrated enough to draw them in.

I honestly would not be surprised if Win11 or Win12 adopted at least a partially open source base. This is what Apple did with OSX, and it could be argued to be one of the most significant factors in their success before the iPhone. iOS is also Unix-based. OSX itself is officially Unix-compatible, which is really good for developers from a consistency standpoint--it's a very specific and high bar to set, and helps alleviate what is sometimes perceived as meandering directionlessness of open software. An open codebase would allow Microsoft to offload a lot of development, support, and maintenance work while still maintaining control of the proprietary components of the OS. Again, this is the Apple approach. OSX's Unix core (known as Darwin) is fully open. However, OSX includes many proprietary additions and modules which are required for running Mac software. Apple gets to devote their effort to perfecting those, while Darwin more or less takes care of itself with some direction. A Windows OS using this philosophy could be hugely successful.

Nadella is the best thing to happen to MS since Windows 95. I anticipate good things from the company over the next few years. I won't get my hopes up, but I think it really could happen.

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:bowrofl: ^^ :dblthumb:

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Microsoft's Windows 10 Upgrade Policy for Business Not What You Might Think

Questions remained for business customers after Microsoft made the announcement that consumers running Windows 7 and Windows 8 would get free upgrades to Windows 10 when it releases. Microsoft was clear. The free upgrade is for consumers only. But, that communication left a large percentage of customers in the lurch, and a good portion of the comments following the statement of policy have not been kind.

Microsoft has always catered to businesses, better than any other software provider. Why would the company alienate its biggest revenue base?

I don’t think it has. I think it boils down to confused messaging – which Microsoft historically excels at.

To help alleviate customer complaint, the company took the its blogging mechanisms last week to set the record straight, but I think only served to confuse the message even more.

In the post, Microsoft's Jim Alkove laid it out in this fashion:

Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise are not included in the terms of free Windows 10 Upgrade offer we announced last week, given active Software Assurance customers will continue to have rights to upgrade to Windows 10 enterprise offerings outside of this offer – while also benefitting from the full flexibility to deploy Windows 10 using their existing management infrastructure.

Based on this, larger customers that have valid Software Assurance contracts in place, running Windows 7 Enterprise or Windows 8 Enterprise, essentially are licensed for the free upgrade anyway. I covered this in an article on SuperSite last week and invite you to read it there: How Windows 10 Upgrades Might Work. In the article I detail how the upgrade will work for businesses, based on a conversation I had with a Microsoft representative who knows about these things.

Some small to medium-sized customers read too deeply into Microsoft's message, thinking that they would be exempt from any upgrade deal. That's not the case. The important distinction here is Enterprise and Pro.

As described in the SuperSite article, any Pro version of Windows 7 and Windows 8 (which most small and medium-sized businesses use) will get the upgrade to Windows 10 for free over Windows Update, just like those designated to quote/unquote consumers. If a larger company allows their SA contract to expire, they only need to downgrade (downgrade rights are included) to the Pro version of Windows and connect it to Windows Update to get the free upgrade.

Another wrinkle to all this, is the recent Enterprise Agreement pricelist addition for Microsoft's Enterprise Cloud Suite (ECS). ECS is a combination of Office 365 and the Enterprise Mobility Suite, but also includes a Windows per user license. Organizations can tack on ECS for an estimated $7 to $12 per month and customers without an EA agreement will be able to purchase a standalone Enterprise Cloud User Subscription License. Pricing for the standalone version has not yet been announced.

So, really. When you look at from this perspective, Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for everyone – either through Windows Update to Pro versions of Windows, or through an existing contract. If you want to get all technical, and exacto about it, yes, it does cost a little, but you're really paying for the other, bundled services and products - not Windows 10. And, this speaks a little to what Microsoft has dubbed "Windows as a Service."

Servicing Windows 10 is the piece that is still most unclear and the one area where businesses might find additional charges. In the same blog post, Alkove also talked about two, new and distinct updating methods called Long Term Services Branch and the Current Branch for Business. I covered that in Microsoft Describes New Business Servicing Branches for Updating Windows 10. For those that have been part of the Windows 10 Technical Preview as Windows Insiders, at first read it sounds much like the Technical Preview updating method of Fast and Slow rings. Those that choose a Fast ring, receive new Builds quicker. Those that choose the Slow ring, get to wait to hear if Fast ring'ers had problems before also agreeing to update. But, it's a choice – a quick setting change.

But, some are suggesting (though Microsoft has not confirmed) that the new services branches won't be like that, despite having a similar structure. Instead, Microsoft will use this opportunity to apply different pricing for each branch, essentially turning feature updates into a subscription-based service.

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Yeah, I feel like the panic over Enterprise upgrades is unfounded. Of course, for legal reasons amongst many others, it will make more sense for Microsoft to use a separate upgrade/licensing program for those customers. Again: this is what everyone else already does. The idea of scalable per-client pricing and packaging makes a lot of sense. Not everyone needs the same support, software, and contact availability from their OS provider, so it's a completely logical step.

Welcome to the 21st Century, Microsoft! Even though you're 15 years late, we're glad to see you here!

At the end of the day, I don't see Win10 displacing Linux as my default OS, but I DO see it making the times I have to boot Windows far less hateful.

If the OS supports mouse-free multitasking and command-line manipulation, I'll be a lot more likely to STAY booted to Windows once I get there. Mousemonkey software kills productivity like nothing else.


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