Windows 10 -- Anyone truly believe MicroSoft?

[Ranger111]

Lots of debate on the computer forums about what Microsoft meant today about offering free Windows 10?

Anyone with any insight on this. I did not see any "clarification" from MS, although maybe I missed it.

My office (with more than 2000 employees) still runs XP, and my laptop is still fat and happy with XP.

I could not get my IT people to comment today at work....I would be tempted to upgrade my laptop, but just afraid there will be an MS "gotcha" come January 2016...

 

[ThisIsJason]

Why would there be a gotcha? It would destroy MS.

This is right from the Windows team:

Today was a monumental day for us on the Windows team because we shared our desire to redefine the relationship we have with you – our customers. We announced that a free upgrade for Windows 10 will be made available to customers running Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone 8.1 who upgrade in the first year after launch.*

*Hardware and software requirements apply. No additional charge. Feature availability may vary by device. Some editions excluded. More details at http://www.windows.com.

If you are running one of those three OS, you have one year to upgrade for free. After that you have to pay. Once you upgrade, you have it. It will not disappear after a year. It also isn't being officially released until later this year as well.

Its like Apple giving away its newest OS the last two (three?) times as well.

 

[LJSquishy]

I hadn't even heard of this so thanks for posting a question about it!

We just built a new high-end PC ourselves a couple of months ago and installed Windows 7 because 8 is absolute GARBAGE. I'll have to do some research on Windows 10 to see if it would actually be a wise upgrade or not. Newer isn't always better.

 

[3happydancers]

Will this include windows 8? My computer keeps prompting me to install windows 8.1 but I hear conflicting information and am afraid I'll end up with problems.

 

[Ranger111]

Well, there ARE LOTS of opinions/arguments on the various tech boards about why MS has suddenly become a charitable operation ??? or not....but one that sticks in my mind is this:

Here's straight form the CEO's mouth:
" 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"

Why the phrase "supported lifetime of the device." What does that mean? And that is the phrase that is getting the techies a bit livid, at least on the boards I frequent.

Some seem to think that W10 will be a subscription model for the most part, like MS OFFICE and that by next year, maybe a fair percentage of folks will be declared to be using a non-supported device and be expected to pony up $$$ to continue.

Again, I don't know, that's why I posted this. Just did not know if there were some Redmond, Washington folks around that know more than I do.

 

[Ranger111]

Will this include windows 8? My computer keeps prompting me to install windows 8.1 but I hear conflicting information and am afraid I'll end up with problems.

Yes, it does, since Windows 8 was one of the ...well, I better stop there, since mom always said don't throw balls in the house, and if you don't have anything nice to say....

I would wait a day or 10 before I jump on the offer, however...actually, I think I read Windows 8 people get first crack...since that version was such a success....

 

[3happydancers]

Yes, it does, since Windows 8 was one of the ...well, I better stop there, since mom always said don't throw balls in the house, and if you don't have anything nice to say....

I would wait a day or 10 before I jump on the offer, however...actually, I think I read Windows 8 people get first crack...since that version was such a success....

I did sign up for future emails concerning this upgrade. We'll d a wait and see as it is not available yet anyway. To be honest, I guess I've been lucky and have not had issues with Windows 8 (which is why I did not download the 8.1-heard worse things about that). Hope I didn't just jinx myself !

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Yes, it does, since Windows 8 was one of the ...well, I better stop there, since mom always said don't throw balls in the house, and if you don't have anything nice to say....

I would wait a day or 10 before I jump on the offer, however...actually, I think I read Windows 8 people get first crack...since that version was such a success....

You have a longer wait than that; Windows 10 will not be released for a while.

OP, why do you think Microsoft would announce Windows 10 will be free if it won't be? The free upgrade will be available for Windows 7 and 8 users, not for XP users.

For those who have Windows 8, you really should upgrade to 8.1; it's an improvement.

Windows XP is no longer being supported by Microsoft; it's ancient in software time. There's no way I'd use it on office computers.

 

[Ranger111]

You have a longer wait than that; Windows 10 will not be released for a while.

OP, why do you think Microsoft would announce Windows 10 will be free if it won't be? The free upgrade will be available for Windows 7 and 8 users, not for XP users.

For those who have Windows 8, you really should upgrade to 8.1; it's an improvement.

Windows XP is no longer being supported by Microsoft; it's ancient in software time. There's no way I'd use it on office computers.

Managed to talk to our IT guy today. He gave an interesting stat to me:

More than 50 percent of corporate clients surveyed in the summer of 2014 were still using XP. The primary reason is corporate America has lots of $$ invested in programs/applications that will not work on Windows 7 or above and the cost to make it work is too great. He also mentioned a few other things, but it was close to lunchtime and my attention span faded...LOL

He said he did not think that number of businesses using XP had shifted significantly since then according to some other numbers he had seen and our firm has no intention "at this time" in upgrading. He also said my laptop is a dino would probably not be able to run Windows 10 if MS did give it to me

Finally, I am not the only one still wondering about charitable intentions -- see the "second point" in this article I pasted a link below that came out today (and I have seen many "so-called experts" express the same sort of concerns or more in the past 24 hours).

Anyway, we will see how it all shakes out. Hopefully it will all be good....
http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/h...microsoft-turn-it-around-with-windows-10.html

 

[sherlock14]

Will this include windows 8? My computer keeps prompting me to install windows 8.1 but I hear conflicting information and am afraid I'll end up with problems.

Move to 8.1 . Far better off with it then 8. Go for 10 when available.

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