G+_Jeff Gros Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 So I just got a notification on my windows 7 machine to "reserve my download" to upgrade to windows 10 for free. Whaaaat? I remember hearing that it would be free for embedded devices, but free for windows 7 users? How does Windows make their money if they don't SELL the new version? I could understand allowing windows 8 users to upgrade because the presentation sucked so bad, but windows 7 is a solid OS. Who are they selling it to? Perhaps its only free for windows 7 professional users? Anyone seeing this option in the quick menu on windows 7 home/etc? Also, does anyone know what windows 10 does that windows 7 doesn't? Some google searching shows that it brought back the up button in windows explorer? I'm using Classic Shell, so I don't care that much. Maybe they fixed the file search so that it actually did file by file searching and offered all the search options like in XP? Well now I'm using Agent Ransack for my search client. Windows also broke the calculator with windows 7, so I copied the calculator from XP and remapped the keyboard shortcut with auto hotkey. Windows broke some of the functionality between XP and 7, but I've pretty much found a workaround for everything. What I would be worried about is program compatibility. All of my existing programs might not work on windows 10. I already went through this problem when migrating to windows 7 and I'm not looking forward to doing it again any time this decade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Travis Hershberger Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 They're giving people a year to upgrade for free. I'll have it downloaded but not installed for ~3-4 months and might take the plunge after that. It's not like you couldn't duel boot if you absolutely had to, and hey, it's free. I was wondering if it was legit with a notice unexpectedly popping up from the notification area. My first reaction was start a Malwarebytes scan while I went and asked some other people about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Steve C Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Jeff, everything I've tried in Windows 10 works OK so far so I don't think program compatibility will be much of a problem. It still seems a bit short on drivers though. One update that added the Cortana audio assistant killed the sound card and it said there were no drivers available even though it had been working before but the next update got it going again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jeff Burkhardt Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I wonder if after the first year windows 10 will be a subscription basis and you will have to pay Microsoft every year for the use of the Windows program??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Micael Ebbmar Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 No. Check http://www.thurrott.com for answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Joshua Hamlett Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Microsoft is looking to make their money in other ways (like OEM licensing), not by selling Windows upgrades. (How many people actually buy those anyway?) They are following Apple's example. The last two versions of OS X have been free. They are probably also doing it to push their cloud services on everyone, like they did with Windows 8.1 and to keep from having to support Windows 7 past 2020 the way they had to extend Windows XP support for several extra years. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ben Reese Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 It probably costs Microsoft more to keep Windows 7 updated and patched for 10 years than it does to just move everyone to Win 10. Plus, it sounds like Win 10 is the best version since 7... Don't worry about Microsoft. They'll still make plenty of money off businesses (who don't get the free upgrade) and Office 365 subscriptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jeff Gros Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Not being free for businesses makes sense. Good to know. I might actually find a spare machine and install a preview version on it to test it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Joshua Hamlett Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Jeff Gros Actually, it is only the enterprise versions which won't upgrade. The Professional version will if it's being used. So pretty much only the volume licensing customers using enterprise (and who most likely have software assurance as well) won't get the free in place upgrade. However with software assurance they will get it "free" anyway--if they want it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Josh Wassing Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Lets not forget that while consumers running Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 will be eligible for the free upgrade to Windows 10 for the first year, PC manufacturers will still be having to pay for copies of Windows 10 (as long as they don't fall into the "smaller than 8 inches" device category). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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