Too good for a number scheme, Windows 10 announced for 2015

[noiseredux]

Windows 10 is free due to increase of Android Tablet market

Windows 10 isn't really free, though. It's free to upgrade to if you have a registered 7 or 8 key, and only for 1 year. So I don't think that your Android theory is correct at all. I think it's free (for now) to encourage as many folks to sign on and support a single Windows OS. Remember, MS's plan with 10 is to continually update it. They've said there will be now Win11.

[TSTR]

new things are frightening to me

at one point in your life, Canadian Bacon was "a new thing."

hehehehe

still don't mean i wasn't scared at first

[Opa Opa]

I clicked the notification to get Windows 10 a few days ago... when is it supposed to download?

[noiseredux]

I clicked the notification to get Windows 10 a few days ago... when is it supposed to download?

from MS email:

When will my free upgrade arrive?

You’ve already reserved, so your free upgrade is on the way. This is the largest software upgrade event ever and we’re managing it so everyone has a great experience.

Your notification to upgrade could come as soon as a few days or in a few weeks.

[Exhuminator]

Windows 10 makes Microsoft money in subtle ways that disregard the need for the end user to have purchased it. The OS has copious feedback mechanisms in place that report to Microsoft all manner of end user activity and preferences. This information is aggregated to databases at Microsoft for data mining. The mined information is then used internally for development purposes or sold to third parties at a profit.

[Gunstar Green]

I clicked the notification to get Windows 10 a few days ago... when is it supposed to download?

It was available on my PC right away but the laptop I wanted to upgrade to test it on wasn't ready yet.

So instead of waiting this is how I updated my laptop:

Go to this page: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/softwar ... /windows10

Download the the proper update tool for 32 or 64 bit.

It says it's for creating installation media like a DVD or USB drive but it gives you the option of updating the computer you're on right now. If your current Windows is genuine and your computer has already checked out for being able to run Windows 10 it should install without any issues.

[Tanooki]

Win10 didn't show up on my older win7 laptop my wife uses. I wasn't having that because it showed up immediately on mine, but I knew she was also lazy about updates. There was a good list of a dozen not done between needed and optional including the video card driver in that. Once I pushed all those through, Win10 popped up immediately after that last reboot as ready to go as a mandatory download with a green light on it.

I can't say that'll happen for you, but it's worth a look. OR, you could go to the MS website and just download the update manually as an ISO file and run it yourself without using windows update.



You know I think there probably is some merit to the android argument, even if it is just for a year that Win10 is free for existing 7/8 users as it brings a lot of people on board, up to date on one platform, and they push it as a normal update too so the effort is minimal as well. The Bing bit I think is a reaction to Google as well because it's like in a way a cutesy more direct way of competing with the Google survey app that gives away free money to buy apps with. By playing their dopey games, their surveys, or just searching junk they pay you in points which in turn get gift cards. It's a far nastier amount of work needed to get paid, but at least it goes beyond digital app store points.

[Gunstar Green]

You know I think there probably is some merit to the android argument, even if it is just for a year that Win10 is free for existing 7/8 users as it brings a lot of people on board, up to date on one platform, and they push it as a normal update too so the effort is minimal as well. The Bing bit I think is a reaction to Google as well because it's like in a way a cutesy more direct way of competing with the Google survey app that gives away free money to buy apps with. By playing their dopey games, their surveys, or just searching junk they pay you in points which in turn get gift cards. It's a far nastier amount of work needed to get paid, but at least it goes beyond digital app store points.

I think Google definitely lit a fire under Microsoft's ass. I keep hearing from people who are skeptical about Windows 10 being "free" but in a world with things like Android it seems like giving it away to bring all of the current Windows users deeper into Microsoft's ecosystem was the only logical move to make.

[isiolia]

I think Google definitely lit a fire under Microsoft's ass. I keep hearing from people who are skeptical about Windows 10 being "free" but in a world with things like Android it seems like giving it away to bring all of the current Windows users deeper into Microsoft's ecosystem was the only logical move to make.

Pretty much, yeah, and MS is really the last to do it. Apple dropped the price of new versions of OS X to $29 for a couple versions (10.6, 10.7), then $19 for 10.8, before just making 10.9 and 10.10 free - and seeing excellent adoption rates as a result. Mobile OSes tend to be free, Linux is free, etc.

It's less surprising that MS is following that model than that it took them this long to do so. Plus, as mentioned, having most users on the current version is preferable.

[Tanooki]

You're darn right they lit a fire under their ass. MS at least is being very smart about it with this one since they still hold the vast market share of the PC world and have crept a bit into the tablet/phone market too. Android decimated the share of the market Apple (iOS) had with tablets and phones, made total fools out of them. Apple used to have near total control over both those tablet/phone markets and then Google dropped the Android bomb on them and Blackberry. BB almost vanished, and Apple lost the majority control of total copies used of an OS on a tablet/phone to Google(Android) as well. MS has to be afraid of them wanting to creep into the computer market too with their cheap chromebooks which are pretty enticing to some people. By giving away Win10 they're getting the phone, tablet, and computer all on the same platform so they have that blanket coverage like Android, but since MS controls the computer OS's still they could use that advantage to get more people on board with Windows phones/tablets too(ie: surface 3/pro.) They also are importing Cortana to both iOS and Android too which like on MS OS's use the MS login account and is all inclusive in wanting to search, get news briefs, and other stuff that it does.