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Windows 10 free...

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With the cheap junk pcs most people buy, I agree upgrades are probably not all that common for individual users. But the freebie isn't all that surprising. MS heavily discounted both 7 and 8 for a short time after release. I got 7 pro for around $40 from Amazon at the time. Free is even better and I will be upgrading those licenses to 10 for sure based on what I've seen in the technical preview.
 
Traverse said:
Well, a free upgrade within a year was a welcomed surprise, but my first thought was how this would affect their bottom line. I realize they have corporate partners and the Office subscription, but making a version of Office for iOS and Android free (for the most used features) and now potentially free Windows update has to have an impact.

Still, like another user on this forum posted, I guess most of the general population is probably going to get a new PC instead of updating their OS. I know people that still used Vista up until six months ago because it was just on their PC.
Click to expand...

MS make their money from:
1. Volume licences to corporates; and
2. OEM licences to manufacturers.

Most punters will never contemplate doing an OS upgrade on an existing computer so I suspect that the revenue loss from the handful of geeks who actually would a) upgrade and b) not use a *cough* unofficially sourced copy to do so would be pretty minimal.

It's also worth noting that MS has much bigger fish to fry. With Windows Phone sitting on about 3% market share, they are struggling to attract developers to the platform (which means that the potential advertising revenue from Bing searches is forgone and Google benefits instead). By giving developers a ready-made large Windows 10 audience on the desktop and promising it will be easy to port apps to mobile, they are trying to drive take up of Windows Phone. Whether it works remains to be seen...

As for Office being free on iOS and Android, I suspect that this reflects that iOS and Android devices are primarily for Office content consumption, not creation, meaning a lot of people (myself included) would be unwilling to pay money for them. The aim is therefore a defensive one IMO - to ensure that Office's stranglehold on PCs (and Macs) is maintained by ensuring that it is ubiquitous, rather than having less intensive document creation shift to free services such as Google Docs.
 
I'm wondering what the approximate cost for Windows 10 (retail home) is likely to be for those who can't upgrade for free?

I'm also wondering whether I am better off buying Windows 8 Retail and just upgrading??
 
bmac89 said:
I'm wondering what the approximate cost for Windows 10 (retail home) is likely to be for those who can't upgrade for free?

I'm also wondering whether I am better off buying Windows 8 Retail and just upgrading??
Click to expand...

I suspect it will be along the same lines as win8 is now.
 
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