14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 10 will debut on July 29, and Microsoft will offer the new operating system free of charge to those running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on their computers. The free upgrade will be available during the first 12 months after launch, and after the promo ends, users might have to pay for a full upgrade.
But with Windows 7 powering more than 50 percent of the world’s PC, there’s no doubt that this particular OS version is Microsoft’s main target with the free upgrade, hoping that most of the users who are running it will decide to upgrade.
According to Microsoft’s own statistics, there are 1.5 billion Windows PCs out there, and third-party researchers claim that 53 percent of these computers are running Windows 7, so there are at least 750 million active desktops running this particular OS version.
As a result, it’s no surprise that Microsoft wants to make Windows 10 the next destination for Windows 7, so the upgrade notifications that started popping up last week come as no big surprise.
Free updates for the entire lifetime of your device
Once you upgrade to Windows 10, you will continue to receive updates and security improvements during the entire lifetime of your device, which means that the new OS won’t stop working or ask you to pay for it after the one-year promo.
And yet, there are some users who aren’t planning to upgrade to Windows 10 for various reasons and despite the free offer announced by Microsoft. Some say that Windows 10 is just ugly in terms of its looks, others claim that Windows 7 still runs well on their PCs, but all those who do not plan to upgrade don’t seem to be at all impressed with Windows 10’s new features.
At this point, it’s hard to determine how many users actually want to upgrade and how many don’t, but if at least 50 percent of the Windows 7 users install Windows 10, Microsoft should really consider itself lucky. This way, Windows 7’s market share would drop to around 25 percent, and the software giant would be then able to get rid of this OS version completely in 2020, when support ends, much easily.
As a conclusion, we’re asking you, the long-time Windows 7 users: do you plan to upgrade to Windows 10 when the new OS goes live, on July 29, and benefit from the free license?