14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 10 S is Microsoft’s version of Windows 10 that’s specifically aimed at the education sector, and it will also be running on the company’s very own Surface Laptop shipping next month.
As Microsoft announced at its press event earlier this month, Windows 10 S will be limited to Windows Store apps, but users who want full Win32 support can purchase the upgrade from the Store and perform it all automatically without the need for any other extra step.
Furthermore, Surface Laptop buyers will be allowed to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro free of charge by the end of this year, and today the company has revealed another important offer for its users.
Similar Windows 10 upgrade offer for Windows 7, 8.1
Windows 10 S systems with assistive technologies will be allowed to make the switch to Windows 10 Pro completely free of charge, most likely because the latter features better support for accessibility tools.
“We believe Windows 10 S is great for many customers. Others may prefer Windows Home or Windows Pro to meet their needs. Microsoft is committed to meeting the needs of people with disabilities and providing choices for devices and modes for operating Windows,” Microsoft says.
“We will provide assistive technology users with a switch to Windows 10 Pro from Windows 10 S at no charge as we continue to improve our built-in assistive technology and bring more assistive technology apps to the Microsoft Store,” the company continued.
A similar offer is available for Windows 7 and 8.1 users as well, who are allowed to upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge if they are running assistive technologies. This offer was launched in 2015 when Microsoft released Windows 10, and although it promised to pull it shortly after that, users with accessibility features enabled can still upgrade at no cost today.
The weird thing is that Microsoft does not perform any checks to determine the assistive technologies running on a Windows 7 or 8.1 system, so pretty much anyone can upgrade to Windows 10 by taking advantage of this offer, and it remains to be seen how the process will be handled on Windows 10 S.