What happens to those free Windows 10 upgrades after July 29, 2016?

[Brink]

Microsoft's ambitious plan to get Windows 10 running on a billion devices within the next few years depends to a large extent on the success of its free upgrade offer.

When the company first announced the terms of that offer last May, it literally included an asterisk and fine print. Those terms have changed slightly over the intervening months, but one element has remained constant: The offer is good for one year after the availability of Windows 10.

Here's the actual wording of the offer, as it appears today:

It's free and easy

Upgrade confidently - 100+ million fans have upgraded and are loving it. You'll have a free, full version of Windows 10 -- not a trial or a lite version -- if you complete your upgrade before July 29, 2016.

And this is what currently appears in the fine print at the bottom of that page (emphasis added):

In fact, Microsoft's real goal with this upgrade offer isn't just to get its installed Windows 10 base to a billion. The long-term goal is to help close the books on Windows 7 in an orderly fashion before its extended support commitment ends on January 14, 2020.

Some of those Windows 7 PCs will simply be retired, of course. But what about those that are only a few years old and have more than four years of usable life ahead of them? For Microsoft executives, the prospect that hundreds of millions of PCs will still be running Windows 7 on New Year's Day 2020 has to bring back unpleasant flashbacks of Windows XP's messy end.

Ed Bott sees at least three possible scenarios playing out when July 29, 2016 rolls around...

Read more: What happens to those free Windows 10 upgrades after July 29, 2016? | ZDNet

 

[Layback Bear]

Thinks Shawn.

W-10 still reminds me of a snake in a wood pile.
One doesn't know which end is the head or the tail until it makes a move. One just has to wait and see.

If W-10 becomes are great as Microsoft and consumers hopes it will, I won't have a problem buying it.

 

[ThrashZone]

Had mentions of holdouts... but nothing about noncompatible systems I'd say Ed missed that point just a tad.

 

[Layback Bear]

No Ed didn't miss the point.
We are all suppose to buy the Surface Pro with a Intel processor to solve that problem.

The three year old junk system in my specs just isn't good enough for the wonderful W-10.

 

[strollin]

... The three year old junk system in my specs just isn't good enough for the wonderful W-10.

Your system may or may not be compatible with Win 10 but I sincerely doubt it "isn't good enough". I have installed Win 10 Pro on a 7 year old netbook with an Atom processor and 1.5G of RAM and it runs fine, IMO better than XP that the netbook came with.

I personally don't care whether the free upgrade goes away or not. I won't be upgrading the Win 7 or Win 8.1 machines I have so it's a moot point. Going forward, I will only build or buy new machines which will not be eligible for an upgrade anyway.

 

[Painter]

I read this article too. I have no problem with a 'journalist' touting all that is beneficial about a certain product. It is what they do on Tech websites. What is clear in his article is that W10 can leverage all that the OS can deliver ONLY through NEW hardware. Older hardware can not. The new silicon is the differentiator.

So if you do NOT have the new silicon, why are you upgrading to W10 ? Your PC and all its hardware internals were designed and optimized to run W7. The GWX campaign was all about getting as many W7 users onto W10, regardless of their base hardware technology. However, they will NEVER make use of the enhanced security or new features in W10.

The author approaches privacy concerns and mandatory windows updates raised by consumers as mass hysteria. He states that most are lies and misinformation. Why is data collected being sold? Why is it used to generate personalized ads? Why does Cortana read emails?

To me this article points out the attributes of W10. It is impressive. The new silicon is impressive.

The author makes it quite clear (indirectly) that my current W7 PC is not a candidate for W10, however, MS GWX says it is. Offering W10 for free is more to Microsoft's benefit than mine - at this time. We need competition in the market place and I want MS to succeed, but they have to produce a product that I want to use.

 

[ThrashZone]

Well m$ could send us unfortunate 6 y.o. dog meat computers a coupon instead of telemetry updates I imagine the reception would be different

 

[groze]

Also don't forget about this person laptop motherboard failing after he upgraded to windows 10.

Windows 10 killed my dell xps 2710 (Link)

His updated his info which scares me because I also have an all-in-one desktop but a different model. I am afraid to run windows 10 now.

 

[OvenMaster]

For Microsoft executives, the prospect that hundreds of millions of PCs will still be running Windows 7 on New Year's Day 2020 has to bring back unpleasant flashbacks of Windows XP's messy end.

I for one plan on taking immense enjoyment in being one of those many thorns in Microsoft's side.

 

[profdlp]

For Microsoft executives, the prospect that hundreds of millions of PCs will still be running Windows 7 on New Year's Day 2020 has to bring back unpleasant flashbacks of Windows XP's messy end.

I for one plan on taking immense enjoyment in being one of those many thorns in Microsoft's side.

Same here.

The chief reason for XP's "messy end" was that XP was so good compared to the crap that was Vista. Had Vista been as good as Win7 people would have been happy to move on. If they really want to get people off of Win7 they should have made Win8, Win8.1, or Win10 worth switching to. Three duds in a row and they wonder why people don't want to "upgrade"? :sarc:

 

[strollin]

My Win 7 machine is already 3 years old so by 2020 it will be 7 years old so I will most likely be looking to build/buy a new machine by then (if not sooner). Any new machine I build or buy will have Win 10 on it so I don't really care about Win 7's end-of-life date. I don't plan to use Win 7 until they "pry it from my cold, dead hands".

 

[ThrashZone]

There's really no reason an individual can't have and use both
VM's are okay for LInux and that sort but windows 7..works best on a real install and deserves one

 

[maxseven]

Dumb question of the day: is there any relatively easy method to determine whether a PC hardware configuration will run W10?

I have numerous old PCs that I might try W10 on, since apparently it is currently FREE, but I don't want to flatten my forehead or get mouse cramps trying to make it work.

 

[ThrashZone]

You might refer to this
As far as I've read the get win 10 update kb3035583 has to be installed and you'd have to reserve the upgrade
That might of been changed but I some what doubt it
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/390503-attempting-upgrad-w7-w10.html#post3209289

 

[Painter]

Dumb question of the day: is there any relatively easy method to determine whether a PC hardware configuration will run W10?

I have numerous old PCs that I might try W10 on, since apparently it is currently FREE, but I don't want to flatten my forehead or get mouse cramps trying to make it work.

Have you read any of the posts on this thread? Old technology will not benefit from W10. If your only motivation is that it is FREE, go ahead.

 

[groze]

Dumb question of the day: is there any relatively easy method to determine whether a PC hardware configuration will run W10?

I have numerous old PCs that I might try W10 on, since apparently it is currently FREE, but I don't want to flatten my forehead or get mouse cramps trying to make it work.

Have you read any of the posts on this thread? Old technology will not benefit from W10. If your only motivation is that it is FREE, go ahead.

How so? You can still benefit my upgrading to windows 10. It uses the newer direct X.

Even though my dell all-in-one was able to run windows 10 but I stopped it for now because of the motherboard problems listed with other dell all-in-ones models. I also read there has been problem with motherboard failures with other brands. I did a search via google, some have a simple fix, others don't. Right now I am just dual booting between 7 & Linux.

 

[Layback Bear]

I have run W-10 on my computer. Didn't have a problem other than the fact the operating system was________ and I removed it.

I'm not sure what old technology really means. Where is the line drawn what technology will or will not be acceptable for W-10. I'm quite sure that everybody is not going to go out and buy a new Intel cpu and motherboard because Microsoft's W-10 get a fart crosswise.

I consider my older system "Grandpa" (4-29-2011) still a great system. It's a Asus X58 mother board with a i960 intel with 12 gigs of 2000 ram. I will keep it until it cost to much to do so.

 

[ThrashZone]

I believe the manufacture draw the line of compatibility
No drivers..... no support.

Now all you have to do is define what exactly is support

 

[profdlp]

...I consider my older system "Grandpa" (4-29-2011) still a great system. It's a Asus X58 mother board with a i960 intel with 12 gigs of 2000 ram. I will keep it until it cost to much to do so.

My secondary system is the same (Asus X58), except I run the i7 920 in it. There are many times I look at my current main system and wonder why I bothered to upgrade.

 

[RoasterMen]

My one and only machine is 8 years old and is yet to retire. It still runs Windows 7 flawlessly.