Tech news; Windows 11
Microsoft will be showing off and promoting to the masses Windows 11 soon. As with any Windows launch users are interested to hear whether there will be a free upgrade option. It is an interesting business model to provide a free upgrade option. Most end-users in a business environment use a Windows O/S and are willing to play for the latest and greatest to enhance productivity. Windows 10 was the first major end user version of Windows to offer a free upgrade option but why?
When Windows 10 was released Windows 7 and 8 users were able to upgrade at no additional cost, through a limited time offer. This allowed many users of older operating systems to upgrade without charge and interestingly there is still ways to achieve this however they are more obfuscated. This raises more questions of what exactly Microsoft are doing!
If you run your mind back to Windows Vista, it was a heavy yet aesthetically desirable O/S that was cutting edge for its time. Soon after its release there was some backlash from users stating that it used way too much resources to run on the average hardware of the day. This was when 64-bit O/S systems were being rolled out on mass with many uses searching for better hardware to take advantage of more RAM and other components to run Windows Vista while in Windows XP not many cared due its light weight nature being needed for older technology. Here we see that Windows Vista had an impact on new hardware sales in the spirit that Microsoft originally started with.
As technology in terms of hardware progressed and after the backlash for Windows Vista, Microsoft decided in future releases to go for a lightweight multi-platform O/S. Over Windows 7 and 8, devices became more performant and communications between devices became easier. Windows 8 added some aesthetical and functional finesse.
So why the free upgrade to Windows 10? This was because of an O/S not being an island, other Microsoft products such as Office needed better security and communication that earlier versions were not able to give adequately. Instead of trying to plug the countless holes in earlier O/S that were becoming out of date for mainboard and CPU features and new exploits, bringing users to Windows 10 was a far better fix to protect the image of Microsoft from the O/S perspective and other Microsoft products.
So, will Microsoft will follow suit with Windows 11? Tech blogs and Tech news in general is pointing to a leak stating that it will however this may be an easy way to generate buzz in the marketplace for a new O/S. The reality is that Windows 10 has all the features from previous systems with none of the disadvantages, so why would Microsoft want to have a free upgrade option and would it run for Windows 10? For Windows 7 and 8 it naturally makes sense to give an offering to get off outdated and out of support platforms to enable Microsoft to sell Office and other interconnected offerings on stable platforms. Furthermore, it will enable Microsoft to ensure hardware requirements that are present in newer devices being present to support newer software offerings; new software begats new hardware needed for the user.
MacOS offers currently free annual upgrades, which drives users to upgrade hardware to meet the upgrade requirements. As Apple hardware and software is made to be only compatible for their solution it pidgin-holes users into making a purchase. This is a very different business model to Microsoft however it is unlikely that after going to the free upgrade option that Windows will change this for Windows 10.
Summary
Hopefully tech blogs and tech news outlets are correct about a free upgrade offering for Windows 10 users. It will be interesting to see if this will be for home and or business users due the need to sell Microsoft software that sits on top of the O/S while supporting the hardware market; time will tell.
