I think they should.
In this era of mobile computing, you buy an user experience composed of hardware, OS, apps and services. An essential feature of the product is that the user experience is constantly improving. The OS, the apps and the services are updated with improvements for free. It would be ridiculous if Apple or Google would make you pay for upgrading Android or iOS to the next version, or for updates of the core apps.
OS X, Chrome OS, Windows Phone, and probably Windows tablets, also use the same model. The PC would be the only consumer device where you have to pay to get an OS upgrade, and the PC It's the less exciting device, so users are less motivated to pay for the upgrade.
Probably OS upgrades is not a big part of Microsoft's revenue. Although, distributing Windows 9 in as many PCs as possible is a key part of the Universal app strategy and important to expand the reach of the Microsoft's services. So, the paradox is that Microsoft benefits more than their users if they upgrade to Windows 9, and the users aren't motivated to do it.
The loss of revenue of making the upgrade free could be partially offset with sales of the app store, and sales of services like OneDrive and Search, even Xbox Music and Video, that are integrated in the new version of the Windows. The enterprise market is not affected with this change because they use volume licensing.
I think with Windows 9 Microsoft will change to a free upgrade model for the consumer PC. You buy your laptop with Windows and you get the future upgrades for free while your hardware is supported.
How many Windows 7 user would upgrade to Windows 9 if it's free? I think Microsoft needs to bring something really good in Windows 9 to motivate the upgrades even if It's for free.
In this era of mobile computing, you buy an user experience composed of hardware, OS, apps and services. An essential feature of the product is that the user experience is constantly improving. The OS, the apps and the services are updated with improvements for free. It would be ridiculous if Apple or Google would make you pay for upgrading Android or iOS to the next version, or for updates of the core apps.
OS X, Chrome OS, Windows Phone, and probably Windows tablets, also use the same model. The PC would be the only consumer device where you have to pay to get an OS upgrade, and the PC It's the less exciting device, so users are less motivated to pay for the upgrade.
Probably OS upgrades is not a big part of Microsoft's revenue. Although, distributing Windows 9 in as many PCs as possible is a key part of the Universal app strategy and important to expand the reach of the Microsoft's services. So, the paradox is that Microsoft benefits more than their users if they upgrade to Windows 9, and the users aren't motivated to do it.
The loss of revenue of making the upgrade free could be partially offset with sales of the app store, and sales of services like OneDrive and Search, even Xbox Music and Video, that are integrated in the new version of the Windows. The enterprise market is not affected with this change because they use volume licensing.
I think with Windows 9 Microsoft will change to a free upgrade model for the consumer PC. You buy your laptop with Windows and you get the future upgrades for free while your hardware is supported.
How many Windows 7 user would upgrade to Windows 9 if it's free? I think Microsoft needs to bring something really good in Windows 9 to motivate the upgrades even if It's for free.
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