Why Windows 10 should be free (a very compelling argument)

Jas00555

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So, I've been in the camp of "oh, hell no brah" when it comes to Microsoft giving away Windows 10 for free, but I recently read a very interesting editorial that goes into more detail than I could hope to research, and now I'm a little more convinced.

Should Microsoft give away Windows for free? Let's do some math! - Microsoft Product Reviews - Windows Phone, Surface, Xbox One, Apps & Games

I think the author makes a great (and well researched) case about why Windows 10 should be free. If you read my past posts, you'll see that I've been pretty adamant about the issue, but it even convinced me! Seriously, give it a read. Or at the very least, read the last reason. It's very compelling.
 

Jas00555

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It should be free to migrate nearly all remaining users off of XP. End of argument.

Can XP computers even run Windows 10? I think the minimum specs for XP included like 64MB of RAM
Actually, I think the author talks about XP toward the end. So no, not end of argument :p
 

radmanvr

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>It?s also note-worthy that even though I counted Windows XP users in with Windows Vista, 7, and 8 users, they will end up having to get buy new computers anyways (just look at the system requirements), so they?ll end up paying Microsoft more than that $2-$7 a year anyways

XP users would not but new hardware to get a free update, they would just remain on XP. Jason, the author of the article, specifically said that people will not buy new hardware to get the latest OS and then he says that at the end so I am a bit confused.

Also XP is 20% of windows users so his formula/equation is a bit off.

4/10 would not read again.
 

Jas00555

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>It?s also note-worthy that even though I counted Windows XP users in with Windows Vista, 7, and 8 users, they will end up having to get buy new computers anyways (just look at the system requirements), so they?ll end up paying Microsoft more than that $2-$7 a year anyways

XP users would not but new hardware to get a free update, they would just remain on XP. Jason, the author of the article, specifically said that people will not buy new hardware to get the latest OS and then he says that at the end so I am a bit confused.

Also XP is 20% of windows users so his formula/equation is a bit off.

4/10 would not read again.

Did you even read the article? lol No, but they would buy it again because their computer is over 10 years old. He said they wouldn't upgrade to new computers as in "oh, well, I have Windows 7 and Windows 10 costs $100. I don't want to pay for Windows 10, so lets just buy a new computer". Besides enterprise make up the majority of XP users and they'll have to update eventually, so his math checks out (see, I read the article, so I know) ;p
 

Karthik Naik

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they should give it free to XP and Vista users and charge a small amount to windows 7,8,8.1 users
not all XP computers are low spec
the ones we use in my family business are i3's and new pentiums with 2-4gb ram and intel hd graphics,we needed xp because of older software,databases etc
now we are slowly migrating to 7 for now and getting the software redone
frankly i hate XP and always have,i used vista over XP on my old vaio because xp was buggy with wifi and newer technologies,even vista had its own issues with wifi but it was still better than XPs issues
my favourite OS overall is windows 7(not counting 10 till official release)
windows 8/8.1 isnt bad at all but i prefer windows 7 because i dislike windows 8/8.1's bootloader and limitations etc(which is rumoured to change in 10) and i like multibooting elementary os,ubuntu,windows 7 and 8.1 in my main laptop(dev work)
 

radmanvr

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Maybe the author just lost me or I am too stupid to understand or something like that.

All I know is he said
- "Relatively no one buys their computer for a new OS"
- "the fact of the matter is that relatively no one really buys a phone/tablet/PC for a new OS, regardless of what it is"
- "Windows XP still makes up 20% of the market, because it’s “good enough"
- "It’s also note-worthy that even though I counted Windows XP users in with Windows Vista, 7, and 8 users, they will end up having to get buy new computers anyways"

That last line is in reference to if Microsoft gives Win10 for free

So basically the way it reads out to me is. People do not buy new hardware for new OS because their OS is good enough, however if Microsoft gives Win10 for free, people will buy new hardware for new OS (because their hardware cannot support new OS)

Also what does "so they’ll end up paying Microsoft more than that $2-$7 a year anyways." actually mean?

Does he mean that OEMs will pay for the license or does he mean the consumer will somehow pay that much through services?
 

Jas00555

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Maybe the author just lost me or I am too stupid to understand or something like that.

All I know is he said
- "Relatively no one buys their computer for a new OS"
- "the fact of the matter is that relatively no one really buys a phone/tablet/PC for a new OS, regardless of what it is"
- "Windows XP still makes up 20% of the market, because it’s “good enough"
- "It’s also note-worthy that even though I counted Windows XP users in with Windows Vista, 7, and 8 users, they will end up having to get buy new computers anyways"

That last line is in reference to if Microsoft gives Win10 for free

So basically the way it reads out to me is. People do not buy new hardware for new OS because their OS is good enough, however if Microsoft gives Win10 for free, people will buy new hardware for new OS (because their hardware cannot support new OS)

Also what does "so they’ll end up paying Microsoft more than that $2-$7 a year anyways." actually mean?

Does he mean that OEMs will pay for the license or does he mean the consumer will somehow pay that much through services?

As far as I can tell, the way that I understood it is that people will have to pay for A license, whether via OEM or directly buying it (think for building a PC) but once they get it, they won't pay for it again (because most people wouldn't anyways). I think he means that those XP users will HAVE to buy a new computer because theirs will break or they're enterprise and they'll pay for it anyways. I don't see it as him saying that they will buy it BECAUSE of Windows 10, but I mean.... how long can an XP computer last? When they buy a new computer, they'll be paying Microsoft (indirectly) like $15 or something like that.

From paragraph 4, I think he means that Windows 10 itself isn't free, but to update from one version Windows to Windows 10 is free, because you already own a Windows license.

So yes, I think your last sentence is correct. As far as I can tell anyways, and assuming his numbers are correct, I don't see why that's not possible.

Of course, it's Microsoft's job to get consumers to buy into their services.

Edited for clarification
 
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awilliams1701

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Depends on when you bought the computer. You could downgrade vista to XP and this occured frequently because it was hated. If it will run Vista with the recomended requirements, then it will run 7 and 8 and a high probability of running 8.1, and 10.

Can XP computers even run Windows 10? I think the minimum specs for XP included like 64MB of RAM
Actually, I think the author talks about XP toward the end. So no, not end of argument :p
 

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