Have you been holding out upgrading your desktop running Windows 7? If so, you may want to take a closer look at this article. In case you haven’t heard, the free upgrade offer to Windows 10 will expire on July 29, 2016. That’s just about a month and a half away. So needless to say there isn’t much more time to get your upgrade finished.
Microsoft’s unprecedented offer to upgrade systems to Windows 10 for free had more than one goal behind it.
- Give customers a bone to help their image.
- Get Windows 10 rolled out to as many computers as possible in a year’s time.
- Put Windows 7 to bed properly before their extended service expires in 2020.
So far, the image part of this goal is mixed, mainly because how Microsoft has been forcing it down people’s throats. The update has been running without users doing anything and, well, that just ticks them off. Sounds a lot like spyware if you ask me.
Still, that works with Microsoft’s goal. They want Windows 7 gone. Windows 8 and 8.1 they want gone as well, but most users don’t have a problem upgrading these devices since that version of Windows is so bad and was so poorly received in the first place.
In many ways, Microsoft has been successful. Already there are over 300 million devices running Windows 10. But what are those devices? Let’s take a look.
- Most are new PC’s or tablets.
- Many are devices that were running Windows 8 or 8.1.
- Small fraction is Windows 7.
Before the release of Windows 10, Windows 7 ran on about 71 percent of PC’s worldwide. Today it hovers around 60 percent. Now that is a lot of machines upgraded, but it is still far from Microsoft’s ultimate goal of getting rid of it once and for all. It seems many Windows 7 users are sticking with what they like and know.
So what does that mean come July 29? That day is the last day that the upgrade will be available for free. After that day, you will no longer be able to upgrade your device to Windows 10 for free. You can still update it if you ultimately decide to do it, but it will cost you. Microsoft may offer some other type of deal or discount after July 29 on upgrades but don’t count on it. You could find yourself having to pay full price for your upgrade. Who wants to do that?
So what is the bottom line? Microsoft will only be supporting Windows 7 until 2020, which isn’t that far away. So if you have a machine running Windows 7 that you think will still be around after that, you may want to go ahead and upgrade it. If you do, you will own Windows 10 on that device forever. If you don’t, you could find yourself having to pay for the upgrade or face retiring the machine when the support expires in a few short years.
It’s really up to you. If you like Windows 7 or are running a much older or refurbished PC and don’t think your machine will last until 2020, then by all means you can stay with Windows 7 if that’s what you like. If you think you will be using it past that date, then you definitely want to look into upgrading your system while it is available for free. After all, why give Microsoft even more money if you don’t have to? Don’t you think you have given them enough over the years?
Are you going to update your computer to Windows 10 before the free upgrade expires? Let me know what your plans are with your desktop in the comments below.
