Good News! Microsoft to Give Out Windows 10 Update Free for 1 Year

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Microsoft Corporation almost broke the Internet with its latest announcement of giving away the Windows 10 upgrade for free to all Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 operating system users as well as to Windows Phone users. This move is part of the company’s effort to retain customers in an era ruled by mobile devices.

Giving out a new Windows operating system for free is not the way how Microsoft played the game in the past as it draws most of its revenue from charging users for new OS releases but this latest action from the world’s software giant is aimed towards putting Windows in as many devices as possible after suffering loss in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives said “It’s a necessary evil as CEO Satya Nadella and Microsoft have recognized the ‘golden goose’ and major revenue opportunities will happen after the upgrades have taken place”.

Adding to his previous statement, the analyst said “Microsoft needs to lay seeds for its cloud-centric strategy and Windows 10 is the epicenter of that strategy. It’s all about making it attractive for the ecosystem to upgrade onto this next-generation platform”.

Apparently, Microsoft has now realized that being at the top means finding its flagship product in almost all devices in existence at present and to accomplish this, there should be a main ingredient that will make everything possible so after a failed attempt in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, the company is now getting set to unleash its newest operating system dubbed as Windows 10 before 2015 ends.

Investors Not Impressed

The current move to give out Windows 10 as free upgrades for the recent Windows OS releases (Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1) didn’t get a lot of positive remarks from investors as the company’s shares fell to $45.91, about 1% down before the market closed. Microsoft’s annual revenue is estimated at $20 billion with sales from Windows new release and OS upgrades around $500 million.

The rest of the revenue comes from hardware manufacturers who load new Windows operating system to personal computers and laptops as well as other businesses who are paying regularly for multi-year licences so it is not a surprise to see investors reacting this way considering the potential loss that the software giant is set to suffer. Microsoft is set to talk more about the effects of this move when the report for its quarterly earnings are released next week.

The “Free” Strategy is Inevitable

A significant number of analysts from different industries and the Wall Street say that this move is inevitable as Microsoft is really determined to be on-track with the leading companies like Apple and Google Inc. At present, an estimated 15% of devices used for computing and mobile purposes have the Windows platform in them and a large chunk is left for Apple and Google. This statistic is seen to be caused by both Apple and Google releasing operating system upgrades for free and regularly update them without affecting the device’s usability that much.

In a comment to Microsoft’s inevitable decision to give away Windows 10 upgrades for free, Forrester analyst Frank Gillett said “The way to motivate consumers is to make upgrades transparent and painless – meaning free and low-to-no effort. Microsoft had to match the expectation set by the mobile and Web leaders.”

New Devices and Apps Also Revealed

In the event seen as an announcement of the free Windows 10 upgrade, Microsoft also did something unexpected. The company has revealed the “Microsoft HoloLens” which allows users to see 3D renderings of computer generated image on games and other applications. The device looks like a wireless visor which users would wear to experience a whole new world of games and other Microsoft-related stuff. The Microsoft HoloLens is expected to raise the stakes in the now emerging market for virtual reality with Facebook Oculus and Google Glass already in it. The device is said to be made available in around the same time as Windows 10’s release by autumn of this year.

The company’s executives also showed off a new Xbox app for the games that can be installed in Windows 10 as well as a new version of browser named “Spartan” which was created to work smoothly in all Windows devices with an extra feature allowing users to make notes on different web pages and sharing the to other people on their contact list.

Windows 10’s Final Release Still to Be Known

Microsoft has not been very open as to when the new Windows operating system would be released for public but at present, a technical build for testers is available but this, according to some tech-websites like CNET still has some bugs and other errors that need to be fixed. For now, all that we can do is wait for this brand new Windows to finally be released for everyone to install and enjoy.

Why Skip Windows 9?

Now, one of the big questions that we often get from loyal Windows users is “Why skip Windows 9”? For many years ever since it became available for public and individual use, the Windows operating system has been a very popular platform in PCs and mobile computers. There has been close to a dozen Windows operating system edition that came into the market and all of them proved to be successful.

Using numbers as labels of the new operating system release started in Windows 7 then followed by Windows 8 and its improved version called Windows 8.1 but after more than two years after its release, Microsoft is now naming its latest OS as Windows 10. Some users see this skip from Windows 9 directly to Windows 10 as a means to avoid bad luck but these are mere speculations.

The main reason according to the company is that they would like to establish a significant distance between these two operating systems (Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10) since they are entirely new ones which are both set to make great changes from the old way users used Windows.

The changes in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 were viewed entirely in a negative manner to the point of some users ranting about it in different social media sites and review forums but the ones in Windows 10 will surely gain customer’s trust back and establish Windows as the new standard in almost all devices as the company continues to make things better and the transition to the new operating system a lot smoother.

More Windows 10 Tutorials Coming Soon!

With Microsoft’s announcement of their new operating system, we at WindowsTechies.com have also made all the needed preparations to make the transition from Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 to Windows 10 a lot easier for you. We’re going to give regular updates about the release date of this latest Windows operating system edition and publish more tutorials about it as we acquire this OS in our computers so be sure to stay tuned with us here on WindowsTechies.com as we give you all the latest and hottest news that’s going on with our all-time favorite operating system.