14 DAY TRIAL // Once earning all its money from selling copies of Windows, Microsoft today shocked the world (ever so slightly) by making the latest version of its operating system free of charge to users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Slated to go public as a preview in February and packed to the brim with some admittedly cool features – like built-in Cortana – Windows 10 is still in beta for the time being. But that didn’t stop Microsoft from announcing as early as today that the OS will be given away for free to users of Windows 7 and Windows 8, when the final version is released later this year.
According to the keynote slides, the offer stands for the first year since inception, meaning that if you fail to upgrade during this time frame, the update will be a paid one. No pricing details were given. From a marketing standpoint, you’d think this is one of the worst moves a software giant could make. It’s not. By setting a timer on the free download offer, Microsoft is making Windows 10 the last chopper out of Vietnam.
Apple has been offering OS X for free for two years now (three, if you count the Lion upgrade from Snow Leopard). When you offer things for free, people tend to grab them and experience them. And once they’re used to them, they tend to stick with them too.