Windows 10: Free Windows 10 Now Looks A Terrible Deal

I agree.. I plan on keeping this PC for around 5 years so they don't get money off of me unless I decide to either purchase a copy or do a new build. The article in the OP is causing more confusion than it's worth.. IMO.

 

Good catch Alpha: The devices might not even crap the bed, it's just these devices are often only used so long and the owner buys the latest and better one. For example, I only need a cell phone to call and SMS and use as a calculator on my forklift in the warehouse I work, nothing more, so I still have my old Nokia 2330 classic. I know people, though, that have 10 to 20 phones, and get a new one every couple of years. So for them the lifetime is until a better one comes out.

 

I'm sure any upgrades for Windows 10 will be optional. It would be the same as upgrading from one version of Windows to a newer version. Security updates should always be free.

 

I don't think that answers my question on what the word 'supported' means in Microsoft's statement.

If Microsoft had said 'for the lifetime of the device' then it would match your statement above. But they didn't say that - they said 'for the supported lifetime of the device'. That word will have been put there for a reason...

 

As far as I know, free upgrade or not, if that device is running Windows 10, you get updates and Windows upgrades free, for the physical life of that device.

 

Well I built my device and I am supporting it for the lifetime of it's builder-me.

 

Post the whole statement with a link and I'll have a look. I'm no lawyer but I'll see if I can make any sense out of. It sounds like just a bean counter term to me. Don't forget, support can also refer to free phone support that has a time limit on it, and has nothing to do with Windows update etc. That author took stuff and twisted it all around so it makes absolutely no sense, to me anyway.

 

Agreed, but....

The ""supported lifetime of the device" may not be the same. It depends on Microsoft's definition for the "supported" that yet to be clarified by MS...

 

You have to put that in context and see what they were referring too, talking about.

 

Here is the most recent time I'm aware of when they used the phrase about supported lifetime. I think it was used earlier too.

Source: Genuine Windows and Windows 10 (From Windows Blog)

 

Source

 

I still see that as meaning free for the life of the device. It's talking about genuine versus non genuine. Genuine Windows 10 installs will get free upgrades and updates as long as they stay genuine. If your install comes up as non genuine the supported lifetime will be much shorter. If you don't resolve the issue, you lose support and stop getting any more updates or upgrades. That's how I interpret it anyway. Like I said though, I'm no lawyer.

 

@ Cliff, that's what I was referring to earlier. Technical support versus Windows updates etc. Two different things.

 

We are talking about a future(still) product here, look at point 10 in post# 85

EDIT: This is of course an older business model but I would think the principal remains the same.

 

Bingo!

“Lifetime of the/a device” literally means until the device literally physically breaks > When it no longer works > When the power button is pushed and it doesn’t boot due to hardware electronics failure, whether with charged battery or on a power chord > When the electronics smoke with that putrid smell > When one takes a hammer to it > When one throws it in the recycle bin > Caput > Done > Deceased > Dead! *Biggrin

MS, as with any major global corporation, cannot be deceiving to it’s investors nor it’s customers with false statements. This author is surely reading into it.

Giving away Windows 10 is a sales ploy that is playing the odds of how long a device will last. That defers income to the future. A future that is scientifically analyzed almost to the penny, which then is presented in a report for not only stockholders to view, but potential stockholders as well. Windows OSs is only one division of the company. From what I’ve read it’s not their major money-making one at that either. Even if that division breaks even for awhile I’m quite sure in the end it’ll turn a profit. Also, now that it runs across all devices Windows 10 will eventually be used more than any OS, especially after the life cycle of the others end.

Geez, I wonder how Gates and the crew got to be so successful? Must’ve been blind luck I guess. *Shock