Free Upgrade To Windows 10 Mobile Will Continue Past July 29 (thurrott.com) 79
Microsoft watcher Paul Thurrott writes: After I asked about whether the free upgrade for Windows 10 Mobile would end on July 29 as it is for Windows 10 for PCs, Microsoft's Dona Sarkar clarified the firm's evolving strategy: The Windows 10 Mobile upgrade will now continue to be free past the end of the month. "So, the free upgrade to Windows 10 ends for Windows phones on July 29, too. Right?" I tweeted yesterday morning, seeking clarification for a reader who had asked me this question. After all, Microsoft had said nothing about the expiration of the free Mobile upgrade since last year. "Clarification from this morning," Ms. Sakar tweeted later in the day. "The free upgrade offer for PC ends on July 29 but as always there are no implications or cost on phone." Hm. Not sure about the "as always" bit, as Microsoft's plans for the free Windows 10 Mobile upgrade have changed repeatedly since the firm announced this upgrade in January 2015. And over time, many of these changes enraged users who had believed earlier promises. You may recall that the original plan was to upgrade all Windows Phone 8.1 handsets to Windows 10 Mobile ... for the first year only. But over time, that changed. It was going to be all handsets with at least 1 GB of RAM. And then it was going to be some subset of handsets sold over the previous two years, but not the Lumia Icon for some reason.
Not sure about the "as always" bit (Score:2)
We have always been at war with Eurasia. In other news, chocolate rations are going up!
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Well, it's not like they'd lose much... how many Windows Phone users are there in the wild, anyway?
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About 2% of mobile users... almost all of whom are stuck with it due to their employer, no one actually chooses it.
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Your #'s are a bit dated, at last check we* are the elite .7% of the market: http://www.theverge.com/2016/5... [theverge.com]
*Yes, I still carry a Windows Phone, still debating what to switch to.
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The silly thing about that really low market share is M$ still refuse to accept the privacy invasiveness of Windows anal probe 10 and their desire to watch everyone masturbate has killed them on the mobile phone. The phone is seen as a more private space for most people, hence Apple push for greater privacy, which is why they are hanging in their, even in the face of much cheaper Chinese smart phones, whilst Samsung and M$ both lost market share.
Privacy is a premium product that can be charged for. The i
FREE! (Score:1)
Yay free. Everyone likes free stuff. Look at all the intense negotiations occurring at garage sales.... because 25 cents for that blender was just too fucking much
Re:FREE! (Score:4, Interesting)
Free upgrades don't end.. (Score:4, Funny)
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Wait, don't I need Linux Genuine Advantage to take advantage of aptitude in Mint?
I mean, how does Torvalds & Clement Lefebvre know that I purchased a copy and that it wasn't pirated?
http://www.linuxgenuineadvanta... [linuxgenui...antage.org]
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You'll get upvoted to funny, but the reality is for most people installing Linux on their desktop is not an upgrade...
If it was, Linux would have more than 2% of the desktop market...
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Most computers come with Windows pre-installed, people are not "choosing" Windows. Most of those users don't even know the difference between the OS and the web browser, the difference between "the blue E icon" or the Web, or the difference between RAM and storage.
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Most computers come with Windows pre-installed, people are not "choosing" Windows.
Over the past 15 years, most of the big PC companies have tried to sell machines with Linux...
Dell about 10 years ago made a big push for a year or two, they sold them right on their home page, for less money than the Windows versions...
They stopped when the return rate was much higher than for Windows PCs and their support costs were higher, since people didn't know how to use it or wanted to know why "X" program wouldn't work on it.
So yes, customers did choose...
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Only if they knew about it....
Ahh yes, if only people knew about your better mousetrap, the world would beat a path to its door?
No, it won't... because Linux doesn't solve a problem, it doesn't do anything for most people.
It is a great workstation and server OS for a small sub-set of PC users, it serves a purpose and I'm glad it exists. But to Joe Sixpack, it doesn't fill a need.
If the average person doesn't care about the NSA spying on them, then they sure as hell don't care about MS doing it, and I think most people know Google and
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Well, what do you expect when you're not winning the apps?
Microsoft Office/Exchange is still huge in the office.
DirectX-only games like Overwatch make a killing.
Professional tools like Adobe CC don't support Linux.
Gnome, KDE etc. aren't going to make or break the Linux desktop though from all the drama you'd think so. I'd settle for an interface roughly like Win95 if only it ran the applications I needed. The rest would just be bonus. And we'll see now that Android apps [engadget.com] runs on ChromeOS. It looks very impre
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Microsoft Office/Exchange is still huge in the office.
DirectX-only games like Overwatch make a killing.
Professional tools like Adobe CC don't support Linux.
All true... a bigger problem beyond those three is that Linux doesn't actually solve a need for most people. It doesn't solve a problem.
Windows 10 works fine... the problem is that Linux's biggest selling point can't be that "it isn't Windows". That didn't work 20 years ago, it didn't work 10 years ago, it won't work today.
The real question is, "what will Linux do for normal PC users that Windows will not"
Because there is PLENTY that it won't do, but what will it do that Windows won't? And for 95% of P
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You'll get upvoted to funny, but the reality is for most people installing Linux on their desktop is not an upgrade...
If it was, Linux would have more than 2% of the desktop market...
The Linux fanboys are out in force... my post was up to +5, but has been downvoted to just +2...
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Free upgrades to Linux, BSD or whatever flavor will be available for quite some time longer.
As will the free macOS upgrades.
As Always (Score:2)
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Re: As Always (Score:3)
Dude, seriously?! You're trying too hard to pull Apple into this. My dad's iPhone 4S and iPad 3 got iOS 9. Those are ancient phone and tablet. While my cousin Lumia never got the WM8 update, it was stuck at the original WM 7/7.5. So if anything it's MSFT that's forcing people to buy new hardware to get updates.
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Let us know how often your android phone is getting updates 2-3 years later
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Apple forces customers to buy new hardware for many software updates. I assume that's what he was referring to.
Apple doesn't force customers to do anything.
Grow up.
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That can't be it; it's a bunch of crap and if you've been even half awake for the last few years you'd know it.
palm os 4.X? (Score:2)
palm os 4.X? did at least for a limited time.
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Windows Mobile 5 to Windows Mobile 6 was not generally free. I happened to get it for free because of the timeframe in which I purchased my WinMo5 phone. I was pleasantly surprised - I expected to have to shell out cash for the update.
I have a windows 8 around... (Score:2)
I have a windows 8 laptop around. Although I have refused to upgrade so far, I am tempted to upgrade before July 29. Is there any catch that I am not aware of ?
I would upgrade solely to get longer support before EOL. When is Windows 8 EOL planned? ;-)
Thanks in advance everybody,
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If your laptop is Win 8 Pro, go for it. If not you will run the risk of Win10 Home bricking (or essentially bricking) your laptop by forcing a driver update (that you can not block because Win10 Home assumes you're an idiot) that crashes your laptop. This occurred to me and I had to reinstall Win 8.1 Home, where I can effectively block the driver update that isn't compatible with my hardware.
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Crashing != bricking
You were able to recover. If your device was "bricked" that would not be an option.
Re:I have a windows 8 around... (Score:4, Interesting)
I just turned the laptop on.
Well, actually, in System, it says: "Windows 8.1 with Bing" 2013 Microsoft Corporation
Dell Inspiron 3531
Celeron CPU N2830
2.16GHz (dual core)
64-bit
A little Googling says planned mainstream EOL for Windows 8 is 2018 while mainstream EOL for 10 in 2020:
Extended support includes security updates:
Extended EOL for Windows 8 is 2023 while Extended EOL for 10 in 2025:
https://support.microsoft.com/... [microsoft.com]
I guess I might just stick with Windows 8.1 (security updates till 2023) and turn the laptop into a Linux then if it is still working...
I do not need any Windows 10 "nifty features" ;-)
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If you did the "reserve your copy" shit when this first was available, or if you start the "upgrade" now and cancel/rollback (not sure how far you have to let it go) then your machine is granted a permanent license. The activation servers get a hash of all ur shit and you don't even need a serial. Of course, if you change your hardware in some way that trips up MS's crazy, unknown rules, you'll have to call them up.
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Thanks for the tip!
On the paranoid side, what if MS decides that; you have reserved your copy, 29th July is last chance, then start automatic update during the night without prompting user?
Note that I specified; "on the paranoid side" but who knows with Microsoft, especially with all the stories we heard about that? hehe ;-)
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I have a windows 8 laptop around. Although I have refused to upgrade so far, I am tempted to upgrade before July 29. Is there any catch that I am not aware of ?
The catch is that you'll be upgraded to Windows 10.
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The catch is that you'll be upgraded to Windows 10.
Rimshot! [instantrimshot.com]
Re: I have a windows 8 around... (Score:2)
Upgrade it and activate it. You'll get a free license that will stick to that hardware.
And then roll it back. If you decide to go to 10 some day, it'll still be free.
I doubt this will ever really end (Score:2, Insightful)
Microsoft's PR has been "Look! We've converted all these people to this awesome new OS!", however, the only reason half those numbers are legal (cough), is because it's free.
If it wasn't, those would be pirated copies.
This isn't really their wheelhouse anymore for revenue. This is the "gateway drug" of the their business model.
Free upgrades to Windows 10 won't go away. They will issue a press release about extending desktop upgrades, then eventually let the news fizzle out until no one cares, then remove th
Re:I doubt this will ever really end (Score:4, Informative)
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If it wasn't, those would be pirated copies.
What are you talking about? Microsoft has always counted pirated OSes in their stats, and Microsoft didn't convert any pirates into legitimate users here as that wasn't the offer on the table regardless of what the nag screen may have lead you to believe.
And that's without even getting into the topic of how irrelevant your post is about Windows Mobile which is what is being discussed here.
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To everyone saying this is off-topic.
It is not, the topic is windows expanding the upgrade window. This article just focuses on mobile devices, but don't think too big now, your brains might blow.
Free Upgrade To Windows 10 Mobile Will Continue... (Score:2)
Free Upgrade To Windows 10 Mobile Will Continue... whether you want it or not.
Verizon? Hello? (Score:2)
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Microsoft probably gave away too much to the carriers just to get their phones in their stores and on their networks. They probably have a much harder time getting the carriers to accept end-around updates.
In other words... (Score:5, Funny)
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"The free upgrades to Windows 10 will continue until morale improves."
Exactly.
Release Media Center... (Score:2)
The people I know who are holding out are doing so because of the lack of Media Center. How hard can it be for a corporation with Microsoft's resources to just recompile the thing and slipstream it in?
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Media Center allows you to do things like view and record live TV (with a USB receiver); it includes stuff like guide data. I'm not going to be updating my HTPC because of this.
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Media Center isn't just a player, it is a remote-friendly player, organizer, scheduler, DVR, guide, etc. It's also the only widely-available software I know of that properly handles guide info and recording certain "protected" content.
The Nightmare Never Ends (Score:4, Insightful)
And here I thought we would be done with this drama and nonsense from Microsoft at the end of this month.
20 days (Score:1)
Only 20 more days until I can run windows update again!
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Only 20 more days until I can run windows update again!
That's precisely what they want you to think...
I wonder... (Score:2)
I like that part
no implications or cost on phone.
Almost like there are going to be implications or costs on PC.....
Oh no! what a nightmare ! (Score:2)
Oh no, when will this nightmare end ?
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Oh no, when will this nightmare end ?
RIght now, if you want it to [apple.com].
As the press was leaving, (Score:2)
Sarkar was heard muttering "The beatings will continue until morale improves."
a very bad TOS, this just the second paragraph (Score:3)
For at least portable devices one must purchase network time through Microsoft. Win10 > Under all files > Microsoft WiFi > is this ToS, it's not a link but a local file.
X:/Program Files/WindowsApps/Microsoft.ConnectivityStore_1.1604.4.0_x86__8wekyb3d8bbwe/TermsOfService/en-US/TermsOfService.htm
Found by clicking on the lone title of "additional terms" - It's a pretty good read, below and the third party abilities only confirms Win10 as spyware.
"SERVICE . After you select a Service plan and buy it, you will be connected automatically whenever you’re near an access point that provides the Service (and is within the country in which you originally purchased the Service plan) and you have time remaining on your plan. Your connectivity begins immediately after you buy a Service plan through the Windows Store and ends at the specified expiration time, regardless of how long you are actually connected to the Service. You cannot save time for later. You must actively maintain your connection and you must be within range of an access point that provides the Service in order to stay connected. If (i) your usage remains on standby; (ii) your usage is inactive; (iii) or your Service plan has expired, your connection may be terminated. Microsoft reserves the right to terminate your connection following any extended period of inactivity."