Will the Windows 11 upgrade be free or not?
Microsoft is working hard on Windows 11. But what many users are waiting for is the answer to whether it will be a free upgrade or not…
Microsoft has of course done this before. Windows 10 was the first major consumer version ever to be free. Back then, Windows 7 and 8 users could upgrade to 10 for free. At the time, it seemed that Microsoft put a one-year time limit on this offer. But that turned out not to be the case, people with an old operating system could still download the upgrade long after this deadline.
Windows 11 upgrade for free
The question now is whether the latest upgrade will also be free again. The competitor, and we are of course talking about Apple with macOS, does this. Therefore, it seems unlikely that Microsoft will return to a payment option for the upgrade again. What could be is that the upgrade will be available on a limited basis, according to the Forbes website. For example, only for Windows 10 users.
“Traditionally, a version upgrade (Windows 8 to Windows 10) has been offered for free or at a discount to those running the currently supported version of the latest operating system,” said Michael Cherry, senior analyst at a company that helps companies with their Microsoft software planning. .
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Windows 10 was released in 2015, time does indeed pass quickly. This means that all Windows 8 PCs are at least six years old. And Windows 7 systems probably even older. And that can cause problems, it is highly unlikely that it will run smoothly on such old hardware. Microsoft might decide that encouraging owners of these old systems to upgrade to Windows 11 for free will likely only lead to frustration or failure.
But still, leaked builds of the Windows 11 code suggest there will be an upgrade path for users of Windows 7 and Windows 8. This is coming according to a report on Windows Latest. Microsoft is likely to confirm its plan next Thursday. It’s worth remembering that while it’s highly likely that Microsoft will offer some form of free upgrade path from Windows 10 to Windows 11, the operating system isn’t free.
As Michael Cherry points out, “many consumers get new OS versions when they buy a new device. And the price of the OS is calculated in the bill of materials’. Of course, Microsoft has to make money somehow.
