Do you remember Windows XP? Of course you do, everyone remembers this "old good XP" which was more stable than Windows 98 and lighter than Windows Vista.
Then why replace a good working Windows which is becoming more and more stable as time goes on (and patches too...) by a fancy Windows 7 or 8 whose UI is weird and some may say unpractical for PC users?
To this question a lot of people answered "I keep my XP"
(~7% - April 2017 netmarketshare.com)
And this is a serious problem for Microsoft!
Why?
Theoretically, the support for Windows XP was supposed to end on the 14th of April 2009 but, since too many PCs were running Windows XP at that time, Microsoft gently extended it until the 8th april 2014. (Windows lifecycle fact sheet - Windows Help).
But maintaining the support costs a lot of money:
- developers to write patches and the documentation
- people for the technical support
- backward compatibility code on any new applications or versions of Windows
Note that some old applications survived with Windows XP (especially our friend Internet Explorer 6) that Microsoft also had to support.
All this for users who won't pay for these services (since they have already paid their Windows XP licences).
Yes, but ultimately people will buy new computers with Windows 7, 8, and 10.
Indeed, but this scenario may repeat and Microsoft surely doesn't want to support an outdated operating system for more than 12 years again (Windows XP was released for retail sale in October 2001).
Then what is the solution?
No more versions of Windows: only one Windows 10, which is regularly updated. Hence, with a computer purchase, you buy a lifetime licence for Windows.
Microsoft does not get any more money from people updating their operating system but only when they replace their computer (which is approximately every 4-5 years. Guess what? It was the average lifetime of a Windows version).
By ensuring everyone uses the same version of Windows, Microsoft saves a lot of money in technical support and maintenance.
This solution is not new (this is what Apple has been doing for a long time now) and Microsoft seems to consider it is the best.
Hence Microsoft offers Windows 10 freely to users who still use Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Why? Because these versions may be the next "Windows XP" (a version which lasts way longer than expected).
This seems to be a long term strategy to set up a unified Windows ecosystem on most platforms and devices.
Edit
Currently 25% of the Desktops PC use Windows 10 so it seems that it worked partially out. Still almost of 50% are still using Windows 7 and may not change in the next years.
Do you remember Windows XP? Of course you do, everyone remembers this "old good XP" which was more stable than Windows 98 and lighter than Windows Vista.
Then why replace a good working Windows which is becoming more and more stable as time goes on (and patches too...) by a fancy Windows 7 or 8 whose UI is weird and some may say unpractical for PC users?
To this question a lot of people answered "I keep my XP"
(~7% - April 2017 netmarketshare.com)
And this is a serious problem for Microsoft!
Why?
Theoretically, the support for Windows XP was supposed to end on the 14th of April 2009 but, since too many PCs were running Windows XP at that time, Microsoft gently extended it until the 8th april 2014. (Windows lifecycle fact sheet - Windows Help).
But maintaining the support costs a lot of money:
- developers to write patches and the documentation
- people for the technical support
- backward compatibility code on any new applications or versions of Windows
Note that some old applications survived with Windows XP (especially our friend Internet Explorer 6) that Microsoft also had to support.
All this for users who won't pay for these services (since they have already paid their Windows XP licences).
Yes, but ultimately people will buy new computers with Windows 7, 8, and 10.
Indeed, but this scenario may repeat and Microsoft surely doesn't want to support an outdated operating system for more than 12 years again (Windows XP was released for retail sale in October 2001).
Then what is the solution?
No more versions of Windows: only one Windows 10, which is regularly updated. Hence, with a computer purchase, you buy a lifetime licence for Windows.
Microsoft does not get any more money from people updating their operating system but only when they replace their computer (which is approximately every 4-5 years. Guess what? It was the average lifetime of a Windows version).
By ensuring everyone uses the same version of Windows, Microsoft saves a lot of money in technical support and maintenance.
This solution is not new (this is what Apple has been doing for a long time now) and Microsoft seems to consider it is the best.
Hence Microsoft offers Windows 10 freely to users who still use Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Why? Because these versions may be the next "Windows XP" (a version which lasts way longer than expected).
This seems to be a long term strategy to set up a unified Windows ecosystem on most platforms and devices.
Edit
Currently 25% of the Desktops PC use Windows 10 so it seems that it worked partially out. Still almost of 50% are still using Windows 7 and may not change in the next years.
Microsoft doesn't make much money from upgrades. They rely on the short life span of the laptops and make most of the money selling licenses with new PCs/laptops you buy. And Microsoft is not giving away these licenses for free. You still pay Microsoft when you buy a new PC.
Thus, they don't lose much revenues. Why is Microsoft giving away the upgrades for free?
- PC market is declining (Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 9.5 Percent) and Microsoft is trying everything to avoid that. Windows 10 is designed to be used across PCs, phones and tablets. Microsoft hopes to give mobile developers enough market to push their apps. Having all PCs move up to Windows 10, which would in turn work with all mobile devices is a very enticing opportunity for the app developers.
- Bing is embedded everywhere in the new OS. Microsoft sees more opportunities for ad revenues with this "Bing" OS. The drop in revenues from upgrades could be gotten just through increased ads to your new OS.
- Better management of security threats. Many users don't upgrade for many reasons including cost. This affects Windows brand as a whole. By getting all old users to Windows 10 there can better handling of security. Windows 10 will kill off 'Patch Tuesday' as Microsoft pushes constant stream of updates
- It gets everyone to upgrade to the newest OS. This reduces support costs as well as reduces some of the anti-Windows rants [with people running dinosaur era OS].
- It gives them a lot of free publicity & goodwill. Free Windows upgrade? Everyone talked about that.
I am not speaking on behalf of Microsoft.
The Windows 10 ‘accidental upgrade’ if you dismiss the popup asking if you want to upgrade is a little nasty. My mom got hit by it, for example.
Starting in July, if you want to upgrade to Windows 10 you’ll have to pay for it. Right now it’s free. That’s the big thing that happens in July.
I’m sure it’s difficult for Microsoft to know how long to support a given version of Windows. The more people who are on the same version of Windows, the easier this question becomes. It helps to prioritize resources instead of saying “we have to have this many fixing bugs in Windows 10, this many in Windows 8.1, this many in Windows 7,” etc.
Instead you can say “we’ll put all our maintainers on Windows 10 because almost everyone is running it, and if anything truly awful comes up in earlier versions, we’ll switch some people over to work on it for a little while.”
Summarizing:
- Microsoft probably wants as many people as possible running Windows 10 rather than earlier versions. They’re willing to give away access to those holding earlier versions, where normally they would have had to pay for it.
- Until July people with valid earlier versions of Windows can upgrade to 10 for free. After July they’ll have to pay for it, reducing the chance they’ll do it.
Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela recently said that if you choose to keep using Windows 7, you do so “at your own risk, at your own peril.”
Why? Because “We worry, when people are running an operating system that’s 10 years old, that the next printer they buy isn’t going to work well, or they buy a new game, they buy Fallout 4, a very popular game, and it doesn’t work on a bunch of older machines,” Capossela stated. “And so, as we are pushing our ISV [independent software vendor] and hardware partners to build great new stuff that takes advantage of Windows 10 that obviously makes the old stuff really bad and not to mention viruses and security problems.”
Worse still, Microsoft is quietly admitting that it’s pushing Windows 10 on eligible Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs through Windows Update as a “Recommended” update instead of “Optional.” That means, if you’ve set your PC to automatically install Recommended patches, Windows Update will automatically download and install Windows 10.
Microsoft is being coy about exactly how this will work, but it’s on its way. Lucky us.
Microsoft’s heavy hand can be felt in other ways. Let’s say I want Windows 7 on a brand-new, state-of-the-art PC with an Intel Skylake processor? Shouldn’t be a problem, right? Wrong.
Microsoft says some Skylake-powered PC will get Windows 7 and 8.1 support. Sort of. Kind of.
You see, even those “supported” PCs will get support only until July 17, 2017. After that date, only the “most critical” patches will be provided, and then only when they don’t “risk the reliability or compatibility” of the older editions.
In other words, Microsoft isn’t promising any real support for Windows 7 or 8.1 on Skylake after midsummer 2017. What enterprise in its right mind is going to buy PCs without a guarantee they’ll be supported? So, we can think of this as Microsoft is indirectly conveying users asking us get adjusted with the future of Windows OS.
Microsoft wants to kill IE.
Well, it may not be the entire truth, but it is good example of their initiative. The web is broken, because the browsers must hack the web standards in order to display web pages correctly, and web developers must use non standard techniques in order to display web pages correctly in most browsers. The way out of this circle is killing old browsers and Microsoft is doing incredibly valuable job to the world by killing IE.
Another reason is, that Microsoft created new API for creating apps called Windows Runtime and app model called Universal Windows Platform. App written using this API does not slow down your computer. Their can be easily uninstalled without leaving garbage. They don’t spy on your computer. They are more stable, etc, etc. It would solve most of the the issues with windows. However, developers still uses the old Win32 API, since a lot of users uses old windows.
Anyway, I don’t understand why people wonder. Nobody uses 5 years old OS on the smartphone or tablet. Why desktop should be different? Everybody has automatic updates by default on windows phone and nobody complains.
Microsoft have so many reasons to push Windows 10. Beginning with the fact that Windows 8 wasn't their most favourable product out there, there was a desperate need for Windows 10.
Apart from that the new operating system, which is doing great so far, is the perfect opportunity for Microsoft to encourage users to use other Microsoft products.
Internet Explorer... excuse me, I mean Edge.
No need to go into too many details how bad Explorer's market share has been in the last couple of years. Users simply refuse to use it so Microsoft felt forced to get rid of it. Windows 10 comes with Microsoft's new browser - Edge. When you update the system, your browser automatically switches to Edge and the system would do everything possible to prevent you from switching back.
Bing
Eh... good ol' Bing. Microsoft have been desperately trying to get Bing back in the game. The search engine is built in the virtual assistant Cortana and it is also Edge's default browser. Clearly Microsoft were hoping that more and more people will leave Bing as their preferred browser. It seems like it has worked since the company recently announced that Bing is profitable again.
Bing Ads
The more people use Bing, the more marketers will advertise with Bing Ads.
This connection might not be the first thing that pops up in our minds as users but Microsoft are trying to stay relevant and it looks like Windows 10 could fill in the gaps.
The real reason behind here is the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). This is the biggest change in Windows 10 compare to previous versions.
There are all kinds of reasons listed here, but they are not changed for Windows 8, Windows 7, and Microsoft didn't give away free Windows 8 to take over Windows XP. We all know one of the major problem Microsoft is facing is that they don't have enough Apps in their App store, to compete with Android and iOS. As a platform company, loosing Apps and developers are critical problem.
Unlike Windows 7, where any application developed for Window 7 could be run in previous version and vice versa, in Windows 10, Microsoft developed the new API called UWP, which could be considered as a new replacement for all existing APIs of Microsoft. It will provide the best and most modern technologies for Windows developers to create application which could be run on all form factors, include PC, Tablets, XBoxOne and Phones.
The UWP applications are cool, but the problem is they don't work on Windows 8/8.1, because the core technology is new on Windows 10. Then, the developers will not use this new technology if half of their users are on the older versions of the Windows. This is why Microsoft is pushing so hard to make people to use Windows 10, where will create a huge user pool for the new UWP applications.
The more people use UWP, the more developers are willing to develop on it, which will create more Apps in the app store, which will attract more users, especially the phone and tablet users, which will also benefit the app development. This is the strategy that Microsoft could fight back Apple and Google on mobile/device market.
Originally Answered: Why is Microsoft getting so pushy with Windows 10?
Firstly, because that’s what an 800-lb., multi-billion dollar corporation/gorilla that has a virtually monopolistic stranglehold on the Desktop / laptop /notebook arena can do. It’s an old habit, and they have no need to stop doing so; it’s essentially the answer as to why some people climb Mt. Everest: because they can.
it’s not anti-competitive, because they are really only cannibalizing their own markets.
Bullying? Militant? Pushy? Yes, yes, and yes.
But I think Vikas Kumar makes a good point: “Yes they are still supporting 5 different OS. But after 10, January, 2023 their support will be streamlined to be just one Windows (Windows 10). Because no one will be on older version of the OS. this will save their resources.” It’s an ‘eventual’ cost-saving measure.
But more than that, I detect a subtle sideways shift towards incorporating Linux into more and more of what Microsoft does. they do so with MS Azure; they are building in BASH into Windows 10; it’s even said they have their own -in-house-built version of Linux to run their server farms. If the latter is true, I know not. The other, earlier OSs may not be able to support Linux as an add-on or at (Heaven forbid that Microsoft should do what Steve Jobs did —brilliantly — with BSD and OSX) the core of the OS. Windows 10 may be their transition OS to allow more Linux-related add-ons and application code (and possibly kernel code as well) into their systems, to follow Steve Jobs’ integration-path of putting BSD at the core of OSX. Why not Linux at the core of Windows? Stranger things have happened. But to do so, they need to eliminate their own competition.
Thanks for the A2A
It must be a source of frustration to the company that users of Windows 7 and 8.1 appear so reluctant to switch, even though the upgrade for them is free. here you can see some info’s about windows users
but i’ll prefer that MAC users are less but Apple company is providing us a good opportunity and best deal .while windows users are so large counting .may be microsoft company providing this upgradation to get more money as well giving us poor technician fecility.
This is like Reliance 4G JIO sim free with 3 month internet to all customers (india)
According to CEO , premium mode is getting as freemium .Lol For us, it’s just so incredibly important to try to end the fragmentation of the Windows install base, and so we think every machine that is capable of running Windows 10 we should be doing everything we possibly can to get people to move to Windows 10.
We always want to give them the choice, and we are trying to find the right UI constructs, we are trying to find the right update constructs that we think are going to please as many people as possible.
they push it to get new updates for Highly recommend games like Fallout 4 .that’s why they force us to make an upgrade from windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 to windows 10 .
but here Fragmentation is not increased ( on the based on performance ) , it’s smoothly decreased now after this upgrade.
There are many things those are not working in windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 system , will works in windows 10 but there is a major issue what we had about performance , support , etc . i won’t be agree for that they should upgrade it.
Microsoft knows it’s annoying some people with its aggressive Windows 10 push, but it doesn’t really care. There’s a slight whiff of we know better than you about CEO’s comments and while there are definitely some people out there who plan to upgrade but are procrastinating or kicking the can as Capossela puts it there are plenty of users who don’t want to switch because they are perfectly happy where they are, or because they don’t like what Windows 10 has to offer them.
The main reason is , Users are so large. if they do, Rating / earning will be increased because of launching new set up and apps but happened negative. The company has been tight lipped ever since and while that may simply be because of a lack of events where it could reveal new figures to a worldwide audience, it may also be because adoption rates are dropping.
It’s Like New 500 and 2000 rupees currency launched ( in India) without getting any discussion means called as lack of experience / events they must discussabout what we think .they did due to earning .
Maybe instead of trying to force users of older versions of Windows onto its new OS, Microsoft should take the time to figure out what it is about Windows 10 that’s keeping users away.
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