Why the Windows 10 free upgrade campaign continues

In its 2015 release, Microsoft launched a Windows 10 free upgrade campaign for Windows 7 and 8.1. However, even now, four years have passed, some free updates continue. Why is the Windows 10 free update, which was originally scheduled to be finished in a year, still continues?

Microsoft is urging to switch to Windows 10, saying that official support for Windows 7 will end on January 14, 2020. Windows 10, released on July 29, 2015, announced that if you are a genuine Windows 7 or 8.1 user, you can upgrade for one year for free using Windows Update or a media tool officially distributed by Microsoft.

The Windows 10 free upgrade campaign through Windows Update ended on July 27, 2016. The Windows 7 or 8.1 product key and the media tool are available for free upgrades today. How to upgrade using the product key and media tool is also described in Microsoft’s official Q&A bulletin board.

In the midst of this, a user (CokeRobot), a Microsoft employee, on Reddit, an overseas community, explains why the Windows 10 free upgrade campaign continues. He said he worked for Microsoft before the release of Windows 10. According to him, the one-year free upgrade itself was entirely driven by marketing. After the free upgrade campaign was over, Windows 10 licenses were scheduled to be fully paid, but Terry Myerson, the Windows 10 development team, Windows Developer Group (WDG), said that Windows 10 penetration rate should no longer be part of Microsoft’s revenue, rather than license sales. To claim to be.

Microsoft announced that, ahead of the official release of Windows 10, the pirated version of Windows 7 will also be the target of a reward upgrade campaign for Windows 10. Later, the announcement was withdrawn, but the plan was also based on a large initiative to block security threats with the full version of Windows 10, taking into account the Windows 10 penetration rate.

Of course, as Microsoft is a publicly traded company, it is impossible to completely free licenses that must account for lost revenue and profits to investors. Therefore, Windows Update will end the free update as scheduled and continue to sell Windows 10 new licenses, but for the paid Windows 7 or 8.1 full licenses, it is explained that a free upgrade is granted to the Windows 10 license.

In addition, Microsoft reported that from July 2015 to July 2016, the operating loss due to the free upgrade was $2 billion, losing $1.4 billion in net profit. Related information can be found here .