Microsoft Corp. announced that Windows users have just under three months to upgrade their devices to Windows 10 for free.
As of July 29, 2016 – the program’s one-year anniversary – the company will begin charging $119 USD.
“The free upgrade offer to Windows 10 was a first for Microsoft, helping people upgrade faster than ever before,” corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group Yusuf Mehdi wrote in a May 5 blog post. “And time is running out.”
Making Windows 10 a free upgrade for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users had always been a gamble with a one-year time limit for Microsoft, but it paid off in a big way – since the program’s initial launch last year, the latest version of Windows is now being used on approximately 300 million active devices.
In fact, it’s become one of the most widely adopted versions of the OS, rivalling even Apple’s OSX, which also features free updates.
It’s been criticized too, cited as a clear improvement over the tablet-centric Windows 8 but “rough around the edges” compared to Windows 7, though a July 28, 2015 review by our own Brian Jackson found “no reason not to upgrade to Windows 10”.
And now it would appear that if you’re a Windows user and intend to update your software, you better do it sooner as opposed to later.