Windows 10 is on 300 million devices, free upgrade to end on 29 July

Microsoft just announced on its Windows Experience Blog that over 300 million users have installed Microsoft Windows 10 on their devices. There are big things planned for the anniversary, but the most important change for the users is the withdrawal of the free upgrade program.

Windows 7 and Windows 8 users have until 29 July to get a free upgrade to Windows 10. After that, Windows 10 will cost $119 (approx Rs 8000) for a license, although the OS will continue to be shipped with new devices.

https://twitter.com/microsoftindia/status/728261725917581316 Windows 10 is different from previous iterations of the Operating System. At a conference a year ago, Microsoft representatives had said that “Windows 10 is the last version of Windows.” Previous versions had a planned life cycle, but Windows 10 is modeled as a service, with continuous updates. There are a significant new features expected in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. The updates are free for all users. Despite the announcement of hitting the 300 million users milestone, Computer World tracked the growth rate for Windows 10, which showed a slow down. Fewer and fewer people are opting to use the operating system with every passing month, and the returns from the free upgrade program are starting to get negligible. There were more figures in the announcement, noting usage patterns. Microsoft revealed that Edge experienced a 50 percent growth in usage in one quarter. Edge is the Windows 10 exclusive web browser, meant to be a replacement for Internet Explorer. Cortana has answered over 6 billion questions. People have collectively spent 9 billion hours playing titles from Microsoft Games. There are 144 million people using photos. If you have a Windows 7 or Windows 8 machine, and were planning to upgrade to Windows 10, this is a good time to do it.