Microsoft Will Distribute Windows 10 for Free

The software giant announced the end of nearly 3 decades of history, launching its first free version of Windows. Microsoft recently unveiled Windows 10, its first update in 2 years, while announcing that a new operating system would be a free upgrade (only for the first year though) for users of Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone. Microsoft is planning to release Windows 10 later in 2015, but no specific date is set yet.

 

However, there were even more surprises from Microsoft: the company also unveiled its headset, Hololens, which will work with Windows 10 by allowing people to interact with 3D holograms, including holographic Skype calls. It should be noted that the development comes shortly after Google shut down the development phase of Google Glass, its online-enabled headset.

The industry observers point out that the decision to distribute Windows 10 for free marks a major shift for Microsoft, because the company has always made most of its profits from selling its OS – Bill Gates launched its first version, Windows 1, back in 1985. Although the company does not provide specific figures for Windows’ revenues anymore, it is known that they were eclipsed by its Office suite of services in 2013.

Microsoft still dominates the market of personal computers, but loses to Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS in mobile computing. The company was previously called to offer its operating system for free in order to outrun its rivals, which do not charge for their software.

Windows 10 will be able to run across personal computers, mobiles, tablets and even Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console. The new version of Windows will also bring back Windows Start menu, which was dropped in Windows 8. The latter, by the way, failed to convince many Microsoft users to upgrade – the statistics say that the OS, launched three years ago, is currently on 10% of PCs and 20% of tablets.

Microsoft previewed the new version of Windows to business customers back in 2014 and announced that it would skip Windows 9 in its attempt to mark a break with the past (or maybe just because Windows 9 could have problems due to being confused with Windows 95 and 98 by some software). The developer preview has been downloaded 1.7 million times and 800,000 pieces of feedback have been left.