Windows Subscriptions. Free Upgrades For The Life of Your PC
By
Staten Island, NY Posted: 1/22/2015 1:00:00 AM
Only a very small percentage of all PC users have the latest versions of Windows.
Microsoft didn't become the world's biggest software company by offering Windows for free, but their upgrades are excessively expensive. The cost of an upgrade can be as much as $200, almost as expensive as a low end laptop or Chromebook.
As a result of the high price to upgrade... most people simply stick with the version that came with their PC, until they get a new one. That's why there are more PC users using Windows XP than Windows 8.
Because so few people have the latest version, there is little incentive for software and hardware companies to release products specifically designed for the newest versions of Windows.
I think an easy solution is to consider a subscription model. Instead of an expensive upgrades that only power users are willing to pay for, why not simply consider Windows a subscription model?
They key to the subscription model is to link the computer's internal serial number or MAC address to the license, so that when you register your computer, upgrades to the latest versions of Windows will be be included for that particular computer.
Since the majority of Microsoft's Windows Revenue comes from pre-installing it on new PCs, it won't hurt Microsoft's bottom line, and the industry itself will move forward, instead of waiting 5-10 years for PC users to upgrade.
It took more than a decade before XP finally moved from being the most popular version installed on PCs, to the #2 spot, which is where it is now.
For many of them, the only reason they upgraded was because Microsoft officially ended support for it in 2014 and they were no longer getting upgraded virus protection. The rest continued to use their beloved XP machines until they broke down and couldn't be fixed. So, in a sense, the majority of people who upgraded to the latest versions did so by buying a new PC that had it pre-installed.
Like the majority of iPhone and iPad software users who always upgrade to the latest version of iOS, most Apple users always upgrade to the latest versions, because even before they started making upgrades free, it has always been dirt cheap. As such, developers are always eager to take advantage of the latest operating system, because they know most Apple users have the latest.
Joe Crescenzi, Founder
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