{"id":791,"date":"2025-01-16T02:46:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T02:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/?p=791"},"modified":"2025-01-16T02:46:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T02:46:35","slug":"microsoft-turns-up-the-heat-on-windows-10-diehards-hinting-that-free-upgrade-to-windows-11-could-be-ditched-later-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/microsoft-turns-up-the-heat-on-windows-10-diehards-hinting-that-free-upgrade-to-windows-11-could-be-ditched-later-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft turns up the heat on Windows 10 diehards, hinting that free upgrade to Windows 11 could be ditched later this year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.hindustantimes.com\/img\/2024\/07\/19\/550x309\/Microsoft_1721376073708_1721376073913.JPG\" alt=\"Microsoft outage LIVE updates: Wipro unaffected, says CEO Srinivas Pallia |  Hindustan Times\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We know Windows 10 is on borrowed time \u2013 but is the Windows 11 upgrade offer, too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A Microsoft blog post has been written about the free Windows 11 upgrade<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>It mentions that the upgrade is for a \u2018limited time only\u2019<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>This could be read as a hint that Microsoft will drop the free offer when Windows 10 expires later this year<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an interesting turn of events, perhaps in an effort to increase thepressure on Windows 10 users to upgrade,Microsofthas issued a vague suggestion that the free upgrade toWindows 11might expire, possibly at the same time support runs out for the older OS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.neowin.net\/news\/microsoft-tells-users-to-upgrade-to-windows-11-while-its-free-for-a-limited-time-only\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Neowin<\/a>noticed that Microsoft has penned ablog postwhich advisesWindows 10users that they need to carefully mull their options considering that support is discontinued on October 14, 2025. And naturally, one of those choices is to upgrade to Windows 11 (another is topay for an extended program of updatesfor a year, an option that\u2019s not been available to consumers in the past, just businesses).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At any rate, the key point is the title of the post, which is: \u201cFree Upgrade to Windows 11 (For a Limited Time Only).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, this is interesting, because as far as we\u2019re aware, Microsoft has never specifically mentioned that the free upgrade to Windows 11 has a time limit on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One way you could read this title, then, is that there is indeed an expiry date for the offer, which would presumably be when Windows 10 support finishes \u2013 which is the hint imparted here, given the subject of the blog post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&gt;&gt;&gt;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/detail-Microsoft-1740381-P21GU9\">P21GU9 Battery for Microsoft Surface Pro 1 1514<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/EAARJFFJ6yakUEncKh6fHk-970-80.png.webp\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Image credit: Microsoft)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"analysis-would-microsoft-really-do-this-3\">Analysis: Would Microsoft really do this?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The question this throws up is: will Windows 11 no longer be free whenWindows 10 hits End of Life? Well, we shouldn\u2019t get carried away here, that\u2019s for sure, as it\u2019s notable that the only mentioned of \u2018limited time\u2019 is in the headline, and there\u2019s no reference to this anywhere else in the article. You\u2019d expect it to be clarified somewhere, after all, so perhaps it\u2019s just a throwaway comment of sorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That said, this feels like some kind of a hint being dropped, and the official stance on the freebie offer, as outlined by Microsoft in the FAQ for the \u2018How to get Windows 11\u2019 portal is as follows: \u201cThe free upgrade offer does not have a specific end date for eligible systems. However, Microsoft reserves the right to eventually end support for the free offer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No one has ever taken that second sentence all that seriously, and it\u2019s been regarded as just part of the usual clauses and embellishments that can be added by companies in a \u2018just in case\u2019 kind of fashion. However, perhaps Microsoft will actually exercise that right when Windows 10 shuffles off its mortal coil later this year. It\u2019s far from unthinkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&gt;&gt;&gt;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/detail-Microsoft-1740109-G3HTA060H\">G3HTA060H Battery for Microsoft Surface Pro X MQ03 1876<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While we can envisage such a future, there remains a pressing concern for Microsoft \u2013 Windows 11 adoption has been painfully slow. And ultimately, the software giant still wants people to make the move to Windows 11, so ditching the free offer would work against that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Or, perhaps more to the point, if the freebie upgrade is officially canned come October 2025, Microsoft might still leave loopholes open that allow folks to step up to Windows 11 free of charge. Just as happened with Windows 10 when Microsoft ended thefree upgradethere, which was only supposed to be good for a year, but wasleft available for a long, long timeafter that period had expired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s my feeling this is likely a move by Microsoft to help persuade fence-sitters to get on with it and upgrade to Windows 11, which, to be fair,at this point they should be doing anyway. Overall, I\u2019m not convinced there\u2019s any real teeth to the very vague threat aired here, but I could of course be wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We know Windows 10 is on borrowed time \u2013 but is the Windows 11 upgrade offer, too? In an interesting turn of events, perhaps in an effort to increase thepressure on Windows 10 users to upgrade,Microsofthas issued a vague suggestion that the free upgrade toWindows 11might expire, possibly at the same time support runs out &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/2025\/01\/16\/microsoft-turns-up-the-heat-on-windows-10-diehards-hinting-that-free-upgrade-to-windows-11-could-be-ditched-later-this-year\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Microsoft turns up the heat on Windows 10 diehards, hinting that free upgrade to Windows 11 could be ditched later this year<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microsoft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":792,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions\/792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}