Microsoft May Do The Unthinkable To Make You Dump XP, Vista And Windows 7

[allheart55 Cindy E]

Windows is one of Microsoft’s main money makers, and the company is interested in seeing as many current Windows users move to its latest operating system as possible. However, no matter what the company does, there still are plenty of users who are on older Windows versions, including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. ZDNet has learned that Microsoft may be working on a huge Windows 9 surprise to convince reluctant users to finally move to the latest Windows operating system available.

 

The company is reportedly considering offering some sort of Windows 9 upgrade deal to XP, Vista and Windows 7 users, with a completely free upgrade option also on the table. This isn’t the first time free Windows 9 upgrade rumors have hit the web, but previous reports suggested that Windows Threshold (Windows 9’s internal codename) might launch as a free download to Windows 8.1 Update, and Windows 7 Service Pack 1 owners.

 

Nothing has been confirmed about Windows 9 yet, but ZDNet says that all the major features Microsoft is working on will be packed in Threshold rather than a following Windows 8.1 Update.

 

Windows 8.1 Update 2 is still due on August 12th, this month’s Patch Tuesday, although the update is not mandatory, and it’s not expected to bring any major changes. The Start menu button, which was supposed to arrive with Update 2, will be included in Windows 9 alongside any other major features Microsoft may have readied for a Windows 8.1 update.

 

Other Windows 8.1 updates might be released later this year as well, although they’re also going to be minor compared with the massive changes coming with Windows 9.

 

This article was originally published on BGR.com

[AWS]

I am getting some good reports from my friend at Microsoft. He doesn't tell me as much as he used to because of the scandal a few years ago with major leaks of alpha builds of software before it was even released to internal testers. When we talk now he hints at things and I have to put the pieces together. He is a marketing guy at MS and I have never asked about any upgrade offers. I'm interested in the tech side and while he knows he isn't telling. The little I have got from him makes Windows 9 look like it could be a real killer.

[starbuck]

Although a free upgrade to Win9 would be very nice ( and let's face it M$ could certainly afford it ) .... i think it would be a bad move to try and get Win XP users to take the upgrade.

We have already seen Win XP users have problems running Win8 ..... the systems are just too old to do the new OS justice.

As each OS seems to require more specs, i'd assume that upgrading from XP to Win9 would be a nightmare upgrade for a lot of users.

[Rich-M]

Good point Pete. Any of the pc's that came out after SP2 can probably67 upgrade nicely but we have to remember because of the long length of supported service for XP, the early pc's hardware would never qualify but hopefully users will run hardware compatibility utilities first.

 

It is upsetting to know that 8.2 will not have the real start button returning though.