Microsoft revealed during its January 21st Windows 10 event that customers currently running Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge once the operating system is released. But not all current Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 owners will be entitled to free upgrades, as it turns out, and Microsoft explained why in a recent blog post.
FROM EARLIER: Awesome news: Windows 10 will be completely free for Windows 8 and Windows 7 users
The company offered more details about Windows 10 for Enterprise, saying that these types of accounts will not be entitled to free upgrades like personal and small business customers.
“Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise are not included in the terms of free Windows 10 Upgrade offer we announced last week, given active Software Assurance customers will continue to have rights to upgrade to Windows 10 enterprise offerings outside of this offer – while also benefitting from the full flexibility to deploy Windows 10 using their existing management infrastructure,” the company wrote.
While this may sound like bad news, that’s not necessarily the case. In the extensive blog post, Microsoft explained that starting with Windows 10 it wants to better cater to the needs of large companies.
The company said that with Windows 10, it’ll continuously add features and security updates to further improve the operating system along the way, but Enterprise customers will be able to choose the pace at which these updates are installed so that they don’t disrupt important daily operations.
For example, IT departments can choose to postpone updating certain features to make sure they are properly tested by other Windows 10 users before being deployed on the company’s computers. But security updates will be installed as soon as Microsoft releases them.
“To that end, we are introducing a new approach for business customers, which we are referring to as the Current branch for Business. By putting devices on the Current branch for Business, enterprises will be able to receive feature updates after their quality and application compatibility has been assessed in the consumer market, while continuing to receive security updates on a regular basis,” the company wrote.
More details about Microsoft’s plans for Windows 10 for Enterprise are available at this link.
