Windows 10: free upgrade ends 29 July, costs $119 thereafter

There’s some big Windows 10 news in the wild today, so let’s get right into it.

Microsoft’s latest operating system is slowly eking towards its one billion devices in three years target, as 300-million machines are now using the OS, according to the company’s CVP of Windows, Yusuf Medhi.

That’s quite a large number, but according to Net Applications represents only about 15% of the world’s desktop PCs. Note, that the 300-million figure does include all devices though (smartphones, tablets, elevators, etc).

“We’re seeing people at home, at schools, at small businesses, at large companies, and other organizations adopt Windows 10 faster than ever, and use Windows 10 more than ever before,” Mehdi explains.

Beyond that, Mehdi announced that all good things must come to an end, and by good things we mean free things, notably that free upgrade to Windows 10.

29 July 2016 is the last day users running OSes newer than Windows 7 will be able to step up to Windows 10 for free. Microsoft did note at launch that it would give users a full year to upgrade, a promise it has seen through. And to drive that point home, it also published this video below.

But, for those who don’t jump ship before then or those running an older or non-Microsoft OS, pricing details are now available as well.

Windows 10 Home will retail for US$119 (about R1800), with Enterprise and other features likely fetching a premium.

Microsoft has largely been enjoying its fastest OS adoption run since Windows 10’s launch, but the company will hope to push the OS onto more desktops before the free upgrade period closes.

Have you upgraded to Windows 10 yet? Will you? Let us know your experiences with the OS in the comments section below.