Microsoft’s history of backtracking on statements and discontinuing products is no secret. With the upcoming scheduled end-of-support for Windows 10, the company made a free upgrade-related announcement titled “Free Upgrade to Windows 11 (For a Limited Time Only)”, but removed the post on January 15, 2025.
Windows Latest noticed that Microsoft has now nuked the document, and it’s no longer live on the website. Thankfully, we archived the webpage since we were anticipating the company to take it down. Speaking to Windows Latest, Microsoft sources described the blog post as a publishing mistake and had nothing more to share.
It’s a well-known fact that if you have a Windows 10 PC that meets the official Windows 11 hardware requirements criteria, you’re eligible for an upgrade. This is not new information because Microsoft has been offering free upgrades to all existing customers for quite some time.
But what’s surprising and shocking about this now-deleted blog post is Microsoft claiming Windows 11 is free for a limited time “only”.
There’s no clarification in the post on when the free upgrade for activated PCs ends. In fact, the post only mentions the word “free” in the title and not anywhere else. So, what’s it trying to imply? Will Microsoft halt the free Windows 11 upgrade for activated Windows 10 PCs soon?
Microsoft’s communication team made a mistake. Windows 11 is free, and it’s not a limited-time offer
Microsoft’s blog post is throwing an angle that the OS is free for a limited time only, and then even supported PCs would need to pay to get Windows 11.
However, that’s not true. The blog post was incorrectly titled, and Microsoft didn’t mean to imply that Windows 11 is a limited-time deal.
Maybe they want many users to stop buying cheap Windows 10 keys and upgrade to Windows 11 for free. It’s easy to get the old keys from an old family/work laptop, load Windows 10, activate it on a new machine, and upgrade to Windows 11 for free. This trick will only work for retail keys, and OEM devices will have to go through more trouble.
The post also incorrectly announced that Microsoft 365 products will stop working on Windows 10. This is not true because Office apps will not stop working on Windows 10 as Microsoft only plans to pull support for Microsoft 365 apps on October 14, 2025.
While Microsoft’s headline was misleading, remember that the OS is indeed retiring and there’s a poorly priced extended support program for $30.
Microsoft is trying to hide behind the whole security angle but isn’t happy to accept the fact that it created a successor OS that makes millions of Windows 10 PCs ineligible just because they don’t have a new TPM version or Secure Boot.
Even its popups for the free upgrade are crashing on Windows 10 PCs, resulting in huge mockery from infuriated users.
Users should have a say in using Windows 11 without these security mechanisms if they want. This decision could save many perfectly capable PCs from getting the axe. Or, Linux seems a worthy OS now for many.
The post Microsoft accidentally says Windows 11 is free for a limited time, then deletes the statement appeared first on Windows Latest
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