In a message dated 10-03-14, Alan Zisman said to Holger Granholm:   
      
   Good morning Alan,   
      
    HG> When has M$ released something free?   
      
      
   AZ> Given the relatively low numbers of Win8/8.1 adoption, it might be   
   AZ> something to do -   
   AZ> gather some good public relations for MS, while not actually costing   
   AZ> anything... and if it helps push the large mass of XP users - still   
   AZ> 25% of Windows - and some Win7 users to pay to upgrade, it would be   
   AZ> a good investment.   
      
   Well, M$ has previously done many upgrades to Windows but I can't recall   
   any of them having been free.   
      
   AFAIR the upgrade 3.1 to 3.11 cost money as well as did the next version   
   from 2000 and neither was the upgrade W7 to W8 free even though v8 did   
   correct faults in v7.   
      
   It can of course be stated that v8 was a new concept with a user   
   interface that nobody really had asked for.   
      
   AZ> I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to use Windows Upgrade to   
   AZ> migrate a Win7 system to the Win10 technical preview, fairly quickly   
   AZ> and problem-free (as far as I can tell).   
      
   Yes, that is the way to upgrade over two versions. That same philosophy   
   certainly would have resulted in many more to upgrade from XP.   
      
   Also, the missing opportunity to run DOS programs from 32-bit Windows   
   has diminished the amount of XP users to upgrade to later versions.   
      
   Have a nice day,   
      
   Holger   
      
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