BC Guy said:
While Willy does appear to be right, in that the upgrade is free and one does not have to pay for a subscription, there is additional info in that article that may cause me to stick with Win7. They say, "we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device..." What this means is that once I am used to Win10, when my laptop dies, or just gets old, then I will be forced into the subscription model. I currently have two copies of Win7 Ultimate 64-bit. One for my laptop and one for a desktop which I may or may not try to build and run in a van. I shouldn't need to buy new copies of my Windows OS for many, many years.
On the other hand, do I really want to be that guy, several years from now, who is still using an ancient OS while everyone else has moved on? I am already falling behind in my ITish skills. It may be worth it just to be able to learn the new OS sooner rather than later. Naturally, I will take an image of my old setup before attempting an upgrade.
Note: While I have always been interested in trying to learn Linux, I am addicted to certain software that is only available on Windows. Yes I know there are some alternatives for some of the most important things but I have never, EVER, found any of those alternatives to be anywhere near as good as the products available for Windows. No, I will not go into a list or debate. I was a network manager for 12 years. I have done my research. For what
I need, Linux and OS alternatives just do not cut it.