No free Windows 10 upgrade for enterprise customers, yet.

In yesterday’s post on the official Windows blog, Jim Alkove shared further details on how Windows 10 will be deployed, also in relation to the free upgrade offer announced at the Windows 10 event.

The company has made clear that Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 Enterprise customers won’t be able to upgrade for free to the new operating system, however those covered by the Software Assurance, will be able to upgrade products within the scope of their licensing and terms.

“...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...”

Will Software Assurance evolve with Windows 10?

Made effective in 2006, Microsoft’s Software Assurance program has offered a range of benefits to business customers. Whether the terms of this program will change, as Windows 10 officially enters the playing field, it’s still anybody’s guess. Common sense would suggest that an evolution of the program is due, especially as Windows 10 moves away from its traditional delivery of separate packages, eliminating backwards compatibility issues.

In the past, SA was criticized in light of issues with the length of time between major Windows releases, which would often exceed the time required to get a free upgrade, forcing enterprise customers to renew their SA, to be able to upgrade to the next Windows version for free.

The update cycle of Windows 10 is expected to be much faster than any previous version of Windows, which makes Software Assurance, suddenly, a very attractive proposition to enterprise customers.

Considering this scenario, the decision to exclude business users from the free upgrade makes sense, as many who are covered by the SA are likely to benefit from the program according to existing terms.