[ryanplant-au]

I don't quite follow. You seem to be saying that Microsoft make changes just to justify the release of a new OS version. But they announced quite a while ago that they would never release a new major version. There will never be a Windows 11, you will never pay to upgrade Windows to the new version again. They adopted the macOS platform, where the OS sticks to a single version and gets an incremental annual update (macOS has been on version 10 for 16 years, with no plan to ever create "OS XI", and stopped charging for updates 4 years ago). So why would change for change's sake relate to profit at all?

[greedo]

Because MS makes money off of selling software vice Apple's model of making money off of selling hardware. If they continue to emulate Apple's policy of free upgrades, they'll see an eventual revenue drop since they'll be dependent upon users upgrading their hardware.

[hutzlibu]

Main money comes from comercial support, not from single Win 10 disks ...

[mnm1]

Right now Win 10 Home is $119.99. If Microsoft actually said what you claim, they're lying. Either way, they're doing it for the money. Whether that money comes from the actual software, hardware, ads, user data, or some other way, it's the reason why Microsoft will continue to push their software onto people, including people that don't want it. In fact, with the addition of ads and user tracking, I wouldn't be surprised if they drop the actual dollar cost of the software in favor of data cost a la Chrome OS and other Google products. And it still wouldn't change anything. Profit would still be the reason for them adding new features and forcing people to upgrade.

[khedoros1]

> macOS has been on version 10 for 16 years

OSX/macOS promoted their point releases to be something between service packs and major version releases, keeping it at version "X" for marketing purposes. From what I can see, between Cheetah and Sierra the expected workflow of the system has changed strongly a few times.

[SomewhatLikely]

And yet, they have set an End of Life for Windows 10 in 2025. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifec...

[titanix2]

Microsoft change its policy way to quickly and often (eg. about XBox One features, Windows Phone) for this announce to be taken at face value. Maybe its true but if the Windows 10 market penetration does not go as expected (as it seems to be) the strategy will change.

[tonyedgecombe]

"you will never pay to upgrade"

I don't recall them saying that.