From ZDNet:
Microsoft's year-long offer to Windows 7 and 8.X PC and tablet users to get Windows 10 as a free update ends today, July 29, as Microsoft reconfirmed it would back in May this year.
What else ends today? Microsoft's aggressive campaign to get those users to update to Windows 10 via its "Get Windows 10" app and prompts.
I've been working to track down some more specifics as to what will happen after today, regarding GWX and automatic installs of the Windows 10 November Update (1511). Microsoft has been very (I'd say, overly) pushy about trying to get users to take the free update -- so pushy that there are two more suits against the company over this that are seeking class-action status, as reported by The Seattle Times.
Here are some of my questions and Microsoft answers (provided via a spokesperson) about the end of the GWX campaign.
[...]
Q: Will MS still be marking Windows 10 as a recommended update on July 30 to those with Auto Updates turned on? Or will this no longer be the case?
A: The free upgrade offer ends at 11:59 p.m. UTC-10 on July 29, 2016. As such, it will no longer be available as a recommended update through Windows Update. (MJF note: This is the first time Microsoft officials have said this. I've been asking for the past couple of months and they declined to comment.)
Q: Microsoft officials said it will take a while for all the Get Windows 10 prompts to stop showing up. If people running Win 7/8.X see the GWX prompt starting July 30 and click on it, what happens? Will they go to a site suggesting they buy the update?
A: On July 29th the notifications will end. The Get Windows 10 (GWX) application will advise that the free upgrade offer has ended. In time, we will remove the application.Thank God.
Oh, in case you were wondering...
Q: What will happen after July 29 to individuals who've been trying to download Win 10 but can't get it to complete? Will they somehow get a reprieve?
A: Upgrades must be fully completed by 11:59 p.m. UTC-10 on July 29, 2016. (MJF note: Here are some last-minute tips and suggestions from Windows Most Valuable Professional Andre Da Costa if you're one of these users stuck in limbo between Windows 7/8.X and Windows 10.)
I don't know how many people will actually be trying to start this upgrade process with only an hour to go, but if that's you... oh, who am I kidding? If you reading this, then that's not you.
Why are tech reporters still playing along with Microsoft, pretending that the people who haven't switched yet are all just procrastinating? We've spent months actively avoiding the switch, months during which Microsoft forced us to download and install 3rd party applications in order to ensure that we weren't switched against our wills, and yet they persist in this... fiction.
Personally, I can't wait for the daily barrage of "time's running out" stories to stop, for Microsoft to finally remove their "ticking clock" GWX app (and I mean that literally -- the latest version actually is a countdown timer) from our PCs, and for CNIL to start the process of extracting from Redmond the kind of changes to the Windows 10 platform that should have happened months ago.
Who knows? Maybe Microsoft will even an apologize for being such utter shit about it all.
Prior to GWX, the May 2012 launch of Diablo III had been my worst consumer experience, but Microsoft's total dedication to making their new, free* OS as unappealing as possible has to be the new #1, a string of unforced errors and tone-deaf PR utterances that truly defies belief. If you'd told me, before it happened, that Microsoft were going to fuck this up so badly... I'd never have believed you. I've been an MS-DOS and Windows user for decades, and now I'm genuinely afraid to see what horrible decision they'll make next.
GG, Microsoft. GG.