The Windows Store page[0] state that "Prefer to run non-Store apps? Easily switch to Windows 10 Pro for free until Dec 31, 2017".
[0] https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/product...
[0] https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/product...
Are there hardware issues, or do they hope a percentage of the population will pay for the upgrade in 2018?
Store apps will not make the laptop slow, they won't have viruses, they will ask the user for permissions, can be uninstalled safely, they will scale well on hi-res screens, etc.
This type of safety is, imo, the most compelling feature of chromebook, and one that Windows Pro doesn't offer.
Either they get $50 from users and let them go buy/install off-market, or make the money in the long run from paid app developers who are pressured now to put their applications on the store.
Holy backfiring shit, what a desperate bunch of clueless clowns! This is a nice machine, and there's a opening now that Apple has somewhat fallen out of favor, and they think they are in any position to play stupid games?
Are you sure they don't? In the past, many Windows edition upgrades (e.g., Home to Pro) were just a matter of enabling features that were already installed.