For how long? Windows 10 was also a free upgrade, until it wasn't

It's free, financially.

Windows 11 is Microsoft's attempt to hoover up Edge and Windows Passport evaders.

It's a shame, I was just getting into Windows 10 as my personal dev desktop. I guess i'll give Ubuntu another shot.

> The future is "Windows as a service."

The new future is people as a product.

While on one hand I definitely stand corrected and not really floored that they decided to go against this, I don't know how marketing wouldn't have the foresight to see that a never-changing number would keep themselves evergreen. I mean, Apple still numbers the iPhone (as do other brands' flaghsips) to ensure people quickly know which one is the newest. Whereas Windows hides this designator (e.g. 21H2) behind a few clicks.