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Getting people to the latest version is the problem. People are still reportedly using IE7! Upgrading isn't about purchase cost, it's about labor cost and general know-how.

I honestly thought IE11 would be the last major IE release, guess I was wrong. This new one looks no better.

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It's easier to 'sell' people free updates without a lot of perceived upsides for the end-user than to 'sell' them that they also have to pay for the update :)

Unless I'm going crazy, I don't think your comment makes grammatical sense. Both of those options are made to sound bad (without upsides, also have to pay?)

In any case, I'm not doubting that it's easier to pitch an update if it's free. All I'm saying is that purchase cost isn't the main or only barrier to Microsoft software updates.

Sorry about the weird phrasing. What I wanted to convey is that sometimes from the user's point of view it is not easy to see/perceive any upside from upgrading (even though technically there might be lots). => hence a free upgrade is way easier to say yes to.

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