Is Microsoft preparing a new “Get Windows 10” campaign?

With Win10 adoption stalled, recent events have me wondering if we could see a resuscitation of the much-maligned GWX effort. In case you’ve forgotten, “Get Windows 10” or GWX is what Microsoft called its year-long malware assault on Windows 7 and 8.1 machines, trying, tricking and in some cases forcing folks to move to Windows 10.

Several recent developments have me wondering if Microsoft’s poised to do it again. Certainly, nobody in charge would repeat the boneheaded mistakes of the original GWX – especially with Joe Belfiore now charged with making money from Windows 10. (Protip: Joe’s much too savvy to run something as stupid as GWX.)

Consider what’s happened since Microsoft rescinded its free Windows 10 upgrade offer six months ago:

Upgrading from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10 is both easy and free. Still. Ed Bott wrote about that two weeks ago – complete with a blueprint for upgrading. While Ed doesn’t speak for Microsoft, his articles are examined in detail by many people inside Microsoft. If there were any lapses in that article, we would’ve heard about it by now. Bottom line: A nod and a wink, and you can upgrade to Win10 for free. If you really want to.

Microsoft’s pushing driver updates to make it easier to upgrade from Win7 or Win8.1 to Win10. That was the source of the “INTEL – System – 8/19/2016 12:00:00 AM – 10.1.2.80” driver problem – and many other weird drivers – that have gone out via Windows Update over the past month.

Microsoft just made upgrading free for enterprise customers who have subscriptions in the Cloud Solution Provider program. Here’s the most important part of the free CSP upgrade, explained in the official description:

The Windows 10 upgrade licenses issued as part of this process are perpetual and associated with the device. This means the license will not expire or be revoked if the customer chooses to end their Windows cloud subscription in the CSP program.

It looks like the Creators Update is going to give Win10 Pro (and maybe Win10 Home) customers the ability to “Pause updates” for 35 days. If that comes true, one of the major objections to Windows 10 will melt away. Forced updating is a huge issue among the people I know – for good reason. Microsoft has a horrible record of botching security patches (and non-security patches, too).

It looks like the Creators Update will have additional controls over Microsoft’s snooping. I’m not at all convinced the additional controls will do much to allay the fears of those who don’t trust Microsoft’s ability and willingness to play fair with gathered data (and, no, this isn’t privacy FUD). But it looks like the concessions are genuine, and Myerson’s privacy manifesto certainly represents a step in the right direction.

So I’m going out on a limb here, but I’ll make a prediction: I bet sometime in the next few months, Microsoft will re-institute its “Get Windows 10” free upgrade program. This time, I bet there’s a whole lot more carrot and a whole lot less stick.