The jump in distro versions, say, from Fedora 38 to Fedora 39, is not the same as the jump from Windows 10 to Windows 11. It’s more like the jump from version 23H2 to 24H2.
Now, I’m sure even most Windows users among those reading will ask “wtf are 23H2 and 24H2”? The answer is that those version numbers are the Windows analogue to the “23.10” at the end of “Ubuntu 23.10”. But the difference is that this distinction is invisible to Windows users.
Why?
Linux distros present these as “operating system upgrades”, which makes it seem like you’re moving from two different and incompatible operating systems. Windows calls them “feature updates”. They’re presented as a big deal in Linux, whereas on Windows, it’s just an unusually large update.
This has the effect of making it seem like Linux is constantly breaking software and that you need to move to a completely different OS every six to nine months, which is completely false. While that might’ve been true in the past, it is increasingly true today that anything that will run on, say, Ubuntu 22.04 can also run without modification (except maybe for hardcoded version checks/repository names) on Ubuntu 23.10, and will still probably work on Ubuntu 24.04. It’s not guaranteed, but neither is it on Windows, and the odds are very good either way.
I will end on the remark that for many distros, a version upgrade is implemented as nothing more than changing the repositories and then downloading the new versions of all the packages present and running a few scripts. The only relevant changes (from the user’s perspective) is usually the implementation of new features and maybe a few changes to the UI. In other words, “feature update” describes it perfectly.
Pay what?
Mac hasn’t charged for an OS in ages, and Windows has given “free upgrades” for several version because they’re stealing more data and want people to switch.
This is technically very false. Windows most definitely is not “free” as in air or beer. It’s license fee is reduced to 0 but there most certainly is still a license and businesses pay out the ass for them. macOS also has a license, but it comes with the hardware. Technically, you cannot install macOS on non-mac hardware, per EULA, but there’s no license check outside of hardware support, which is the space the hackintosh world comes in.
I’m not sure what you think is contradicting me. I put “free” in quotes. But they’re not making meaningful additional license purchases by changing the name from 10 to 11 with how much they’re begging people to upgrade. And Mac straight up makes zero from licensing fees, so again, a new name doesn’t mean anything. They abandon hardware with new versions when enough core functions need hardware features to work properly, which happens regardless of what they call it.
Enterprise pays plenty for Windows, but those licenses are all subscription based so new versions don’t mean anything there either.