LiamH Posted March 18, 2015 Posted March 18, 2015 Speaking to Reuters from the WinHEC conference in China, Microsoft's operating system chief Terry Myerson said, "We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10." This means that everyone running Windows 7 or 8.1, irrespective of whether you pirated the operating system or not, will be allowed to upgrade to a legitimate version of Windows 10. Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for “genuine and non-genuine†users | Ars Technica Will be interesting if this is the same for other markets.
Oaktech Posted March 18, 2015 Posted March 18, 2015 Well that's one way to suck people in to a freemium OS model...
Jamman960 Posted March 18, 2015 Posted March 18, 2015 surely on this logic we could purchase pc's with no os, stick on a copy of w7 then upgrade to w10 followed by w10 ent via Ees/ovs-es?
flyinghaggis Posted March 18, 2015 Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) Microsoft have simply realised that they need to move to a business model funded by advertising, app purchases, subsciptions or a similar style of approach as selling OS upgades for £100+ isn't really viable anymore. Given that model it's in their interests to get everyone using that same most up to date version of their software as splitting the userbase by a paywall will only hurt them in the long term. Plus, other than enthusiasts like ourselves, historically very few people bother to upgrade the OS on a laptop/desktop. MS probably makes most of it's revenue from selling OEM bundled operating systems with new hardware so offering free upgrades probably isn't that huge a give-away for them in real terms. It does seem generous of them to allow upgrades for pirated copies but I suspect they're assuming people who pirate their OS aren't going to pay to upgrade to a new version and it means fewer legacy support costs. Also, MS probably figure that at least if they're on the latest version it means they might make some App store / cloud service, advertising revenue from them which is better than nothing. They're probably hoping to avoid another Windows XP where people stay on the OS for a decade by giving away the latest version! I think it's the only realistic option MS have ultimately. That and ....YAY FREE WINDOWS..... Welll, maybe not entirely free as I still think they might try and bring out some kind of subscription based model to go along with Windows 10. Maybe bundle things like Office and other productivity software as part of the subscription. Or even a 'Xbox Gold' style approach where you get access to games/apps/movies by paying a monthly fee. Be interesting to see what happens but MS really needs Windows 10 to be a home run as the competition is getting pretty fierce out there and most people are starting to question whether they even need a Windows OS in light of mobile platforms like IOS and Android. Edited March 18, 2015 by flyinghaggis
elsiegee40 Posted March 18, 2015 Posted March 18, 2015 Already being discussed here Windows 10 upgrades to be free - even if your copy is pirated
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