Windows 10 Is A Free Upgrade For All 7 And 8.1 Users

i see this less as a way to cram a subscription service onto people and more of a way to reclaim any lost market share.

we all know the phones are struggling, the perception of 8 was a mess, and xbone launch was a disaster....so what better way to get people back around and using their windows devices again?

the guess is if they can get everyone back on board, they have some other plan for making money, apps, office365 etc. sure there are people they will never see a dime from, but good press from those people and the general populace buying an app or service here or there will counter it. My guess would be that is what they are banking on.
 
SixFootDuo said:
Yeah I'm not interested in a subscription based O/S.

I will start warning friends and family now, ahead of time to stick with Windows 7.

I really doesn't matter if I am wrong or right, with Microsoft, it's always smart to be pro-active in avoiding the mess that their products have become.
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Lmmb.jpg
 
ep0x73 said:
Sounds good, no mention if the upgrade has to be within the flavor.

home, pro and ultimate unless 10 will not have such flavors, just OEM and retail.
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No, i think there maybe home, pro, and ultimate versions. No retail, just an OEM equivalent. Too many comments of the 'life of the device'. Just like they tried to do with office 2013.
 
Tendencyman said:
In short term. there is no issue. MS could increase the subscription rate like phone company.
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Well, they could also raise the purchase price of the next OS, in the current model, and unless you want to be stuck with an EOL is that is not patched, you'd be forced to upgrade...
 
Zarathustra[H];1041375481 said:
Well, they could also raise the purchase price of the next OS, in the current model, and unless you want to be stuck with an EOL is that is not patched, you'd be forced to upgrade...
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i am not sure reducing price by offering less support is all that good. it won't be long until ms tightens the grip. it's happened every single time
 
Windows as a service? Ugh. I'm sticking to my guns on this one. Windows is going to be served a la carte in the future. I can see a low priced subscription rate happening because constantly patching the O/S for security holes has got to be costing them alot of money.
 
What I gather is that Windows 10 is not immediately a subscription based service. But future "upgrades" will require you to pay a fee. It's free at the moment and not something you play monthly, but you'll get a popup reminding you to upgrade to Windows 10.1 or 10.2. Those are called service packs and back in my day we used to get those for free.
 
If this is "free for the first year and you pay a subscription fee after that"?

Then Microsoft can *BLEEP!* the hell off. I am NOT renting an OS.

It's unacceptable for the people abusing things like Cryptolocker to hold my system and data hostage.
Why the hell would it be any MORE acceptable for MICROSOFT to do it?
 
bigstusexy said:
Here is the Rub:
Direct X 12
Further updates and programs
BlueRay 4x and or Atmos support ETC

All that will be tied into the "update"

As long as they drop the subscription low enough people will buy it. Say there is a buy in price and a low charge for windows (2015) You have the OS, the base as it was released and all the updates for that year, but if you want updates from there you'll pay some low yearly fee. Lets say it's tied into other things as well. A "cloud package" so to speak.

1 TB of One drive (perks for audio, video?)
Xbox Gold
Xbox Music
Access to online Office
Oh and windows (insert year)
For about say $100
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Although I don't see anything about a subscription from MS, if this was the price, I wouldn't buy it. Xbox Gold/Music is worth nothing to me. 1TB of One Drive is worth a few dollars a year (maybe $5...I've got a server I can save stuff to).
I already have licenses for Office 2007 and 2010. Office online is not needed.
Blu-Ray? I have AnyDVD HD (as well as a couple of players that don't use...cause I bought Any DVD HD.

Not sure what Atmos will buy me on a PC, but my guess is that if I wanted it, I'd just build a better home theater.

Windows is worth at most about $20/year (assumes I upgrade every 5 years and would have to pay 100 bucks for an upgrade OS as is generally the case).

Still, aside from a comment piece by one blogger, who provided no corroborating quote, I've seen nothing that says it's a subscription.
 
HvyMtl said:
FREE FOR THE FIRST YEAR.

Um. So, NOT Free. Most likely a subscription service. Count me out, if they do that.
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That's your interpretation, but mine is that for 1 year they'll let you upgrade from 7 or 8.1 to 10 at no charge. After 1 year, you have to buy it, even if you're running 7 or 8.1
 
Okay guys I went to the live-blog site for the presentation from Microsoft, This is the quote I found:

Dana Wollman 1:24 PM

But but but: There is a *promotional* offer on the upgrade, with a one-year window in which you can upgrade for free. Hope that clears things up.
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http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/21/microsoft-windows-10-event-liveblog/#!post=75285

With that language, it appears that this is NOT a "subscription" thing.

This is "If you're on Windows 7-8.1 (including RT), you're eligible to upgrade to an appropriate version of Windows 10 FOR FREE for 365 days after Windows 10 releases. If you want to upgrade at 1 year + 1 day? You will have to pay the retail/wholesale/vendor/store/etc price for it."

So, FAR from being the height of suckitude, that's pretty fuckin' sweet.
 
nilepez said:
Everyone should read this post. In fact, TeeJay, you should forward this to Steve and so that he can make it clear that it's not a subscription.
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yea...love the move from Microsoft for that.
now the wait for the release.
 
Chas said:
Okay guys I went to the live-blog site for the presentation from Microsoft, This is the quote I found:



http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/21/microsoft-windows-10-event-liveblog/#!post=75285

With that language, it appears that this is NOT a "subscription" thing.

This is "If you're on Windows 7-8.1 (including RT), you're eligible to upgrade to an appropriate version of Windows 10 FOR FREE for 365 days after Windows 10 releases. If you want to upgrade at 1 year + 1 day? You will have to pay the retail/wholesale/vendor/store/etc price for it."

So, FAR from being the height of suckitude, that's pretty fuckin' sweet.
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Man, I am glad I was wrong.
 
What's the catch, there must be a catch, right?

*paranoia intensifies*

It's a data-mining operation sanctioned by the Holy See and executed by the Department of Agriculture, isn't it? Isn't it!?
 
Raudulfr said:
What's the catch, there must be a catch, right?

*paranoia intensifies*
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Windows 10 contains a hidden scrypt mining function that creates crypto currency for the NSA. Or it steals your emails and sends them to the NSA. Something to do with the NSA.
 
My real concern with the year long free upgrade window, is what happens when we want to reinstall after the year is up? Do they give a new serial when you upgrade, or do they allow the old serial to work with 10? Too many unanswered questions for me. If it's a case that a reinstall after the year is up means buying a licence, that will outright suck.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041375395 said:
Am I the only one who thinks a subscription based model (as long as it is reasonably priced) wouldn't be a terrible thing.

I mean, if instead of buying a license every 5 years for $139, you paid $2.50 per month or something, it wouldn't be terrible.
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Depends upon how you get your OS. If you get your OS for "free" with a purchased computer (i.e. laptop or prebuilt), having to pay a monthly (yearly) fee is pretty absurd, now if you argue computers would be sold cheaper that's fine... if that were true, but don't companies who buy bulk OEMs get them for cheaper? In which case you're getting it for cheaper too.

Also depends upon how long you keep an OS. What if an OS comes around that you just don't like? So people who didn't like Vista and stuck with XP end up paying more for XP as a product even though eventually there is no further support/updates for the older OS. While it's absolutely awesome for everyone jumping on the Vista bandwagon, new OS ever few years! And considering MS' track record of having good/bad swings every other OS it's not too far out there.

The bottom line is needing to pay a monthly fee just to use a computer is not jiving with me at all. I mean if bad times happen financially, you can still cut your internet connection, and perhaps you still have your computer to write resumes, or play lots of minesweeper... whoops $2.50 more this month.
 
retro said:
My real concern with the year long free upgrade window, is what happens when we want to reinstall after the year is up? Do they give a new serial when you upgrade, or do they allow the old serial to work with 10? Too many unanswered questions for me. If it's a case that a reinstall after the year is up means buying a licence, that will outright suck.
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Good question. Have upgrade licenses allowed a user to perform a clean install whenever he wants to in the past? And what's the difference between an upgrade license on an OEM machine versus one used on a machine with a retail copy of Windows?

If I have to buy a retail copy to perform a clean install at my leisure, then I will. Upgrade licenses aren't aimed towards gamers or power users anyway.

I'm probably wrong on all fronts, though. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will post regarding the upgrade license vs. retail license vs. OEM upgrade license thing.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
I'm curious why $100 is to much for an OS that will be supported for years to come? Especially when many games, with a season pass, will cost more than that, and will likely be supported for a much shorter period of time.
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First of all, there's no subscription, but if there was, $100/year is insanely expensive. The last time I bought an OS was 2009. If I had to pay 100/year/machine, that'd be roughly $900 instead of around $300.

$100 for the license isn't that bad, but if it means that i lose the license if I change the MB, that's a problem. I think what I'd do is upgrade my system(s) right before the year is up.
 
Anything can happen but I don't understand why so many people here are just grasping for this to be wrong. This is great, its going to be huge for MS to finally get massive amounts of people on an OS that runs metro apps. That is the key, the key we all discussed months ago, the key most of us probably thought would not materialize. MS doesn't have to do anything because giving windows 10 away is not about forcing anyone into a subscription of anything else, it is 100% about trying to get back into the mobile game. For MS this is worth it, there doesn't have to be a catch here people. They can go back to the old model as soon as they get some developer traction for metro apps.
 
rudy said:
Anything can happen but I don't understand why so many people here are just grasping for this to be wrong. This is great, its going to be huge for MS to finally get massive amounts of people on an OS that runs metro apps. That is the key, the key we all discussed months ago, the key most of us probably thought would not materialize. MS doesn't have to do anything because giving windows 10 away is not about forcing anyone into a subscription of anything else, it is 100% about trying to get back into the mobile game. For MS this is worth it, there doesn't have to be a catch here people. They can go back to the old model as soon as they get some developer traction for metro apps.
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They should go back the the old old model. Buy new OS per every service pack update. XD GOLD EDITION!
 
crusty_juggler said:
Good question. Have upgrade licenses allowed a user to perform a clean install whenever he wants to in the past? And what's the difference between an upgrade license on an OEM machine versus one used on a machine with a retail copy of Windows?

If I have to buy a retail copy to perform a clean install at my leisure, then I will. Upgrade licenses aren't aimed towards gamers or power users anyway.

I'm probably wrong on all fronts, though. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will post regarding the upgrade license vs. retail license vs. OEM upgrade license thing.
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Most likely they will do nothing but continue doing what they do now and allow people to call in to get activated if their are some hardware changes.
 
Whatever your paranoid fantasies are about Microsoft creating a subscription-based OS, Windows 10 won't be it:

"Myerson clarified that Windows 10 users will still get free updates and support for the lifetime of the OS, exactly like past versions of Windows (like XP and Windows 7's Service Packs, for example). There's no subscription model for updates or support or continuing to use the OS. Myerson's reference to Windows 'as a service' simply meant that Microsoft plans to update the OS with smaller, more regular updates rather than the big, chunky updates of past Service Packs. A year after Windows 10 is first available, it will no longer be a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8 users. Microsoft will then sell Windows 10 the same way it has sold past versions of Windows."

http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/01/21/the-next-generation-of-windows-windows-10/

I'm not seeing any gotchas for Windows 10. It wouldn't make sense. Microsoft needs to get customers back first and develop some trust, THEN they can start wooing them over to a subscription-based OS.

Remember what is driving Microsoft to present this offer: over half of the Windows marketshare is still on Windows 7.
 
nilepez said:
$100 for the license isn't that bad, but if it means that i lose the license if I change the MB, that's a problem.
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Ding Ding Ding. Why do you think they used specific language about "supported for the life of the device. :) No more transferring the license to different hardware. Clever. So if you upgrade your computer, bye bye service. So now, the OS restrictions on an OEM machine are applied to the shrinkwrap retail Windows 10.

People need to look before they leap.
 
ep0x73 said:
Sounds good, no mention if the upgrade has to be within the flavor.

home, pro and ultimate unless 10 will not have such flavors, just OEM and retail.
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This is the crux of it.
The upgrade version lasts only as long as the life of the device as per the quoted post below.
When you upgrade your PC you will have to buy windows 10.
This will harm the hardware industry because people will hang on to their hardware for longer due to the added cost (and it may not be as straight forward as we would like)
Windows 10 could slow down the PC market.

Another potential problem is the upgrade will likely invalidate the original license so you wont be able to go back to your old OS if you arent happy.
It doesnt make sense that the old key would remain valid, MS are pushing to get people off older OS versions.

WaltC said:
From Mary Jo Foley @ ZDNet:

Here's more from Myerson's January 21 blog post on what users should expect if they go with the free upgrade to Windows 10:

"This is more than a one-time upgrade: once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device - at no additional charge. With Windows 10, the experience will evolve and get even better over time. We'll deliver new features when they're ready, not waiting for the next major release."

During a Q&A after the keynote, CEO Satya Nadella told reporters that looking at Windows as a service doesn't imply any changes in Microsoft's business model. Windows as a service is all about how Microsoft services Windows, moving forward, and not about how it plans to charge for it or how it will work with its partners.

-----

Ok. Much better...!
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heatlesssun said:
That's probably how it will work, you'll get a free upgrade to the corresponding version of Windows 10. You'd have to pay to go to from Basic to Pro or Pro to Enterprise.
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This is a point worth stressing.
The version you get free is only for the device it is installed on as pointed out above.
Atm we dont know if there will be a smaller fee to change version, MS may force a new OS purchase if not using the upgrade version.
This is assuming there is a higher version for home users. I'd be surprised if not, but stranger things have happened.
 
EviL-aLphA said:
For the first year Windows 10 is released it will be a free upgrade for current 7, 8, 8.1. After that year if you want to upgrade to Windows 10 you will have to purchase it, its that simple. Why is this so hard to understand? There is no subscription model mentioned or even hinted anywhere so calm down.
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So this looks like a device specific license (Like OEM) for windows home and maybe pro.
What happens if I upgrade or have to replace my system board. Do I have to buy a new license?
Is the license locked to the hardware? What if I swap my drive or network card?
What if I want to reinstall after a year? Will the same license still work?

I'll have to wait an see be for I decide to upgrade.
 
they really need to add windows xp to the upgrade list, that would really help get people off xp.
 
All this angst over the new way Microsoft is going to distribute and update Windows. People are speculating that this is some sort of ploy to screw over end users. If Windows 8 has shown us anything, it is that Microsoft can no longer dictate terms to end users. If the folks on this forum haven't noticed this, I'm sure Microsoft has. I'm expecting a lot more honey than vinegar out of Microsoft over the next few years.
 
Eman D. Rahym said:
I'm expecting a lot more honey than vinegar out of Microsoft over the next few years.
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How so? Windows is still a monopoly. Microsoft isn't worried.

Better hope your motherboard doesn't die. I'll stick with Windows 8.0.
 
Well since I have a year I'll probably wait 6 months make sure that hardware upgraders don't have issues with changing parts then all my systems will be upgraded. I like windows 8.1 and I like everything I've seen with win 10.
 
The new method of giving keynotes is irritating as hell. Talktalktalk *pauuuuuse* Talk.
 
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