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

Sounds like a whole lot of you should join the Windows Insider Program and provide your feedback into Windows 10 development instead of speculating or complaining about Microsoft here.
 
since we have a year to upgrade I'll probably wait until Day 364 before upgrading to make sure things work as promised...I also want to know what happens to my Windows 7 license key once I upgrade...paying for a Windows 10 OEM license after a year might also be worth considering...or even paying for Windows 8 and upgrading that way versus 'losing' my Windows 7 key
 
Yup its a total trap to get people into the subscription fold. The Bean counters decision to keep a revenue stream incoming.

This. Win 8.1 was the last traditional Windows release. Win 10 is to get people used to subscription and the integrated store. Yes, Windows 10 itself isn't going to be subscription based (unless I missed something), but they want to sucker people into a "free" OS. To offset this cost, they are going to push their store. Especially with the success of Office 365 you can't say this wasn't coming. Enjoy paying $20-40 or whatever a year for your Windows OS when Win 10's replacement comes along.

Regarding Win 10 itself, it does make me a bit more interested. But I still won't move from 7 unless the change the following:

- Proper desktop UI. Drop down menus, ect.

- A way to disable Modern/Metro entirely. Even with Classic Shell, I often open a file and it automatically opens into a Modern app in 8.1 There should be a way to automatically prioritize desktop programs over phone apps. Manually setting each file type just doesn't cut it.

- More stable updating. Win 8 bricked itself too many times for me to bother with it on my desktop.

- The whole not being able to edit files in your program files folder thing without disabling all Modern apps. Maybe it changed or I never figured it out, but it was a pain in the ass.


If they can make those changes I'd be happy to get off of Win 7. But I don't think they will. I believe they are going to a subscription model and a tablet based OS. Obviously, they want to push their branded hardware (Surface) over laptops/desktops by other brands.
 
@Flogger23m - wouldn't moving to 10 be a more appropriate way to "stick it" to them? You grab their latest for free and then sit tight for 10+ years like the folks from XP did.
 
They need to clarify if it's subscription or not, ASAP. Or the Internet will go mad.
Of course maybe they want to see how mad the internet gets at the idea of windows becoming a subscription before deciding whether to go through with it.
 
I'm curious to know what kind of fucking brain damage someone must have to be confused or offended by this announcement.

The same kind of brain damage taken by someone that blindly laps up marketing drivel and carefully worded spin-without-specifics. :p
 
The same kind of brain damage taken by someone that blindly laps up marketing drivel and carefully worded spin-without-specifics. :p


I went on like two different forums and both of them were asking the same question here so basically it's Microsoft spin machine at fault.
 
I went on like two different forums and both of them were asking the same question here so basically it's Microsoft spin machine at fault.

They already scrambled apolog... uhm, err... I mean truth fighters. All your dissent will soon be eliminated.
 
Even with Classic Shell, I often open a file and it automatically opens into a Modern app in 8.1
You can change it by associating the file type to a desktop application. At least that how I changed the default program for video files to use VLC.
 
I went on like two different forums and both of them were asking the same question here so basically it's Microsoft spin machine at fault.

More like there is a sizeable percentage of PC enthusiasts who are complete arseholes/12 years old.
 
reading comprehension has gone downhill.
people scream instead of google it and find out.
 
The same kind of brain damage taken by someone that blindly laps up marketing drivel and carefully worded spin-without-specifics. :p

Nope, you are just trying to read something into what Microsoft is saying that is not there, that is all.
 
since we have a year to upgrade I'll probably wait until Day 364 before upgrading to make sure things work as promised...I also want to know what happens to my Windows 7 license key once I upgrade...paying for a Windows 10 OEM license after a year might also be worth considering...or even paying for Windows 8 and upgrading that way versus 'losing' my Windows 7 key

You would never lose your Windows 7 key just like I never lost mine when I upgraded to Windows 8. However, you also cannot use the Win7 key well using the upgrade to 8 or 10, just as it always has been.
 
Nothing. I've reinstalled my $25 and $40 dollar copies of windows 8 a couple of times, just use the key they gave you. The only stipulation they gave was that if you wanted a free copy of media center you needed to activate that key before a specific date at least once. That key still works too.

My free media center keys don't work anymore
 
I get skeptical when something is "free" as I never known a business to not make money on it.

One question I have is I have win7 and licensing, I upgrade to 10, great it is free. But after the first year, then how is it to know my version is free? I can currently upgrade my computer and install win 7 on it as long as the "old" is deactivated in respect to upgrading components. But with this model seems once that year is gone it is back to the old OS or pay to play.

I am curious how this works for hardware upgrades and possibly without physical media.

Something free generally never is in the long run.
 
My free media center keys don't work anymore

Did you use it once before that January 31st or whatever date? Because if you didn't it's not going to work. That key is also very picky on how it installs, like it won't work on a 8.1 disc, but it will work on 8 gold, but not if it's been updated to 8.1 so you have to make sure you use that key before the update or something. It's been a year since I last done it.
 
My server is running an unactivated 8.1 after the key I bought off ebay unactivated itself after about 4 months. I wonder if MS will upgrade in these circumstances

Situations like yours is why I never, EVER buy anything (ESPECIALLY software) off EBay.
 
I get skeptical when something is "free" as I never known a business to not make money on it.

If you are not paying for it, you are the product.

Microsoft obviously has some sort of incentive to get people off of Windows 7 and on to Windows 10, or they wouldn't be doing this.

We just don't know exactly what it is yet.

Is it because they don't want to support Windows 7 long term? Maybve, but I doubt they will expire the extended support early anyway. Maybe it's because they want to avoid being forced into repeatedly extending it, like with XP?

Also, maybe they have financial interest in getting as many users on to a platform that uses the Microsoft Store, so they take a cut of software and "app" sales? It could be that "Microsoft Store" sales are a big enough revenue source that it makes it worth forgoing the sales income from one upgrade cycle to get people on to the platform.

Who knows.

Either way, we likely have no way to avoid it.

You either take advantage of the free upgrade, or don't, and are forced to upgrade down the line when support for Windows 7 ends, or you just switch to Linux :p

No use getting pre-outraged or pre-worrying about it. What will happen will happen, and we will see.
 
reading comprehension has gone downhill.
people scream instead of google it and find out.

Writing quality has gone downhill.
People ignore capitalization of proper nouns and at the beginnings of sentences.

Also, people are terrible with grammar these days. I once read a post where someone said "...instead of google it and find out."
 
Zarathustra[H];1041377133 said:
If you are not paying for it, you are the product.

I'm sure Cortana is there to be more than Microsoft's answer to Siri, no?
 
I'm sure Cortana is there to be more than Microsoft's answer to Siri, no?

I couldn't care less about cortana.

In fact, I'd prefer it weren't there at all. I'd also appreciate a way to remove ALL microsoft cloud integration.

I can't stand the fact that I have to have a "microsoft account" to use Windows 8. I've tried Local accounts, but there are so many things I can't do.

Pisses me off to no end that my local computer has to somehow be tied into a microsoft account.

I will probably upgrade my desktop Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 with the free update, but I will disable as much of the phone/tablet interface crap as possible as well as as much as the cloud integration as possible. I will try to run it on a local account.

Either way it won't matter much, as I only boot to it once or twice a week for games. Everything else I do in Linux.

I want my phone to be more like my computer, not my computer to be more like my phone!
 
Zarathustra[H];1041377286 said:
I couldn't care less about cortana.

In fact, I'd prefer it weren't there at all. I'd also appreciate a way to remove ALL microsoft cloud integration.

I can't stand the fact that I have to have a "microsoft account" to use Windows 8. I've tried Local accounts, but there are so many things I can't do.

Pisses me off to no end that my local computer has to somehow be tied into a microsoft account.

I will probably upgrade my desktop Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 with the free update, but I will disable as much of the phone/tablet interface crap as possible as well as as much as the cloud integration as possible. I will try to run it on a local account.

Either way it won't matter much, as I only boot to it once or twice a week for games. Everything else I do in Linux.

I want my phone to be more like my computer, not my computer to be more like my phone!

+2 but I will stay with windows 7
 
Zarathustra[H];1041377286 said:
I want my phone to be more like my computer, not my computer to be more like my phone!

But that's probably not the way the average user sees it. Indeed voice interaction was on PCs long before phones but the technology wasn't there. And PCs are much more mobile devices now. Options to control these things should be there. But for the average users, what's the point of a PC that's cut off from the cloud and nothing more than a faster version of something for the 90's?

It's been long believed by many, even many anti-Microsoft folks, that selling Windows and Offices licenses was a dying business. In today's tech market, it's very difficult to compete in the low end PC market with an upfront cost OS. That's why Microsoft had to do Windows 8.1 with Bing, as a way to make low end Windows devices cost competitive with Android tablets and Chromebooks. Selling Windows at cost is simply a business that can't grow, especially in the consumer market. Consumers want to buy hardware with whatever OS comes on it and buy apps and services.

And so that's what Microsoft is doing what the market overall wants. But there is something of a generational divide. Many traditional PC users, like you're expressing here, don't want cloud integration or apps. They just want incremental improvements to keyboard and mouse driven local desktop computing. And there's a market for that but it's pretty static and is becoming less and less relevant in the consumer space as mobile devices have become far more numerous than PCs.
 
And so that's what Microsoft is doing what the market overall wants. But there is something of a generational divide. Many traditional PC users, like you're expressing here, don't want cloud integration or apps. They just want incremental improvements to keyboard and mouse driven local desktop computing. And there's a market for that but it's pretty static and is becoming less and less relevant in the consumer space as mobile devices have become far more numerous than PCs.

I blame Apple for starting the trend of turning computing into something done with disposable locked down consumer electronics junk.

I will never cave to this, and will ditch windows all together before I do. (Which I already mostly have)

I refuse to use anything cloud based (except for my Crash plan backup, which is on my terms, and I encrypt with my own key before sending out)
 
Zarathustra[H];1041377391 said:
I blame Apple for starting the trend of turning computing into something done with disposable locked down consumer electronics junk.

I will never cave to this, and will ditch windows all together before I do. (Which I already mostly have)

I refuse to use anything cloud based (except for my Crash plan backup, which is on my terms, and I encrypt with my own key before sending out)

Don't get me wrong.

A smartphone (and to a lesser extent a tablet) is an excellent mobile supplement to a real computer with a real windowed operating system controlled by mouse and keyboard, but it is not now, nor will it ever be a replacement.

And anything that takes the control of my data (including all micromanagement thereof) out of my explicit control will never be acceptable.
 
Interesting to see some of the glassy effects back in Windows 10. Could it be that the flat fad has already run its course?
 
Zarathustra[H];1041377286 said:
I couldn't care less about cortana.

In fact, I'd prefer it weren't there at all. I'd also appreciate a way to remove ALL microsoft cloud integration.

I can't stand the fact that I have to have a "microsoft account" to use Windows 8. I've tried Local accounts, but there are so many things I can't do.

Pisses me off to no end that my local computer has to somehow be tied into a microsoft account.

I will probably upgrade my desktop Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 with the free update, but I will disable as much of the phone/tablet interface crap as possible as well as as much as the cloud integration as possible. I will try to run it on a local account.

Either way it won't matter much, as I only boot to it once or twice a week for games. Everything else I do in Linux.

I want my phone to be more like my computer, not my computer to be more like my phone!

+3

Plans change, but I'm probably gonna keep one Windows 7 install around in dual boot until it doesn't get security updates anymore, but if there were no Windows installs around, it wouldn't really matter to me.
 
Interesting to see some of the glassy effects back in Windows 10. Could it be that the flat fad has already run its course?

Fads are about 5 years long and windows phone will be 5 years old when windows 10 releases.
 
Lesson learnt believe me. As it happens I've just purchased a new key for it off the user new2019 on here today. Few teething problems but he helped me through it and my mind is now at rest.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041377391 said:
I blame Apple for starting the trend of turning computing into something done with disposable locked down consumer electronics junk.

I will never cave to this, and will ditch windows all together before I do. (Which I already mostly have)

I refuse to use anything cloud based (except for my Crash plan backup, which is on my terms, and I encrypt with my own key before sending out)

Smaller and more connected devices are two of the key principles in the evolution of computing. Can't blame Apple for the inevitable.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041377413 said:
A smartphone (and to a lesser extent a tablet) is an excellent mobile supplement to a real computer with a real windowed operating system controlled by mouse and keyboard, but it is not now, nor will it ever be a replacement.

A Windows tablet however is a real computer and does what any Windows PC can do within performance constraints of the device when connected to a mouse and keyboard.
 
A Windows tablet however is a real computer and does what any Windows PC can do within performance constraints of the device when connected to a mouse and keyboard.

iOS and Android handle keyboards and mice. As well, there's not a generic category of computing functionality that isn't supported with apps of some sort aside from virtualization (and there was rumors about that stuff being in development last time I checked) so while you can point out a specific program that only works on Windows, its hard to find the function that program performs not being replicated on a tablet with an OS from those other people.

Also, as far as I know, those other devices contain processors, memory, and storage. They seem to physically exist as far as we can tell so they're "real computers" even if you want them to be imaginary.
 
iOS and Android handle keyboards and mice. As well, there's not a generic category of computing functionality that isn't supported with apps of some sort aside from virtualization (and there was rumors about that stuff being in development last time I checked) so while you can point out a specific program that only works on Windows, its hard to find the function that program performs not being replicated on a tablet with an OS from those other people.

Also, as far as I know, those other devices contain processors, memory, and storage. They seem to physically exist as far as we can tell so they're "real computers" even if you want them to be imaginary.

Agreed. The difference is the extent to which they are locked down.

There is no reason why an ARM powered device should be any less of a PC than something with an x86 CPU, provided the software support exists.

The problem with most ARM devices is the extent to which they lock down the users ability to use the software and operating systems of their choice, force 3rd party apps to play in sandboxes, and limit user direct file system access.
 
iOS and Android handle keyboards and mice. As well, there's not a generic category of computing functionality that isn't supported with apps of some sort aside from virtualization (and there was rumors about that stuff being in development last time I checked) so while you can point out a specific program that only works on Windows, its hard to find the function that program performs not being replicated on a tablet with an OS from those other people.

Also, as far as I know, those other devices contain processors, memory, and storage. They seem to physically exist as far as we can tell so they're "real computers" even if you want them to be imaginary.

iOS doesn't officially support mice and while Android does support for mice in apps isn't guaranteed. There's no consideration for mice in iOS or Android apps currently. It works or not only by coincidence. Beyond iOS and Android aren't really designed in mind to work as a workstation with things like multiple monitors or real docking stations.
 
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