Microsoft clarifies "Windows 10 free for pirate". It's not!

[NumLock21]

I hope I get a Win10 key during the free upgrade, otherwise after the free offer ends and I have to reinstall. No Win10 key=No Win10.

[Albatross]

Oh, that's more like  Microsoft!

 

China must've been celebrating prior to this clarification announcement.

 

Now they might DDOS some services in a fit of rage.

 

I was actually thinking it was done to benefit the people in China. Too bad for them.

[nims0c]

I was pretty sure this was the case.

[terbersbanni1988]

lol people are so quick to assume

damn

 

 

 

disclaimer:None of the ideas expressed above are actually mine. They are told to me by Luthor and Ferdinand, the five inch tall space aliens who live under my desk. In return for these ideas, I have given them permission to eat any dust bunnies they may find under there.

[moderategamer]

Here's a key part not clarified yet: Non-genuine copies eventually self destruct right now and won't let users log in or use em. If the non-genuine on 10 will now mean no security or any kind of updates and no support but the os still being functional....I actually could be ok with that.

This isn't technically correct there are several methods of getting a cracked copy of windows not all self destruct.

[Dezz]

So the source was true

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/330639-microsoft-lets-software-pirates-upgrade-to-windows-10/?p=4492678

[Misanthrope]

This isn't technically correct there are several methods of getting a cracked copy of windows not all self destruct.

 

Umm yeah I know, I mean if Microsoft would still allow non-genuine copies to work or if they will attempt to self destruct.

[SkilledRebuilds]

There are 'genuine' pirated copies too....

Meaning it's been cracked to show it's genuine...

 

So what then?

[Michael McAllister]

I'm not quite understanding why this is such a big deal.  If you're worried about viruses and backdoors, save a little money and get a legitimate copy.  Problem solved.  I don't necessarily like the current asking price of Windows.  It should either be really cheap or free (much like many of their services are now).  With that being said, if you're worried, don't pirate it.  If you have Windows 7 or 8.1, you won't even need to anyway.

[Aniallation]

What the heck is the point of this article, nobody said that it will make ungenuine copies genuine. All that was said is that even if you're running a pirated copy of Windows 7/8, you can still do the upgrade, and this is actually confirming that it is in fact, true.

[Opcode]

Indeed. Windows 8.1 was the real "free upgrade" for pirates. You still need a valid license to activate against Microsoft's KMS servers after Windows 10 is done installing.

[William5849]

What some people fail to understand is that Windows 10 will most likely be the last release of Windows. At least the way we know it today. They are moving to a constant update cycle. For this to be effective, they want as many people on their software as possible. Even if that means pirates. But you aren't going to get the updates following it either. Its really a smart thing to do. You get your software on most pc's unlike they would if they charged for it.

[patrick3027]

Some fair points are made on the ZDnet article:

• What happens to members of the Windows Insider program running the Windows 10 Technical Preview? Do they have to prove that they have a legitimate Windows 7 or 8.1 license before they get the final edition? If so, how will that work? And why, for heaven's sake?
• Will consumers running Windows Vista and XP on hardware that's compatible with Windows 10 have to pay for an upgrade? If so, how much? And again, why? It can't represent enough revenue to be material, and it can only add complexity to a process that should be as simple as possible.

People running a legit copy of Vista (which is still supported!) will have to do a clean install to get Windows 10, there will be no other update path available ...

 

That's so stupid M$ ...

[GoodBytes]

You mean like.. shocking news.. previous versions of Windows?

Usually, and normally, you can only upgrade the previous version of Windows. Just recently 2 previous version of Windows, but the second one (oldest one) is data only transfer, your programs needs to be re-installed.

This is the first time you can do true upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 by not having to re-install your programs.

[dalekphalm]

Some fair points are made on the ZDnet article:

People running a legit copy of Vista (which is still supported!) will have to do a clean install to get Windows 10, there will be no other update path available ...

• What happens to members of the Windows Insider program running the Windows 10 Technical Preview? Do they have to prove that they have a legitimate Windows 7 or 8.1 license before they get the final edition? If so, how will that work? And why, for heaven's sake?
• Will consumers running Windows Vista and XP on hardware that's compatible with Windows 10 have to pay for an upgrade? If so, how much? And again, why? It can't represent enough revenue to be material, and it can only add complexity to a process that should be as simple as possible.

That's so stupid M$ ...

 

Those aren't good points...

 

First: Users running Windows 10 Technical Preview will need to reinstall Windows when Windows 10 goes live (I would be shocked if you could upgrade W10 TP to retail). This is exactly the way it has worked... well... forever. All consumer or technical previews of older versions of Windows have had this. For example, The Windows 8 consumer preview could not be updated to retail. You had to reinstall Windows.

 

As for the specific details of how those users would get Windows 10 retail, that's yet to be released. Most likely there will be two avenues:

1. Reinstall Windows 7 or 8.1 and perform an in-OS upgrade to Windows 10, or

2. (Speculation) Enter your Windows 7 or 8.1 key into some Microsoft website which then verifies it and spits out a Windows 10 key.

 

Second: It's generous enough that Microsoft is giving Windows 7 and 8.1 users a free upgrade. Windows XP and Vista users will have to buy an upgrade copy of Windows 10 if they want it. Anyone still running Windows XP probably has hardware that is too old anyway though, and likely would be better off buying a new computer, which will come with Windows 10 anyway (Or 8.1, which they can therefore upgrade to 10 for free).

 

As for how much the upgrade will be? Well, if we go by the historic prices, then Microsoft will likely have a very long introductory Upgrade License price, probably in the $20-30 USD range. Windows 8, for example, had a promotional $20 Upgrade License price for like 6 months after release. Granted, this will vary by region, but that special upgrade price was available in North America and some parts of Europe for sure. The rest, I cannot say because I just don't know where else it was available.

 

I just don't understand this type of criticism. Would you prefer that no one had a free upgrade? Frankly, since I'm using the Win 10 TP as a daily driver at home, I know for a fact that Windows 10 is kickass, and would be worth the full $100 price tag if I had to pay it.

[patrick3027]

I've been using the W10 TP for a while too and I don't think it is that much of an upgrade compared to Windows 7.

I don't game that much, so I don't care about DirectX 12. Most programs come with FLAC support, I'm not using the Windows media player anyway. Multiple desktops are a thing on Linux systems for over a decade and I don't use them at all.

Any other important 'upgrades' I've missed? New icons? Cortana? I don't care about those things.

If W10 costed €100, I would not upgrade my W7 system. A €20 price-tag (any source for this?) for a Windows Vista to Windows 10 upgrade seems fair, but I feel bad for the Windows Vista users, who are the only Windows users who are still officially supported who 'll have to pay for their upgrade.

[dalekphalm]

I've been using the W10 TP for a while too and I don't think it is that much of an upgrade compared to Windows 7.

I don't game that much, so I don't care about DirectX 12. Most programs come with FLAC support, I'm not using the Windows media player anyway. Multiple desktops are a thing on Linux systems for over a decade and I don't use them at all.

Any other important 'upgrades' I've missed? New icons? Cortana? I don't care about those things.

If W10 costed €100, I would not upgrade my W7 system. A €20 price-tag (any source for this?) for a Windows Vista to Windows 10 upgrade seems fair, but I feel bad for the Windows Vista users, who are the only Windows users who are still officially supported who 'll have to pay for their upgrade.

On the UI front? No, there isn't a drastic difference compared to Windows 7... but then again, that's kind of the point. Microsoft tried something new with Windows 8, and people (for the most part) hated the UI. Everyone and their mother said "Make Windows 8 look like Windows 7" - so they did.

 

On the backend, there are quite a few improvements. Many of them are carryovers from Windows 8/8.1, to be sure, but they are still improvements over Windows 7.

 

First off, the most important (to me, on a personal level) improvement is the File Transfer UI and mechanism. Overall file transfer speeds have been increased and smoothed out (Less often do I see the huge speed spike that slowly dies out to like 20 MB/s - it remains more consistently high). It also gives you many more options, including the ability to freaking pause a transfer - I cannot believe how long Windows has been around without this feature.

 

Then, there are the improvements to the NT Kernel, which you likely won't see any visual evidence of, beyond more compatibility and better stability.

 

There were filesystem changes as well, and there's some evidence that Shadowcopy might be back too.

 

On the storage side, you've got Storage Spaces, which admittedly is a mixed bag. Some people freaking love it, but I had weird issues when I tried it out (granted, this was literally at release, so bugs were more common).

 

Sure, most people won't see these changes, or may not even care about them, but they do make the computing experience better.

 

Windows 10 isn't even done yet, so I'm personally quite excited to see what else is in store (Though I don't expect anything new that is major at this point).

[anticeon]

Do you think why Microsoft let their OS pirated?

Because with pirated OS, microsoft can steal any data in their machine because pirated OS doesnt have license agreemen and doesnt have rules/law protection . iluminati confirmed.

[The Web Doctor]

So just pirate Windows 10. It isn't hard.