Free Windows 10 Upgrade Plans [Jan 21, 2015, 3:13 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Windows 10: The Next Chapter
offers a presentation from Microsoft for Windows 10, the next version of their
operating system.
PC Gamer has news from the presentation that for the first year of release,
this will be offered as a free upgrade for owners of Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1,
noting this will provide access to DirectX 12, a Windows 10 exclusive. There is
speculation that this will involve license fees after the first year, but this
has not yet been confirmed. Update: There are more details on the
Windows blog which seem to indicate this means free for the life of the
device.
Free upgrade means you can upgrade to 10 for a year and it will cost money after or does it mean after the 1 year up you have to pay in order to keep using 10?
Also Microsoft mentioning Windows 10 as a service somehow doesn't give me all the warm and fuzzy feeling about the future of the OS.
Also Microsoft mentioning Windows 10 as a service somehow doesn't give me all the warm and fuzzy feeling about the future of the OS.
Steam: SpectralMeat
SpectralMeat wrote on Jan 21, 2015, 14:16:
Free upgrade means you can upgrade to 10 for a year and it will cost money after or does it mean after the 1 year up you have to pay in order to keep using 10?
Also Microsoft mentioning Windows 10 as a service somehow doesn't give me all the warm and fuzzy feeling about the future of the OS.
Yeah, I was a bit excited at first, but some of the other posts on this matter have brought me back to Earth. Sounds too good to be true. MS has been vague on the details so now I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
An OS as a yearly paid service sounds like a horrible idea. So if someone's subscription lapses they just don't get to use their computer?
SpectralMeat wrote on Jan 21, 2015, 14:16:
Free upgrade means you can upgrade to 10 for a year and it will cost money after or does it mean after the 1 year up you have to pay in order to keep using 10?
Also Microsoft mentioning Windows 10 as a service somehow doesn't give me all the warm and fuzzy feeling about the future of the OS.
Yeah. As the kids say, I'm not down with that. Everyone and his dog wants to get his hand in your pocket every month. I'm sick to death of "services" when all I want is a complete product. Fuck that noise. If that's the kind of party MS wants to have I'm going to stick my dick in the mashed potatoes.
You'll get me to pay for software as a service when you pry Windows 7 from my cold dead fingers. 
Details are still vague, but maybe they'll give you Win 10 for free, and if you want SP1 or something you have to pay for it. But it sure sounded like they wanted to charge people an annual fee, which kinds of jibes with what they've been saying for a while now.
Details are still vague, but maybe they'll give you Win 10 for free, and if you want SP1 or something you have to pay for it. But it sure sounded like they wanted to charge people an annual fee, which kinds of jibes with what they've been saying for a while now.
RIP RedEye9. We miss you.
SpectralMeat wrote on Jan 21, 2015, 14:16:
Free upgrade means you can upgrade to 10 for a year and it will cost money after or does it mean after the 1 year up you have to pay in order to keep using 10?
Also Microsoft mentioning Windows 10 as a service somehow doesn't give me all the warm and fuzzy feeling about the future of the OS.
From what I'm reading, it's been confirmed that the free upgrade is permanent and though they're using the term "Windows as a service", Windows 10 will not have any subscription fees. It might be an option but if you buy a permanent license or get the free upgrade, you just buy it and use it.
free is nice... but i dunno if i will be upgrading within that year unless they fix all the bugs and make it fully stable and compatible with everything.
SpectralMeat wrote on Jan 21, 2015, 14:16:
Free upgrade means you can upgrade to 10 for a year and it will cost money after or does it mean after the 1 year up you have to pay in order to keep using 10?
Also Microsoft mentioning Windows 10 as a service somehow doesn't give me all the warm and fuzzy feeling about the future of the OS.
I think they mean that if you have a valid windows key, you can get a valid windows 10 key for free during the first year. I don't think it means that after a year you've gotta pay up. If they did that, the fallout would turn Redmond into Wasteland 3.
As for it being a service, I imagine that's more of an enterprise thing. Home users are not going to switch to a SaaS model in any great kind of numbers (though apparently Office365 is doing decent home user business)
And the big PC gaming news they promised turns out to be....*drum roll*
Streaming games from your Xbone to your PC. Woo. PC gaming is so important to them they found a way to turn your PC into a monitor for your Xbox. Yay PC* gaming! Buy Xbox!
*
Streaming games from your Xbone to your PC. Woo. PC gaming is so important to them they found a way to turn your PC into a monitor for your Xbox. Yay PC* gaming! Buy Xbox!
*
Not actually a PC
I went and did something else when they started talking about gaming, since we all know (or everyone SHOULD know) that gaming is dead on PC as far as MS is concerned anyway.
I thought the Holo Lens was actually pretty cool.
I thought the Holo Lens was actually pretty cool.
Creston wrote on Jan 21, 2015, 14:44:Yeah that would make sense.
I think they mean that if you have a valid windows key, you can get a valid windows 10 key for free during the first year. I don't think it means that after a year you've gotta pay up. If they did that, the fallout would turn Redmond into Wasteland 3.
Kind of how they've had Win8 for $40 for the first little while.
I curious to see DX12 and how it will improve DX11 but I think it will be a little while before we will see any actual game uses it.
Steam: SpectralMeat
I presume that there aren't subscription fees or anything else after the first year; this just means that it won't be free for people upgrading later. I think there could be a subscription service for Windows which may be a better option for them than upfront sales, but it would absolutely have to be completely optional.
If so, this is a good idea IMHO. While I quite like Windows 8, it deserved to have low uptake with their "you WILL want this" philosophy to the abominable Modern UI, and with challenges from iOS and Android they can take less for granted than ever.
If so, this is a good idea IMHO. While I quite like Windows 8, it deserved to have low uptake with their "you WILL want this" philosophy to the abominable Modern UI, and with challenges from iOS and Android they can take less for granted than ever.
MS ordered retailers to pull the older versions of Office off the shelf so they could push the subscription version. Why give them the benefit of the doubt?
If we're lucky 'first year free' will probably be just like Norton AV - after the first year you'll be locked out from getting patches and updates. If they're going to charge a sub just to log in to the desktop (always on OS! cool!), well I hope it blows up in their face.
If we're lucky 'first year free' will probably be just like Norton AV - after the first year you'll be locked out from getting patches and updates. If they're going to charge a sub just to log in to the desktop (always on OS! cool!), well I hope it blows up in their face.
NegaDeath wrote on Jan 21, 2015, 14:52:
And the big PC gaming news they promised turns out to be....*drum roll*
Streaming games from your Xbone to your PC. Woo. PC gaming is so important to them they found a way to turn your PC into a monitor for your Xbox. Yay PC* gaming! Buy Xbox!
*Not actually a PC
Woweeeee! I can see this being useful in about one or two rare situations, but since I don't own an XBONE it's entirely useless to me!
I am glad to see that they will be offering Windows 10 for free. I really hope you can download a full copy instead of an upgrade to make fresh installs easier.
NegaDeath wrote on Jan 21, 2015, 14:52:
And the big PC gaming news they promised turns out to be....*drum roll*
Streaming games from your Xbone to your PC. Woo. PC gaming is so important to them they found a way to turn your PC into a monitor for your Xbox. Yay PC* gaming! Buy Xbox!
*Not actually a PC
Zactly. I was giggling when they announced that...
NegaDeath wrote on Jan 21, 2015, 14:52:
And the big PC gaming news they promised turns out to be....*drum roll*
Streaming games from your Xbone to your PC. Woo. PC gaming is so important to them they found a way to turn your PC into a monitor for your Xbox. Yay PC* gaming! Buy Xbox!
*Not actually a PC
There was the let's play feature which is kinda cool and I took the fact that they used it with a Steam (mentioned explicitly) game to be their peace offer to the Gaben.
They basically said that they'll concede PC gaming and I'm fine with that because everything they did was crap and not helping.
Desalus wrote on Jan 21, 2015, 15:15:
I am glad to see that they will be offering Windows 10 for free. I really hope you can download a full copy instead of an upgrade to make fresh installs easier.
Knowing MS, that will be a big fat no...
(Which sucks, since my Win 7 copies are also upgrades... ARGH.)
It'll be fun once someone comes up with a good controller-to-mouse emulator to stomp controller noobs on the PC with streaming. 
SpectralMeat wrote on Jan 21, 2015, 15:33:
Some clarification on the Windows as a service comment.
That's downright decent of them. I hope they make the clean installation less fussy with the key. I recall having trouble doing a fresh install of 8.1 with an 8 key whereas updating an 8 install to 8.1 works fine.
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