Microsoft to give away Windows 10 free for first year

Jivesinger

GT60 wrote: »

I am sure I read it is only FREE for the first year of use
But cant find it now Grrr :mad:

RumRat wrote: »

Nope...No subscription planned for the OS. As AlecEiffel says, free to upgrade during the first year of release for W7, W8 and W8.1 users. If you upgrade after that you will have to pay for the OS.....As you do now.
XP users are being left behind, no real surprise there.

Yep. The official Windows blog confirms it:

Delivering Windows as a Service and a Free Upgrade to Windows 10

Today was a monumental day for us on the Windows team because we shared our desire to redefine the relationship we have with you – our customers. We announced that a free upgrade for Windows 10 will be made available to customers running Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone 8.1 who upgrade in the first year after launch.*

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 cost. With Windows 10, the experience will evolve and get even better over time.

esuhl wrote: »

Looks like there's a public "technical preview" version of Windows 10 available for download too.

That's been around for a few months; I think they will issue an updated build in the next week though

Big_Graeme

Collabora wrote: »

ME was only 98 SE

No it wasn't, Win98 SE was 98 SE...

forgotmyname

Win ME had that wonderful background colour that everyone on 98 copied. But it was lacking.. I used to leave the PC on 24/7 back then. After a few days the isons started going blank and sometimes they used to vanish off the desktop.

A reboot brought them back. I think its had some pretty bad memory issues.

Someone mentioned the Beta being stable already. Thats usually the case. I used the pre-release version of XP for many years. It was a lot better than the proper release.

Everyone with the proper release had all sorts of issues initially, None with the pre-release version.

alanrowell

Trinitrotoluene wrote: »

Unless there is a nice plethora of business features added that have not been released yet this will be the second consecutive desktop OS release that has not yet added anything worthwhile to the OS.

Wonder what is being removed this time - DVD Maker, free Media Center...

prowla

I wonder if they'll reintroduce transparency/glass effects?

Maybe they could do it for windows borders and content, and the start menu.

Maybe they could call it RealGlass or something like that.

Oh, and maybe they'll produce a version of IE which is usable, too!

jackieblack

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Microsoft seem to make à good and bad system alternately. XP, 7, 8.1 seem good. Vista and 8 were naff so 9 could have been dodgy so they jumped it.:rotfl:

Big_Graeme wrote: »

You forgot about Windows ME, what a joy that was.

When my Dad retired he decided to buy his first PC, that was Windows ME
After a few years he decided to replace that with a new PC, that was Vista :eek:
He's been talking about replacing that with a laptop for a while now, as I'm the one he rings when he's got a problem, I've been trying to convince him to wait until the next OS is released

indesisiv

prowla wrote: »

Oh, and maybe they'll produce a version of IE which is usable, too!

Well at least the good news is that IE is going. Lets see how good its replacement spartan is.

John_Gray

Trinitrotoluene wrote: »

Unless there is a nice plethora of business features added that have not been released yet this will be the second consecutive desktop OS release that has not yet added anything worthwhile to the OS.

There were two variants* of the recent Windows 10 Technical Preview (build 9879, if you're interested!), one for consumers and one called "Enterprise".

As far as I can tell, yesterday's two-hour Microsoft "announcement" dealt purely with the consumer version...

* actually there were four: 32-bit and 64-bit versions of each!

Jim431

Been using the preview version for a while and it gets my thumbs up.
Its the Win7 look with the new Win8.1 bits. If you love Win8.1 (!!) then you can even switch to that style.

But - should we be wary of Microsoft bearing gifts ?

We used to be worried about computers having back doors. Well Win10 has a front door allowing your stuff to be uploaded to the cloud.

The question is should we trust Microsoft to have sufficient security to stop hackers and other snoopers getting in?

I also think there will be massive problems when some people try to upgrade.
The new technology won't work on some hardware and some will need new BIOS and drivers.
There will be a compatibility webpage for people to check their computer prior to upgrade.

Plus I don't think you will be able to revert back to your old system if you change your mind.
So clone your HDD before the upgrade if you want that option.

GunJack

Big_Graeme wrote: »

Why not just upgrade one until you see what it's like?

I will indeed, however that will be on a general use/test machine. For the kid's gaming rigs it will be far easier to have a ready-to-go hdd with W7 as-is to hand to just plug back into the case if 10 doesn't suit for that purpose, i.e. gaming.

Plus, for reference purposes, I will have another that will remain on 10 irrespective, in the same way I have reference machines on XP, vista and 7