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Windows 10 Will Be Free To Users Who Test It
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft has been making a big push to change its business model for Windows — likely due to the low/no cost updates you can get for competing operating systems. The company surprised everyone when it said legit copies of Windows 7 and 8 would be supplied with free upgrades, but now they're extending that even further: anyone who tests the Windows 10 Technical Preview will get a free upgrade to the full version of Windows 10 when it comes out. In a blog post, Microsoft's Gabe Aul said, "As long as you are running an Insider Preview build and connected with the [Microsoft account] you used to register, you will receive the Windows 10 final release build and remain activated. Once you have successfully installed this build and activated, you will also be able to clean install on that PC from final media if you want to start over fresh."
... I'm sure the PC makers would love it if I would "upgrade" to Windows 10, discover that my PC just won't cut it, and then buy a new PC (which coincidentally will have Windows 10 bundled).
Dunno what your problem was - I've been running Windows 10 via KVM and VirtualBox since 10041. Works well with the KVM virtio drivers.
One real problem is once you "upgrade" to Windows 10 from say Windows 7 - there is no going back Having checked it out on their website, My Windows 7 copy is no longer registrable.
So if Windows 10 is the steaming smelly pile of elephant shit that Windows 8 is, I would have no choice than to buy another copy of Windows 7 Pro.
I'm not going to spend good money beta testing that one way trip.
I think I might wait until about day 364 to decide if I want that free upgrade or downgrade as the case may be.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
A small price to pay to get a free OS for my gaming PC that won't be used for anything else.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
To say nothing of all the other crap they do, MS is still pushing DRM. Windows 10 is no change of direction on that point. If they want my business, they must rip out all the DRM. No more activation keys like they started in Windows 95, no more phoning home like they started in XP, and definitely no more policing of 3rd party media like they tried in Vista. No more Windows Genuine Advantage, OOXML and J++ and ActiveX and other deliberate attempts to sabotage standards, and file format and other lock ins. No more legal debacles like the stunt they tried with SCO.
Let MS admit they were wrong to go along with the sophistry of Big Media concerning piracy, and start behaving like a tech leader again. They tell Big Media how to handle tech, not the other way around. What a weak move that was, following those greedy fools of Big Media, and showing the tech savvy that they don't deserve any respect, don't have any sense of technology, which is supposed to be their core competence. RMS criticizes Torvalds for being just an engineer. That goes double for MS, in their efforts to be just an engineering company and agreeing to implement DRM. But they went further than that, really seemed to believe they could make DRM work for themselves, and when they at last got into politics, pushed for stronger intellectual property laws, not better ones. They're not even a decent engineering shop, they're little more than an abusive monopolist desperately clinging to a broken business model.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
I don't think Microsoft is giving 10 away to appease users of 8. I think they want to avoid 7 turning into another XP where a crapload of users stick with it so it is hard for them to ditch it, and they end up having to support it for 14 years. That will ROYALLY screw up their "Windows 10 is the final Windows" plan, which I *think* means they plan to charge an annual fee for it (the other shoe for Windows' future licensing model has yet to drop, and I think they expect that most people will hate it, but that they'll hate it only after it's already too late.)
However it would be silly to give it to users of Windows 7 but not users of Windows 8, so they're just giving it to both.
Maybe it's about time for you guys to consider alternatives to Windows? It sounds like it's not exactly the right tool for the job.
Linux has done such a "fine job" there on the desktop & only reason it's used on servers + smartphones is that it is FREE, keeping per unit costs down - & THAT is the ONLY real reason!
(It's certainly not 'superiority', since face facts: Device drivers of solid quality for peripherals happens for Windows for sure, & it is what truly separates Windows & sets it ABOVE Linux - it's nigh guaranteed since Windows "rules the roost" marketshare-wise on BOTH PC desktops + servers combined).
Fact: Linux had to seek alternate markets-outlets (smartphones) since it failed on the largest market in computing prior to this in PC desktops especially!
Truth: Windows OWNS that for decades @ what? Roughly 94.5++ % of marketshare?? Yes.
You "Pro-*NIX Penguins" had to GIVE AWAY your OS in order for it to have ANY share of market... MS didn't.
APK
P.S.=> It's always NICE dispelling your illusions & "FUD" bs you "Open SORES" people spew around here, but then again?
ANDROID (yes, a Linux) DOES THE JOB EVEN BETTER vs. the YEARS OF "FUD" BS SPEWED HERE ON /. ESPECIALLY OF "Windows != Secure, Linux = Secure" when it's purest LIES from you fools, & Linux was hiding behind "security by obscurity" (not being used as much, thus, hacker/cracker types wouldn't target it anymore than pickpockets target 1 person only - it's not worth their efforts, & LOW "ROI") being shown for a decade++ now to be untrue since ANDROID gets exploited weekly practically, lol... so much for your "marketing bs" boys - it doesn't stand up to reality! apk