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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."
Will I get Windows 10 Ultimate??
Because we've all been beta-testing Windows since forever.
Upgrade installs are a bothersome step, if you're giving it away, why bother with that farce anyway?
Though I do hope they let us reinstall foreverish.
I get paid to test.
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
There is no problem installing many OSes via a VM onto a physical disk - then having the choice of booting via a VM or bare metal.
I have been unsuccessful doing this with windows10 - and this is someone who last seriously used windows back in (windows) 98. The irony is that I can boot my Linux install via hyper-v.
If I'm in Linux and I have to do something windows based, then surely it would be advantageous to boot it via a VM. I love my hardware, am no OS fan boy. But if windows 10 is going to be pedantic about what hardware (virtualized or not) I am not interested - free or not.
But it should, since I've had to reinstall windows10 more times in a few months verse a couple of years with say a Linux based OS.
AND I haven't booted into it (win10) for about a week because I've just upgraded motherboard and ram (144gb) and just haven't got the time to stuff about with it (win10) being an pain in the ass.
Who wants to trash a valid working version of 7 or 8 rather than beta test a fresh install of Windows 10. This would be great if the free license was for those who install and beta test a fresh version of Windows 10 on a PC without having to upgrade an existing copy first.
By "final media" do they mean bittorrent? Because that's where I've historically gotten all of my windows media from
Can't even give it away huh?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
It's not really all that surprising that MS wants additional testing badly enough to give away copies of Win10 for free to get it. Remember the fact that part of Microsoft's 2014 layoffs included elimination of all the SDETs in the Windows division. Those that were deemed worthy to stay were converted to SDEs and the rest were told to hit the road.
Needless to say, the result is likely to be exactly what one would expect of canning the entire test team suddenly, if the state of the technical previews has been any indication...
Hello
I have a bad feeling about Windows 10. Maybe it's just my paranoia working over-time.
I see we now have a balloon, a stained glass window icon and the real-life Microsoft logo appearing in-line with the headline.
Thankfully without obscuring the text. This time.
Why do I get this nagging feeling that in all these offers where they are saying "It will be free for XXXX" they are not showing you the fine print which says "for the first 90 days."
They do the same thing on bundled PC's with Office, "Comes with Free copy of Microsoft Office!" they say, and you boot it up and find it's a free TRIAL of office. Or free for 6 months.
I'm skeptical.
But, is that gonna be for ever, or just free for one year.. like they initially said it'd be for pirates...
Because really, you didn't need anything special to get in, anybody could get in, a simple matter of login in your account and registering for it.
... just don't install it on hardware.
Then my computer will have Windows 10??
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"...you will also be able to clean install on *that* PC from final media if you want to start over fresh."
What if I get a new computer or upgrade my CPU/motherboard?
build and connected with the [Microsoft account] you used to register, you will receive the Windows 10 final release build and remain activated.
Is this like Windows 8 where it nags you to sign in with a @msn or @hotmail account?
Because I'm very much uninterested in having Microsoft follow along with my daily activities.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I know the easy answer is "Because that's what they're used to", but somehow I don't find that sufficiently compelling. Lots of people value function too, not only form, and Linux certainly doesn't lack functionality.
Can't most X11 window managers in Linux distros be configured to look similar enough to Windows to feel like "home"?
... 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).
Which is why this ain't touching my desktop nor surface.
If I weren't an IT professional expected to be up to date I would still be on 7 to which is Microsoft's best OS. It is NO WHERE NEAR ready for primetime! I do not even run it on a vm in my lab as a simple vlan change can so a BSOD and there are no rsat tools?? wth. Now I read your post and it makes sense.
Window 7 beta 1 circa 2008 was faaar more stable than 10 now near RTM.
I will wait for bloodstone update then next one next summer and then upgrade because it's my job. It still will be flaky I am sure but oh well. Like I said if I were in another industry I would hold onto 7 for dear life
http://saveie6.com/
So, basically anyone that wants to can go sign up now, and get free windows on any computer... I have been running the preview for a while on a computer with a valid licence for 7 ult, this is really cool and all, but all this pushing free windows is starting to make me a little nervous. I can understand not wanting a situation like they had with 8 or vista, where everyone just sat on 7/XP forever because it suited their needs better. But I have to wonder where they are making money from handing out free 10 like it is Christmas. I don't think they would do it, but doing this would put them in a really good position to do a bait and switch to subscription model. If not, I would almost expect to see adds or something during updates and bootup.
Shouldn't we call it "free trial" rather than "free"? As far as I understand it, we're going to have to pay up after the first year of "trial". This goes for everyone including us who got a full Windows installation.
Oh but you get to pay for a new version of Office....... so not totally free.
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Just like in an empire or communist party, the conflicting reports/retractions make it increasingly obvious that some infighting is going on in Redmond. Interesting is who gets purged.
Because there are no edits, I'm going to ask for a citation. For the record. Otherwise, AC can fuck right the shite off.
I'm actually surprised that you even went there...but hey, too fucking lazy to go Google it for yourself.
Here, let me Google that for you...
One of the first Links is THIS.
Next time I strongly suggest going and fucking yourself, using 20-grit and lye, before bowing up like that without good cause. You DIDN'T have it, dumbass.
There was even a slashdot story about it if i remember correctly.
He confirmed that you had to give Microsoft marketing information in exchange for the license, and again confirmed that they were only guaranteeing it to be free for a year. Considering he is the chairman of the board and picked the current figurehead President, what he says has more weight than what their marketing department claims. I wish they'd get their stories straight. They keep contracting themselves.
Finally, Microsoft is compensating its legions of formerly unpaid beta testers.
Test, format, reinstall, repeat. Hope you have backups.
Next, Microsoft might compensate the rest of its loyal users for all the unpaid beta testing they did, and continue to do with their unpolished, half-baked software.
I just want to have the old XP interface back. Hell, I'd pay double retail for that option. I love the internals of 7 and 8, but so hate the interface.
My concern is this: only the more expensive ("pro") versions will let you control your upgrades. Upgrades are pretty filthy- routinely booting you out of games, crashing stuff you need to have happen, messing up everything- and disabling that and only doing it when YOU want is a pretty big deal.
More importantly, making this a "premium only" feature means that, once you have 10, your choices are
1- Take exactly the upgrades they want on your machine, when they want it, forever,
2- Some kind of hack
3- Pay for the upper version to get basic admin rights on your machine back
But that's what a "premium only" feature means- what does it imply?
Combined with all the "get 10 for free" crap we see going around (on top of the fact that 10 will become a mandatory pack-in on most hardware and essentially all laptops), and we see a Microsoft that is absolutely desperate to get you away from a Windows box you have full control over, and onto one that THEY control... and that means they see forsee a great deal of profit for doing that.
Exactly what else will get patched into 10? What's on their upgrade cycle? Everyone with a free copy of 10 gets to find out what the price they actually paid was later... just give them a little time.
The latest 7 patch puts an advertisement for a product on your box- the 10 button. I'd hazard a guess that this won't be the only time you have advertisements spamming your GUI in the near future. Just look at the X-Box interface for a preview of "check this shit out bro".
I could be wrong. I hope I am. But I'll wait a few months to see if it is good, and then I'll buy the premium version that keeps my admin control, and if I'm wrong I'm out a bit of cash, but if I'm right, I'll be able to use my PC without whatever the hell this mandatory software injection scheme they have is... maybe.
Or I stay on 7. Which appears to have only gotten better with time, based on Microsoft's devout refusal to produce a version that isn't garbage.
No, I mean really free... not just not paid, but free as in Freedom.
That might be important if those transparency center don't work in Europe as expected and tougher Openness laws are enforced.
Also, this might give them a better footing to fight Android (which is purportedly GPL AFAIU).
(*) Openness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openness
Except that's fucking bullshit. It's the job of the person making the assertion to back it up with evidence, not the audience. Otherwise I'll casually assert that you like have sex with goats. Is it my job to prove that assertion, or your job to disprove it?
The real questions that needs to be answered is what the support lifecycle for Windows 10 is. With Windows 7 we are right to 2020, with Windows 8.1 it is good until 2023 ... with Windows 10 .. well there is just a bunch of talk about software as a service and nothing at all about the length of support.
The opt-in testing is a big question mark..
Home users get forced updates, like you can read here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/219166/you-won%E2%80%99t-be-able-to-disable-or-delay-windows-updates-on-windows-10-home/
Who tests these updates? Are the "happy" Insiders unwilling test subjects? Will you just get notifications, like:
"Windows installed some potentially unstable updates on your computer. Please provide feedback and error logs before we release these to real users. Thank you for your co-operation."
Excellent, I was going to pony up £80 for a new license for the new PC I'm building. Now I'll spend more on the hardware. I hope this works on Virtual Box so I don't mess up my current machine.
Only when providing new theories or evidence or hypothesis' or whatever. AC being a goatfucker is not common knowledge, windows layoffs are common knowledge and aren't exactly anything new. You'd have to provide a link every other sentence if that were the case.
Recent mails from MS talk about Windows as a service. Does it mean we will have to pay for updates and patches?
I followed the instructions (forget where) to get rid of it, but it came back.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
OK so wait, their first announcement that if you upgraded to Win10 now, you could have it for free.
Now they say that if you are willing to test it, you can have it for free forever ...which would imply that the PREVIOUS announcement *wasn't* 'forever'.
-Styopa
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
It is certainly not the job of every poster to anticipate how uninformed you are and then provide links to help you combat your own ignorance. If you couldn't get proof by simply googling it would then - at that point - it be reasonable to ask for some kind of citation. As it stands now you are just another sad and pathetic variation of the Citation Needed weenie.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
- If I do a clean install of Windows 10 Preview onto a computer, that will turn into a full license of Windows 10 on July 29, no upgrade from a previous version of Windows is necessary? Or does this only apply if I've installed Windows 10 Preview onto an installation of Windows 7 or 8.1?
(http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/06/19/upcoming-changes-to-windows-10-insider-preview-builds/ is unclear on this, saying "As long as you are running an Insider Preview build and connected with the MSA you used to register, you will receive the Windows 10 final release builld" but then "It’s important to note that only people running Genuine Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 can upgrade to Windows 10 as part of the free upgrade offer.")
- I only see Windows 10 Preview releases for x86 and x64. How do I get the Pro version instead of the Home version?
I see this as a good way that I can get free up-to-date Windows licenses for old computers I have that are running XP and Vista; all I need is to wipe them and put Windows 10 Preview on them, and link them to my Microsoft account. I just want to make sure that this will work, and I'd like to have the Pro version.
From TFA:
I bet /. comments helped encourage this.
Building Better Software
> Does it mean we will have to pay for updates and patches?
They decided to stop charging for the features and start charging for the bugs!
These guys are gonna be RICH!
Free upgrade? My Ubuntu 4.04, 6.04, 8.04, 10.04 and 12.04 was free. Both types, libre and gratis. So was my 14.04.
How do I install the Windows 10 Pro version of Windows 10 Technical Preview?
Ever more severe correction:
"Once you have successfully installed this build, you will also be able to clean install on that PC from final media if you want to start over fresh. It’s important to note that only people running Genuine Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 can upgrade to Windows 10 as part of the free upgrade offer.*"
Basically, Windows 10 is not *intended* to be free for anyone who wasn't going to get it for free already. MS may not be able to reasonably stop free editions of 10 stemming from free installs of 10 preview, but it certainly seems to reserve the right to try and say that it is invalid per their license terms.
I strongly suspect the initial description will stand. Windows 10 preview activations weren't linked to anything at all, and all signs point to MS not having the ability to discern the history of an activation to see if there is any weirdness that may invalidate. So they are likely in the situation of either letting 'insiders' get 10 for free that were not running genuine 7, 8, 8.1 or screwing over 'insiders' that installed Windows 10 and no longer have the ability to easily prove their Windows 7/8/8.1 genuine status.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
It's not my job to go along with your strawman, as the only one blathering on about "anticipation" is you. Now where are all those citations proving that you do not in fact have sex with goats? Or are you always this "lazy"?
Not for their Q/A team at the same time they've been prepping for a major release, it's not. It was rather more specific than a vague "Microsoft has had layoffs".
All that means is you can't upgrade from Windows 10 Technical Preview to Windows 10 RTM, you must do a clean install of RTM on that machine. Windows 7 and 8 users can just upgrade.
I have no doubt that you can't figure out the difference between trying to find a citation that something is true, versus trying to find a citation that proves a negative. Congratulations, in one single statement you graduated to the top of the moron list here on Slashdot. Kudos, as that is no easy feat.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
What about all the users who Windows tests?
they want you to use a mircrosoft account instead of a local account. you pay with your data.
No one is going to know what is true until it is proven, fuckwit. And it is your job, as the person making the assertion, to back it up. Skepticism isn't lazy, expecting other people to prove your points for you, is.