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Microsoft: Windows 10 Will Remain Free For People With Accessibility Needs (betanews.com)
Reader Mark Wilson writes: The free ride is coming to an end. Windows 10 was always going to be free for the first year after release, and this year is up on 29 July. There are, of course, still ways to get your hands on Windows 10 for free beyond this date. One way is to buy a new PC with Windows 10 installed, although not many people would regard this as a free upgrade. But Microsoft has also confirmed that people with accessibility needs will still be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free after the deadline. Writing on its Accessibility Blog, Microsoft points out that the 29 July cut-off point does not apply to people with accessibility needs.From Microsoft's blog post: As you may have heard, the free Windows 10 upgrade offer for customers running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 is set to end on July 29, but we want to clarify that that deadline will not apply to customers who use assistive technologies. We are continuing to deliver on our previously-shared vision for accessibility for Windows 10 and we are committed to ensuring that users of assistive technologies have the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 10 for free as we do so.
Glad to see they will still allow those who were unable to correctly click the update now button another chance!
Wouldn't anyone using Windows 10 be considered as having accessibility needs?
Does this mean the forced-upgrades arms race will finally come to an end?
Will this mean the end of the stupid forced, fuck-you-user, upgrades then?
The Windows 10 upgrade is NOT free. This is just basic economics. It requires that you trade in a license of win 7, 8, 8.1, which means that the upgrade costs you the current market value of the OS you are trading. If a Win 7 Pro license currently sells for $50, then upgrading to Win10 costs you $50, even though no money leaves your bank account. If you went into a car dealership and traded in your old car for a newer car of equal value, the dealer did NOT give you a free car. You paid for it with your old one. Understand?
Stop buying into marketing lies. Waiving the additional fee for the upgrade may be a benefit, but it does not make it free.
Does this imply a specific build of Windows 10 that has accessibility options permanently enabled? That would seem unlikely unless it just enforces 1 option to be active at all times.
I am guessing if that were the case, the "hold ctrl to find the mouse cursor" option would not count...
The solution would have to be automated though, right? I mean, MS isn't going to make a huge amount of work for themselves by verifying doctor's notes or something like that...
Interested to see how this will work and how long it lasts (since it seems like a pretty easy system to "game").
Perhaps MS is just creating a glaring loophole and giving everyone a "wink and a nod" to allow them charge for Windows 10 at the same time as making it "free" for anyone who wants it...
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
Good news everyone! Downgrading your OEM install of Windows 10 Professional to Windows 8 Professional or Windows 7 Professional/Ultimate is still free! And will still be free after 29 July 2016.
https://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/Pages/what_to_do_downgrade_rights.aspx
https://www.microsoft.com/OEM/en/licensing/sblicensing/Pages/downgrade_rights.aspx
"Bear trap will close when your leg is inactive for a period of time."
I think you are confusing Windows with Apple.
So, does this mean MS will stop trying to force feed that bloated piece of spyware now? (do any of us really think that is likely to happen...). Now they are trying to look cool be saying people with disabilities get added consideration? I smell tax credit somewhere...(I'm no tax lawyer but it smell like they benefit from this financial on top of all the data they intrusively collect and the ability to turn on/off features as they see fit...gee sounds like the iphone..)
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
Wrong. While Microsoft may mistreat people with disabilities, Daesh... I was going to say that Daesh causes disability to people but they are more likely to murder them.
Linux is for people who don't mind RTFM.
"Bear trap will close when your leg is inactive for a period of time."
Of course the leg may be damaged, but thats ok, its the bear arms that are valuable
Forget all the "Windows 10 is spyware" stuff for a second; the interesting thing to watch is the tactics they're using. In my opinion they're pursuing a good strategy (for them) but it's going to really anger most "prosumer" users and smaller business users.
The interesting thing about Windows 10 is that it's not a "free upgrade," it never was "free," The consumer versions (Home and Pro) of Windows 10 use data mining to pay the bills with Web 3.0 bubble money. From an IT perspective, the only option these days is Enterprise if you want full control over the machine. You only get Enterprise if you sign a Software Assurance agreement, meaning you basically are paying on an ongoing basis for the OS. The big difference is with Windows 7 and 8, small to medium shops would usually just re-use the Professional license that the OEM obtained when they built the PC, without having to re-license it, because the Professional version gave enough control over the computer. With Windows 10, you can't disable the Store or the telemetry on anything except the Enterprise version, nor can you access the Long Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) which is the closest thing you can get to the old RTM + Service Pack update cadence.
Honestly, it's just semantics. Since it's still a "product," Microsoft still needs to tout a free upgrade as the stepping stone from the previous OS versions. They're just taking a one-time revenue hit pulling everyone up onto the same version of the operating system much the same way Apple has been trying to do. In return, they get all the "grandma PCs" running ancient versions of Windows out of the ecosystem and can redeploy all those development resources doing legacy stuff to the new versions. Windows 8 is basically in the coffin, and Windows 7's end-of-support date is constantly being moved up in such a way that they don't violate any promises, but they do make it hard to deploy new copies of it. In reality they're going to be offering whatever channels they can for free upgrades to Windows 10; there's no upside for them not to at this point.
Window 10 will remain free until you are all assimilated. Resistance is futile.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
Microsoft has committed itself to a campaign of computer terrorism, attacking people's personal computers and taking them over, installing malware and spyware, and doing everything they can to trick, pressure, and blackmail people into installing their shitty 'operating system', very often giving them no choice or ignoring their choice to not 'upgrade' to it. Then they issue North Korea-level propaganda about their 300 million installations and how Windows 10 is such a big success (Windows 10 is BEST Windows!). Microsoft should be prosecuted under anti-hacking laws and dismantled, victims paid restitution for their trouble, and the Microsoft CEO's head on a pike in the middle of Silicon Valley for his crimes.
Win10 is hard enough to use as a non-disabled person.
Oh, I'm a retard, and I'm okay,
I sleep all night and I work all day.
CHORUS: He's a retard, and he's okay, ....
He sleeps all night and he works all day.
now free retardation with your acceptance of win10 EULA
Now I can get back to using Windows 7 without wondering every day whether MS has tried to backdoor Windows 10 onto my machine.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
Yup... I've taken to calling Windows 10 a CTD, think STD for computers... I retired in 2010 from supporting/using MS products starting in 1991, and decided I was done with using MS products on my home systems. After seeing what a privacy nightmare 10 is, I couldn't be happier with my decision.. Since I'm retired, I have become the defacto "tech support" for my neighborhood, and recommend those who ask, and are running Windows 7 or 8/8.1 to STAY where they are, and I provide that wonderful little "GWX Toolbox" to jam up the forced "upgrade" to Windows 10 for those who take my advice (to stay on 7/8/8.1)... I've had quite a bit of success in moving quite a few folks over to Ubuntu, including several people who bought new systems and found it had 10 on it.. Every one I've upgraded to Linux has been happy with the improved response of their system and the lack of need for an AV..
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
Microsoft's conduct in the Windows 10 forced-upgrade affair, privacy issues and in many other areas has been utterly contemptible.
This doesn't change the fact that even beginning to compare this behaviour to the atrocities committed by Daesh is- quite rightly- going to be seen as the cheapest of arguments coming from an utterly insulated, out of touch and borderline sociopathic basement dweller intent on exploiting human tragedy for some navel-gazing argument.
MS win here, because by making yourself sound like (or rather, exposing yourself as) that person, any argument you make is going to be ignored.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Paid operating systems are unethical at any price. Do we really want a software corporation deciding who is more deserving of cost reduction.