Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft Store Offers Free Laptop If They Can't Upgrade Your PC To Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the assuming-you'd-want-to dept.

Microsoft is now promising that their Microsoft Store employees "will give you a free Dell laptop if the staff can't do a same-day upgrade on your eligible PC by close of business," reports new Slashdot submitter Pritam Dash. To be eligible for the Dell Inspiron 15, the PC must meet Microsoft's upgrade requirements -- and be checked in by noon -- and in a further effort to boost adoption for their of the Windows 10 operating system, Microsoft is also announcing that "If your PC isn't compatible with Windows 10, we'll recycle it and give you $150 toward the purchase of a new PC." (This second offer is limited to PCs already running Windows 8). Both offers are valid until July 29th, "while supplies last."

Meanwhile, the U.S. army is "half a year behind the January 2017 deadline to adopt Windows 10 set by Defense Department Chief Information Officer Terry Halvorsen," and has hired Microsoft engineers to assess their 1.1 million devices and legacy systems.

61 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. The U.S.A. army? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If the U.S.A. army runs Windows 10 does that mean the other countries will be able to spy on them easily?

    1. Re:The U.S.A. army? by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

      Desperate time calls for desperate measures.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    2. Re:The U.S.A. army? by cjjjer · · Score: 1

      More easily than say XP?

    3. Re:The U.S.A. army? by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

      If the U.S.A. army runs Windows 10 does that mean the other countries will be able to spy on them easily?

      The US army isn't switching to Windows 10. They are switching to something that looks like Windows 10, but supposedly has certain features removed or disabled. Of course, re-enabling them is just a software patch away, either from official sources or not.

  2. Re:bring it in 5 minutes before store closing time by Eloking · · Score: 1

    bring it in 5 minutes before store closing time

    profit!

    I'm pretty sure it's already planned and it's a trap. Something like triple time for the employee that do overtime to upgrade your machine and a setup to do update real quick.

    --
    Elok
  3. What could possibly go wrong? by Dster76 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    http://www.pcworld.com/article...

    there’s no way to turn off some of the telemetry data Windows 10 collects about your system and beams back to the mothership. Microsoft executives don’t consider this a privacy issue. If you do, Windows 10 isn’t for you.

    Now let's put this on 1.1 million military systems.

    1. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Windows got retrofitted with this telemetry stuff via Windows Update. Not as if you could avoid it on any Windows PC now.

    2. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Windows XP didn't get retrofitted with this telemetry stuff. Neither did Windows 98SE.

    3. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      BS. Just don't install the updates. They are only recommended.

    4. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Telemetry in Windows 7 and 8 is still optional and easy to disable:

      http://www.infoworld.com/article/2981947/microsoft-windows/the-truth-about-windows-7-and-81-spy-patches-kb-3068708-3022345-3075249-and-3080149.html

    5. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I don't think the "Enterprise Edition" has this telemetry. Corporations won't allow it. Neither would DoD.

      It does. Contrary to popular belief you can't disable telemetry on Enterprise. You can only set it to a lower level:

      https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/manage/configure-windows-telemetry-in-your-organization

    6. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      All Windows Versions prior to WIndows 7, that includes XP and 98SE, don't get any Updates anymore.

      False. Vista is in extended support for another year, Server 2008 until 2020.

    7. Re: What could possibly go wrong? by ljw1004 · · Score: 1

      If the telemetry says only things like "10 days since last crash" or "browser was switched from Edge" then I struggle to see any privacy or security issues.

      If the telemetry is "this software was installed and these apps have crashed" then I certainly hope the IT managers are collecting this telemetry and it's up to them to figure a secure way to do it, maybe with Microsoft maybe without, as they see fit.

      If the telemetry is "this sequence of keystrokes was pressed" then there are obvious security and privacy risks.

      I haven't yet been able to find solid details on what telemetry and when... Only rumours and insinuations.

      Disclaimer: I work at Microsoft, but in OSS C# language area, not Windows.

    8. Re: What could possibly go wrong? by hairyfeet · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well when you can't get the OS to stop calling home despite flipping every switch, disabling multiple programs AND using reg hacks I'd say it really doesn't matter WHAT information they are collecting, the simple fact that I have zero control over what my OS is doing is enough to consider it malware.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    9. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Bite+The+Pillow · · Score: 1

      So explain this to me. Office 2013 is a step back in usability for keyboard jockeys. There are things I cannot do without either using a mouse, or hitting TAB a bunch of times. And TAB doesn't go in any sensible order. And the whole OS is heading that way.

      Won't telemetry data help Microsoft figure out how people use things? When submitting a request via Connect.microsoft.com or whatever, they will actually have data that yes, people use it that way, and they should fix it.

      The super telemetry data is overkill, certainly. But how does this hurt anyone?

      In addition, the people most likely to benefit (knowledgeable techies) are the ones most likely to disable it and be underrepresented in the sample data. And the decisions continue to go against the power users, many of whom don't have a choice in the OS being used.

      I expect transparency, and I expect to be able to capture and decode all traffic. But that opens the door to spoofing, and I suspect that may be frowned upon. If they manage to do it the right way, I have no objection to telemetry. If not, then no one should stand for it.

      But a blanket objection, to opt out of something that will benefit you? It makes no sense. When I use the keyboard exclusively, then have to click a mouse on the Save dialog (or maybe Save As), that should be a red flag, and that needs fixed.

    10. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Alain+Williams · · Score: 1

      This I would like to know. What is a MS machine is not connected to the Internet - will it eventually grind to a halt ?

    11. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by dddux · · Score: 1

      "This I would like to know. What is a MS machine is not connected to the Internet - will it eventually grind to a halt ?" No. I routinely use Windows XP and Windows 7 in my audio studio, and these systems are not connected to the Internet. Their sole purpose is making music. For everything else I use Debian Linux with MATE desktop on another bootable partition, but I usually use my laptop with Debian Linux and MATE for Internet. One breathes much easily with Linux for Internet. No virus-antivirus and no malware-anti-malware "games". Just using the computer like a normal human being without any worries.

      --
      "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
    12. Re: What could possibly go wrong? by Cinnamon+Beige · · Score: 1

      I don't think I care of they get their notice as "Edge writing home about how lonely Edge is now that you don't use Edge anymore (sob emoji)" but I do care if it's "W10 sending notice to MS that you switched to Pale Moon 10 days ago."

      However, the first is only if it was done as an opt-in, or an explicit condition of making the browser free.

    13. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by EndlessNameless · · Score: 1

      The military systems that matter have no connectivity to the public internet.

      If internet-connected machines were a concern, the perimeter firewall could mitigate the issue entirely.

      The DoD runs its own WSUS repositories, so their servers and workstations would have no need to connect to Microsoft anyway.

      --

      ---
      According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
    14. Re: What could possibly go wrong? by EndlessNameless · · Score: 1

      Keep in mind that consumer editions cannot go below Basic telemetry. The default is Enhanced, which includes more than the list below.

      From Microsoft directly (reformatted and edited for brevity since Slashdot hates multilevel lists):

      • Basic device data, including device attributes (such as camera resolution and display type)
      • Internet Explorer version
      • Battery attributes (such as capacity and type)
      • Networking attributes (such as number of network adapters, speed of network adapters, mobile operator network, and IMEI number)
      • Processor and memory attributes (such as number of cores, architecture, speed, memory size, and firmware)
      • Virtualization attribute, such as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) support and guest operating system
      • Operating system attributes, such as Windows edition and virtualization state
      • Storage attributes, such as number of drives, type, and size
      • Connected User Experience and Telemetry component quality metrics, including % of uploaded events, dropped events, and the last upload time.
      • Quality-related information, such as the device characteristics of a Connected Standby device, the number of crashes or hangs, and application state change details (such as how much processor time and memory were used, and the total uptime for an app)
      • Compatibility data. Helps provide an understanding about which apps are installed on a device or virtual machine and identifies potential compatibility problems.
      • General app data and app data for Internet Explorer add-ons. Includes a list of apps that are installed on a native or virtualized instance of the OS and whether these apps function correctly after an upgrade, including the app name, publisher, version, and basic details about which files have been blocked from usage.
      • App usage data. Includes how an app is used, including how long an app is used for, when the app has focus, and when the app is started
      • System data, including the amount of memory, as well as information about the processor and BIOS.
      • Accessory device data. Includes a list of accessory devices, such as printers or external storage devices, that are connected to Windows PCs
      • Driver data. Includes specific driver usage that’s meant to help figure out whether apps and devices will function after upgrading to a new version of the operating system. This can help to determine blocking issues and then help Microsoft and our partners apply fixes and improvements.
      • Windows Store, including app downloads, installations, and updates. It also includes Windows Store launches, page views, suspend and resumes, and obtaining licenses.

      The default setting also includes crash dumps and system events, although consumers can disable that if they know how.

      Reference https://technet.microsoft.com/...

      --

      ---
      According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
  4. NOT worth it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Either you lose a perfectly good PC and get a junk Dell that has Windows 10, or you have a perfectly good PC ruined by having Windows 10 installed!

    In what way is either of these better than having a PC that works well with Win 7 or better yet Linux on it?! Its NOT WORTH IT!! Just say NO!!!!!

  5. Will the new laptop ... by PPH · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... run Linux?

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  6. Creepy by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Microsoft has gone into Gollum mode with Windows 10

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Creepy by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Microsoft has gone into Gollum mode with Windows 10

      Nothing creepy at all . . . it's simple greed. The new Microsoft CEO, Satya Nutella, obviously has a bonus tied to Windows 10 installations.

      Just wait until December. Microsoft will be sending out folks to your home, to give you a free PC with Windows 10 installed on it. Just to boost the installation numbers over the goal line for Satya Nutella.

      That's the gag with Windows 10 Telemetry . . . Microsoft can always know how many PCs are running it. So Satya Nutella can't fudge the numbers.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:Creepy by Altrag · · Score: 1

      I'm sure Nadella is getting some bonuses cause CEO, but even aside from that there's plenty of (greedy) reasons for MS to want to push Windows 10:

      1) They get little to no revenue from upgrade installs at the best of time. The vast majority of people "upgrade" their Windows the day their PC dies and they have to buy a new one. So at the very least, they aren't losing much with the push.

      2) It saves them having to maintain Win7 and Win8. For some reason, MS still takes the flak for bugs in their system even after they've EOL'd it because people love to hate them, so their choice is either put effort into old systems forever, or get people to stop using the old systems. (This is also why Windows Update is no longer easily optional. Or at least not easily. People don't update then blame MS when they get infected.)

      3) Similar for future compatibility. Developers like to use new features, but they also need to look at the widest install base. A few of the big devs (including MS themselves) with the time and money to do so will support multiple sets of features but for the most part, they target the lowest common denominator. So again, MS is stuck either maintaining old versions forever to prevent pissy devs or get enough installs moved to the new version that third party devs can justify losing a few potential sales in order to improve their product.

      4) And of course, all of the telemetry and the bit of advertising spread around the system is a potential revenue source in itself. Not really sure how much of a revenue source it is but I'm sure they've at least got plans for monetizing that information if they haven't done so already.

      I don't particularly agree with the automatic forced update to Win10 that was turned on a few weeks ago (not the least of which because I do tech support and its had compatibility issues with a few of our customers' systems that I get stuck dealing with,) but I certainly see the business logic behind at least pushing people to the new version, without needing to focus on a single person's bonuses.

  7. If you own an Acer G73j... by Pollux · · Score: 2

    ...let me save you some time. Don't bother updating the laptop to Windows 10. It has driver compatibility issues that cause the laptop to freeze minutes after you boot the machine.

    My mom has one, and I spent six hours over the 4th of July weekend trying to upgrade it. After a bunch of searching online, I came to the conclusion that some geeky workarounds like disabling the network port and using unsigned drivers was just not the right solution for mother. Instead, I just installed an SSD into the spare drive bay and installed a fresh copy of Windows 7. She says it runs like a brand new laptop. I figure that will buy her another two, maybe three years.

  8. Will it run Linux? by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

    Headline: Microsoft offers free new laptop if your computer can't run Windows 10!

    "Will it run Linux?", getting out my pen knife......

    1. Re:Will it run Linux? by will_die · · Score: 1

      After august yes windows 10 will run linux. https://blogs.windows.com/buil...

    2. Re:Will it run Linux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That's not Linux, it's a GNU and Ubuntu userland on a Linux emulation layer.

  9. So day to upgrade by lapm · · Score: 2

    So it does take day to succesfully install then? Or does this mean small business is supposed to close doors for a day to have upgrade, assuming its goes without problems like erasing your programs without permissions, messing your passwords, etc...

    1. Re:So day to upgrade by Altrag · · Score: 1

      I would hope that if you're running a business on the machine, small or otherwise, you have a better plan than waiting for MS to upgrade it for you, where you have no control over the process (and has a good chance of involving FORMAT C: if the upgrade install doesn't work first try.)

      I'm sure someone somewhere will do this and then get pissed off when "within a day" doesn't somehow magically mean "within 10 minutes" but lets hope that's not the majority. There will probably be far more people bitching that Win10 doesn't look and work exactly like Win7 because somehow a lot of people seem to think they can get improvements (ie: changes) and have absolutely no changes at the same time.

  10. Re:Hmmm by jason777 · · Score: 1

    doh

  11. VIA/S3 Unichrome Pro Integrated Video Adapter [BIO by martiniturbide · · Score: 1

    I have a Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 clone PC with a "VIA/S3 Unichrome Pro Integrated Video Adapter [BIOSTAR MICROTECH] 1106:3343" video adapter that looks like crap on Windows 10. Will it be covered by the Microsoft's upgrade requirements? Who knows?

  12. Re:lame by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    " battery must hold charge and not be required to be plugged in to operate, and be in fully functional, working condition without broken/missing components, cracked display/housing, liquid damage, modification(s) or have device warranty seal broken to be considered working. C"

    So...not like the average Windows laptop I see these days ("So what if the J key is missing! I hardly ever have to type a J, and if I do I can always copy and paste.")

  13. As the upgrade push continues .... by King_TJ · · Score: 1

    I'm interested to see just how motivated Microsoft is to get everyone upgraded to Win 10. The pressure they've been putting on everyone to upgrade before August, when the free upgrades from 7 or 8 expire has been tough for a LOT of people to refuse. But it hasn't been all that realistic for corporate users.

    For example, where I work, we had all of our Windows users on Windows 7 Professional. We took a pass on Windows 8. Now, we're ok with making the move to Win 10, except the Microsoft upgrade process isn't always very practical. We usually use a pre-built drive image with all of our software set up on it. But a machine that has never run Win 10 before, even if it "qualifies for a free Windows 10 upgrade" only qualifies if you install 10 via the upgrade process where it can check in with the MS activation server and register the PC as qualifying. If you just blast our pre-made Windows 10 image onto the drive and boot it back up, it boots as inactivated Win 10 and wants you to pay full price for a working product key code.

    In a few cases, upgrading the way MS wants you to do it resulted in PCs that had problems. Sometimes it's just because a newer BIOS version needed to be flashed onto it before starting (as happened with one of our older Dell laptops). But it means just telling users they can "go ahead and click the box to do the upgrade" can be trouble-prone. So to ensure a smooth process for people, I.T. has to go through all of this manually. One of our remote offices has resigned itself to just paying full price for Windows 10 licenses for all of its PCs in a couple months, when we get time to do an in-person office visit for a few days. They'd rather pay thousands more to MS than hassle with the process required to get the "qualifying free Win 10 upgrades" for its machines.

    How many other places will just skip the upgrade instead of rushing to meet this "free" deadline? If there are enough of them, I bet MS does something else to get people on Win 10 at no cost or at reduced cost.

    1. Re:As the upgrade push continues .... by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Our biggest problem with in place upgrades (other than drivers) was that they tend to toast roaming profiles. In the end we juat learned to delete the server and workstation copies of the profiles and start from scratch, and that largely seemed to fix it. All in all it has worked out reasonably well, though setting up the training lab computers was a real challenge, and even with mandatory profiles the Windows 10 start tiles (which are stored in the local app data store) seem to have a mind of their own. And yes, we tried Classic Shell, but man oh man is it unstable.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:As the upgrade push continues .... by qubezz · · Score: 1

      If you really wanted win10 pre-activation locked in, you'd have some monkeys go around to each computer with SSDs and SATA cards using a win7 image with either OEM certificates or a bootloader hack and let it upgrade THAT to lock in the upgrade on Microsoft's servers. After doing that, you can push an image on them. Why would you though? There is literally ZERO reason to use Windows 10 in a business place, and tons of reasons not to.

    3. Re:As the upgrade push continues .... by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Primary reason is EOLs. Many of our workstations were running Vista, and it made no sense to hit 7 at this point. Yes, 10 has ample challenges and is a pain in the ass, but most the problems are dealt and we are now not facing a major upgrade for several years.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:As the upgrade push continues .... by PRMan · · Score: 1

      Does this help: http://www.howtogeek.com/22434...

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
  14. Nice! by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    So i can drop off all those machines, where clients request that upgrade, to that shop and they will do the work for me?

    And instead of getting badmouthed myself when the upgrade ain't possible, I'll get a free laptop to shut them up with?

    And I just have to temporarily buy the machine, Nice!

  15. Re:"Eligible PC" by orangepeel · · Score: 1

    I had the same reaction. For a moment there I was regretting having thrown out my old 486 ... the one with the VESA Local Bus IDE hard disk controller and video card. Oh, and the two ISA slots. One had a 16-bit ATI TV tuner card stuck in it, and the other an esoteric 8-bit controller card for that Mars 105 black & white hand-held scanner I bought from a DAK catalog back in '89.

    --
    Whoever designed level 61 in Frozen Bubble is a sadistic bastard.
  16. Re:bring it in 5 minutes before store closing time by jmccue · · Score: 2

    Welcome to Slashdot, no one reads the summary these days, never mind the article

  17. Re:lame by mysidia · · Score: 2

    How about undetectable modifications, such as a bit of code injected into BIOS firmware designed to target the Windows 10 installer or bootloader and trigger a reboot once detected, or slowdown, so the install process times out or takes longer than 8 hours?

  18. Two problems and one solution by fulldecent · · Score: 1

    The solution's right there: Army drops off 1.1 million laptops at store before noon. Upgraded before 4pm.

    It's almost like even the /writer/ didn't RTFS.

    --

    -- I was raised on the command line, bitch

  19. Zero reason to use Windows 10 in business? by King_TJ · · Score: 1

    The mentality that there's NO reason to upgrade to 10 in a business setting reminds me of the nay-sayers who never wanted to move off of Windows '98, back in the day. Sure, MS put out a lousy OS (Windows ME) as the next part of the upgrade path, just as Windows 8 was a pretty bad attempt at improving 7. But by the time XP came out, it made LOTS of sense to move to it.

    I think that's where we're at with Windows 10 now. What do we gain as a company from moving from 7 to 10?

    Off-hand:

    - Options for full disk encryption without resorting to 3rd. party add-ons
    - Support for the latest hardware that can't even run older Windows OS versions (like the Surface Pro 4 tablets)
    - Cortana, giving users a new option to instantly find and launch the applications needed without even touching anything on the PC
    - Native support for high DPI (4K and 5K) resolution displays with proper font scaling

    Secondarily, it just puts your company in a better place, moving forward. Potential new hires can see your organization keeps up with current technology. And it buys you a window of another 4-5 years or more where you know you can buy a new peripheral and it will have driver support, instead of always having to verify if it really "still works with Windows 7".

    1. Re:Zero reason to use Windows 10 in business? by sanf780 · · Score: 1
      Cortana can be seen as a negative point. I am thinking of a situation like when you search for a document with an already sensitive title and Cortana sends a search to Bing server outside of your control. I particularly would not like that.

      Apart from that, some of your claims are doubtful at this point of time. Most applications do not take into account high DPI screens yet (too much baggage on the software side, not OS). I find it strange you are not outraged by the fact that new HW does not work with older OS. It kinda resembles the HW issues with GNU/Linux these days.

  20. Re:lame by qubezz · · Score: 2

    Simple, reinstall win8.1 fresh from media, take ownership of everything on the drive and NTFS compress the whole drive, run system cleanup to be sure it's as small as possible, and set the page file to 0, and disable hibernation (powercfg -h off). Image the partition. Put it back on the drive with 1MB free, but only after you've used MHDD to ATAPI permanent-resize the drive to the minimum required LBA blocks.

    You don't want to play their game though, it's done through one of those trade-in recyclers that resells equipment and always hoses the customer: Any appraised value will be determined at trade-in and provided as a Microsoft retail store credit. All trade-ins are subject to Microsoftâ(TM)s discretion and approval. All trade-ins are final. Recycle for Rewards program provided by CExchange, LLC., and other terms and conditions may apply.

  21. Re:lame by qubezz · · Score: 1

    If you want to slow them down even more, use MHDD to set the drive config, and set the maximum UDMA mode to DMA0.

  22. Free laptop comes at a price .. by tetraverse · · Score: 1

    The Windows 10 laptop is free but to use it, you have to allow it to send all your activity back to the mothership and the basic free apps require paying a yearly subscription to enable full functionality.

  23. Re:Actual DoD statement on the subject by Bite+The+Pillow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://iase.disa.mil/Pages/ind... has 3 relevant rules for Windows 10. It must be deployed by January 2017, Domain-joined systems must use Windows 10 Enterprise Edition, and Windows Telemetry must be configured to the lowest level.

    It's right there. DISA is the DoD cyber rule maker, and you don't have to be military to read or use their guidance.

    There is no special build. And apparently basic telemetry is fine.

  24. MS Muthafuctchas REALLY Want You To Do This! by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If they are spending several hundred on a user to go to Windows 10, what make you thing there's ANYTHING to your advantage in doing so?

    "Take our Futching Trojan Horse operating system, kiddo! It's not JUST FREE, we will PAY YOU to take it!"

    This is not good. Trust me. It's not good at all.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
    1. Re:MS Muthafuctchas REALLY Want You To Do This! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You're a loon.

    2. Re:MS Muthafuctchas REALLY Want You To Do This! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Accusing other posters of being loons is exactly something a loon would do.

  25. Shame I don't have ... by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    ... my old Cyrix 200+ with 75Mhz Motherboard running Windows 3.11 and DOS 5 around anymore. Dang, missed a free laptop. ...

    However; I do have my Sharp PC 1403 lying right here, strip-printer, datasette and all. I wonder it that counts. It *is* a PC - as in Pocket Computer - but a PC none-the-less. It's got kick-ass multimedia capabilities too - as you can see here. I'd be impressed if they get Windows 10 running on that.

    But I'll also take the free Laptop, thank you.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  26. Why offer this? by redelm · · Score: 1

    Why make this offer? Just for publicity? Or could it be that many people have trouble upgrading and MS needs to counter the chatter by giving the press something? I've never heard of such an offer before.

  27. Re:start posting failures by guruevi · · Score: 1

    The computers have to be compatible with Windows 10 in order to be eligible for the upgrade. If your system can't be upgraded for whatever reason, it is by definition not eligible, I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't exclude all custom systems, upgraded systems and any system that doesn't have a Windows 8 sticker on it. It's a nice little marketing scam.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  28. Re:Microsoft will literally SUCK YO DICK by Z80a · · Score: 1

    Microsoft is a global company that don't give half of a shit for the US government... unless well paid.
    The telemetry is most likely used to determine the brand of toothpaste you use, rather than your sensitive data.

  29. Read the small fine print by bjoeg · · Score: 1

    PC that meets Window 10 upgrade requirements

    Ok so most old computers are outted.

    Devices must be running Windows 8 or newer

    Right, so basically if it can run Windows 8, it most likely can also run Windows 10

  30. So which is it? by ausekilis · · Score: 1

    A free laptop or free disposal of your old plus $150 peeing on your foot toward a new one?

  31. Re:Actual DoD statement on the subject by rcharbon · · Score: 1

    Minimal telemetry is OK enough because if you're running a system that needs to be secure, you're running it on a network that doesn't connect to the public Intertubes. Might be inefficient, but isn't insecure.

  32. re: new hardware not working with older OS by King_TJ · · Score: 1

    I find that annoying or irritating, sure ... but not to the point of outrage. In particular, the Surface Pro 4 is actually made by Microsoft, so why wouldn't they design it to help push their latest OS instead of encouraging people to stick with the older stuff they'd like to move away from? That's just good business logic from their perspective.

    (And really, it's no different than Apple's business model all along, as a provider of both the hardware and the OS.)