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Microsoft Quietly Announces End of Last Free Windows 10 Upgrade Offer (zdnet.com)
Ed Bott, writing for ZDNet: If you've been waiting to claim your free Windows 10 upgrade using the "assistive technologies" exception, you need to act soon. In a quiet change to an obscure web page, Microsoft announced this week that those exceptions will end on December 31, 2017. On July 29, 2016, Microsoft officially ended the Get Windows 10 program, which offered free Windows 10 upgrades to anyone currently running a supported earlier version of Windows. But the company left a giant loophole in a separate announcement at the same time. Under the terms of that announcement, individuals who use "assistive technologies" received an automatic extension of the free upgrade offer. Sometime in the past week, Microsoft quietly edited that page, to add "The accessibility upgrade offer expires on December 31, 2017."
I've been popping unopened copies of Windows 7 into machines and upgrading them seamlessly to Windows 10 (usually within 24 hours of original install) for the last year without needing any "assistive technology" tricks. Has anyone actually run into any "you must pay to upgrade" or other barriers since the "free for all" Windows 7 allegedly ended?
Windows 10 is still looking like a "has run" in the OS landscape. It is beginning to look as if the only way the marketshare will be increasing is through the forced bundling with new PC and corporate upgrades due to support issues with older versions, and not because Windows 10 is actually wanted.
I don't want to wipe her system, but a year of searching hasn't uncovered any way to fix this issue. If I could upgrade her to Windows 10, maybe it would break her computer out of the endless reboot cycle.
Sounds like the problem is your own stubbornness. After an entire year of searching for a solution you have expended many, many times more effort than if you had just backed up the documents and reformatted the machine -- which I suspect is what you will have to do in the end anyway.
I see people mad at Microsoft for offering free upgrades and features and this doesn't make any sense.
Windows 10 is adware/spyware. I would rather pay to be a customer than get something for nothing and be treated like crap.
I can understand if what you have works fine and you do not want to upgrade right now, but it is negligent if it is free to not consider doing it unless you plan on dumping your system for a newer one or use Linux in the next 2 years.
Two years of not being a beta tester / guinea pig seems smart to me even for those who plan on eventually downgrading to Windows 10 stalker edition. It isn't as if anyone is missing out on anything useful by not downgrading.
and not because Windows 10 is actually wanted
What version of an OS was actually wanted? These aren't iPhones, or Androids where new version brings some fundamental functionality. Windows ultimately even with major version jumps are incredibly minor feature improvements over their predecessor on a platform open enough that any problem you have was likely already resolved by a 3rd party program you installed.
People don't get excited about basic UI, or some incremental changes unless there's something fundamentally missing in the previous system. Mobile phones are getting to that stage now too. I used to get excited about an Android release, or an iOS release. "OMG FINALLY it can copy and paste!" or similar such fundamental improvements. Nowadays, ... meh.
Windows has been the same for a long time. If you're security conscious you'll upgrade when long term support expires. If not, you'll update with your new computer.
No it could be an awful lot simpler and probably run more software but there are holy wars to be fought and potential users to be ridiculed instead.
GNU/Linux is free software and runs in VirtualBox, which is also free software. What software would you end up having to buy in order to run your GNU/Linux workflow on a Windows PC?
So make the reverse argument and say, Windows runs in VirtualBox, so just run that on your Linux system if there's Windows stuff that is critical.
The answer is the same no matter which direction you go ... why bother? If I have Linux critical stuff I'll just run it on Linux and save the extra bother. Likewise for Windows critical stuff. Run it on Windows.
...One of those methods being to ensure that Windows 7 won't be supported with new processors. ...
And that is just the opening salvo with Windows. You have to know that Microsoft is not going to be getting more lax in that area. imo, the Windows subscription model is coming, and coming sooner than later.
I couldn't care less. When I saw the abomination of an OS called W8 I said to myself "It's over with Microsoft for me." Since then I've been running Debian and being a really happy camper watching the game they play with masses of people from the side. It's funny once you get away from it and watch from the side. You should all try that. I also have a Debian 9 live DVD with me at all times to demonstrate to people how a real OS works. What Windows 10?! It's a ridiculous garbage of an OS made to annoy users and it's so full of bugs, holes and spyware that it's amazing so many people actually use it. I don't get it. But it's damn funny! LOL Some people will never learn. Well, you get what you deserve, I guess.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti