So can you guys confirm for me what I believe I am reading elsewhere. I have licensed 8 laptop. So if I upgrade to 10 during this "offer period" then it will be free and l will then continue to get updates for free for ever after?

Is it really that simple? What about all the different versions of 7, home, premium, all that? Do they all just morph into the same package when people take the free update?

I also intend to wait a good few months before I update, since this is my work and play machine and want to see what others think first, just trust you guys interpretation of the situation a bit more than these tech sites and wanted to clarify the situation

Thanks.

Didn't Microsoft say they're abandoning all Windows prior to 7, including 7?

Didn't Microsoft say they're abandoning all Windows prior to 7, including 7?

Windows as a product, like all products, has a lifespan. At some point Microsoft will stop supporting it, as they did with XP. The schedule is documented.

So can you guys confirm for me what I believe I am reading elsewhere. I have licensed 8 laptop. So if I upgrade to 10 during this "offer period" then it will be free and l will then continue to get updates for free for ever after?

That's the fun thing about their marketing. It never actually says. And so far as I can tell, they still haven't released an actual license agreement.

They keep marketing things like "Free Upgrade for the first year". Followed up by "It is not a subscription!"

Or "Once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device –at no additional charge." ... but who decides what the "supported lifetime of the device" is? Supported lifetime is tricky. They're still selling Windows 7 on OEM computers yet mainstream support officially ended five months ago. Windows 7 is past its "supported lifetime" but still a very active commercial product.

That makes it tricky to deal with this: "Right now we're releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we're all still working on Windows 10 ... Windows will be delivered as a service bringing new innovations and updates in an ongoing manner", releasing Windows 10.1, 10.2, and so on, rather than Windows 11.

So by their logic, our grandchildren may be using Windows 10.3412 since Windows 10 is the last version. Just don't expect that version of Windows 10 to run on today's hardware. Because Microsoft will decide when they want to officially end support. If you happen to still be using the hardware, sucks for you. Like people buying computers with Windows 7 today, five months after mainstream support ended.

hopes to get people's email addresses

without also risking a real machine or a valuable email address

Hang on. You guys are running Windows without a Live account? Is that even feasible at this point?

My Windows Live account is just my gmail, which works pretty well for this sort of thing. And I've never had Microsoft spam me.

Just incase anyone was wondering, you don't have to give any email address. It'll ask for one, so it can notify you of the launch date. And there's a checkbox (unchecked by default) asking to spam you with other Microsoft offers, but this is all optional.

My computer "reserved" Win10, and said, "Great, you're reserved!" (or something similar), and the email page is the page after you've already reserved, for notification, and there's also a subtle link saying "Skip Email Notification". Clicking it does what it says on the tin.

The email notification is pretty silly anyway, since if you "Skip Email Notification" it says "You'll get a notification on your PC or tablet when Windows 10 is ready for you".

Despite "reserving" it (giving Microsoft permission to pre-load it on my computer without installing it), I'm probably going to wait a week or two post-release before I install it.

Also, for those asking, there are six versions of Win10, not just Home and Pro - you can look up the details if you like, but from memory I think it was: Home, Pro, Mobile, Business, Business-Mobile, and Education.

They keep marketing things like "Free Upgrade for the first year". Followed up by "It is not a subscription!"

I was worried about that as well, but they did eventually clarify that part. For the first year, it costs you zero to update. i.e. it's the equivalent of saying "This offer is only valid for the first year". Too lazy to look up the links I read.

Microsoft is fairly bad at explaining to the public what they are doing. For example, their XBone digital distribution strategy that they had to eventually cancel, because all they were able to successfully communicate was that they were using DRM to block people from selling their game discs.

Or "Once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device –at no additional charge." ... but who decides what the "supported lifetime of the device" is? Supported lifetime is tricky. They're still selling Windows 7 on OEM computers yet mainstream support officially ended five months ago. Windows 7 is past its "supported lifetime" but still a very active commercial product.

Yeah, that's the sticking point for me. The key part is the supported lifetime of "the device" - is that Dell/HP's limited 2 year warranty?
Personally, I think they are trying to say that, if Microsoft is releasing annual-ish Win10 upgrades (i.e. 8.0 -> 8.1), you can't get all those upgrades for free forever, but after ~2 years, the future upgrades may start costing you ~$20 or some such. i.e. if you buy a device with Win10.2 installed, you'll eventually get Win10.3 and Win10.4 for free, but Win10.5 and Win10.6 and so on may charge you. But you can choose to not upgrade, and still continue to get Windows security updates and such for your current version, until Microsoft cancels support for Win10.4.

That's speculation on my part.

It also possibly explains their "for a year" offer. They are giving free upgrades to Win10.0, but when Win10.1 releases in a year, if you're still on Win7 or Win8.1 you'll have to upgrade to Win10.1, either for free or for a fee. They don't want to imply that you can stick with Win7 for five more years and then upgrade for free to Win10.5.
I'm suspecting they mean: "If you're on Win7 or Win8.1, you can upgrade to Win10.0 ... until we release Win10.1.". Then they'll probably drop the Win7 free upgrade path, and let Win8.1 users upgrade to Win10.1 for free until Win10.2 is released, and etc...

More speculation.

That makes it tricky to deal with this: "Right now we're releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we're all still working on Windows 10 ... Windows will be delivered as a service bringing new innovations and updates in an ongoing manner", releasing Windows 10.1, 10.2, and so on, rather than Windows 11.

So by their logic, our grandchildren may be using Windows 10.3412 since Windows 10 is the last version. Just don't expect that version of Windows 10 to run on today's hardware.

Sounds like OSX. Released in 2002, we're now 13 years and ~10 updates later.

I am actually looking forward to this BUT will wait a few weeks after rollout and let all the early people find all the issues that mean you have to blow away your OS and re-install lol

Hang on. You guys are running Windows without a Live account? Is that even feasible at this point?

My Windows Live account is just my gmail, which works pretty well for this sort of thing. And I've never had Microsoft spam me.

hopes to get people's email addresses

without also risking a real machine or a valuable email address

Hang on. You guys are running Windows without a Live account? Is that even feasible at this point?

My Windows Live account is just my gmail, which works pretty well for this sort of thing. And I've never had Microsoft spam me.

I've been using Windows 8.1 without a Live account since it came out and it's not been a problem for me; what problems do others have? I wasn't too concerned about linking it to an account (though I do habitually avoid this sort of thing if I can unless I can think of a good reason for it), but since I didn't already have one it just seemed like an unnecessary step.

Anyway, yeah, I clicked the icon but didn't give my e-mail address since it said it'd notify me anyway, although I'd have been fine with giving my e-mail address if it needed it.

My speculation on the general subject: Microsoft may feel that it loses more money due to the Windows ecosystem being too fractured across versions than it gains from sales of Windows upgrades for existing devices. It's admittedly hard to compare those two, because the lost money is so hard to estimate. Some of it is the cost of support (patches, customer support, et cetera). Microsoft probably has usable stats for this stuff. Some of it is surely murkier though, such as lost sales due to customer dissatisfaction with inconsistencies throughout the Windows ecosystem.

So I expect Microsoft is willing to ditch any revenue they receive from selling upgrades, keep the revenue they receive from licenses for new hardware (which probably dwarfs the upgrade revenue anyway), and make the Windows ecosystem much more consistent and reliable. If this is accurate, I have no doubt that Apple is a big influence in Microsoft wanting to go this route.

So specifically regarding the one year offer to upgrade Windows 7/8.1 to Windows 10, here's my speculation: It is limited to those two versions mostly because any device running either of those versions will likely experience little trouble upgrading to 10. Microsoft doesn't want to risk the support complications if users on older devices get the free upgrade and then have problems because their device is underpowered. (Mobile devices might have increased support risk across the board for reasons beyond mere obsolete hardware, thus no upgrade option for mobile.) And it is limited to one year only because Microsoft wants to compel people to upgrade sooner rather than later. I would not be surprised if Microsoft announced an extension sometime next spring for those people who do not upgrade in the first year; give the above speculation, Microsoft would have little reason not to.

Personally, I think they are trying to say that, if Microsoft is releasing annual-ish Win10 upgrades (i.e. 8.0 -> 8.1), you can't get all those upgrades for free forever, but after ~2 years, the future upgrades may start costing you ~$20 or some such

I don't buy this interpretation at all.

I think they are saying "after two years, the new versions probably won't run on your janky-ass hardware from 2010, so quit being a cheap git and upgrade your hardware". Otherwise known as the Apple model, where updates don't support decade-old hardware...