Windows 10 Preview free upgrade: Demystified.
Two days ago, Microsoft chief of Operating Systems Gabe Aul posted what was meant to be a clarification of how Insiders will be able to upgrade to the final and official release of Windows 10.
In the post, Aul explained that Windows Insiders will receive the official upgrade through Windows Update, just as they have for each new preview build pushed throughout the Insider program.
Since that post, a strange notion has spread like wildfire, that Windows Insiders, or technically anyone who installs Windows 10 Preview on a computer regardless of whether they already have a Windows 7 or Windows 8 license, will get a fully activated Windows 10 license.
Some blogs and even popular news websites have even posted “tutorials” on how to trick Microsoft into giving away Windows 10 for free, not just to owners of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, but anyone who installs Windows 10 Preview.
“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 build...” Wrote Aul, “... 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.*”
Setting the record straight... again.
It’s not the first time that public statements from Microsoft have been grossly misrepresented and taken out of context, for the sake of sensationalist press.
Early on, we starting with the myth that Windows 10 will be a yearly subscription service. The rumor has sparked controversy for months, before slowly dying down, with a number of public blogs still sporadically propagating the myth.
Microsoft Windows 10 is almost within grasp of millions of consumers who will be allowed to upgrade to it, from Windows 7, and from Windows 8.1. The free upgrade offer, as Gabe Aul puts it, is actually an amazing deal, considering that with every previous version of Windows, required the purchase of a brand new upgrade license.
According to recent statistics, there is at least 750 million Windows 7 computers worldwide, that will be eligible to upgrade to Windows 10. Even if only half of those systems are upgraded, Microsoft is basically forfeiting close to 85 billion dollars in revenue from Windows 10 licenses alone.
Even to Microsoft, 85 billions is a big chunk of change, so, to believe in the existence of a loophole that allows users to get a free, fully activated copy of Windows 10, to anyone “posing” as an Insider, is quite a stretch of the imagination, by mere standards of common sense.