Windows 10 will be free to Win7 and Win8 users for 1 year?
StratDragon
Posts: 3,258
I thought this was BS, but appears to be entirely true. MS is taking a page from Apple and offering the OS for free.
http://news.en.softonic.com/windows-10-will-be-free-for-windows-7-and-8-1-users-for-one-year
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/01/21/free-upgrade-to-windows-10-for-first-year-after-release
Daz3d better start looking into compatibility, I have no plans for Win 8 but Win 10 sounds pretty cool and since MS dropped feature support for Win 7 I might do this sooner than later..
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I won't be jumping on the hype train for Windows 10 until I see it running my usual applications flawlessly. The new release of an OS is littered with dozens of compatibility issues and teething troubles which are usually patched a good few months in, either by Microsoft or the software developers release a Win 10 update.
To this day I still have troubles with Windows 8 on several applications which run perfectly fine on Windows 7, so I'll be giving it some strong consideration before I upgrade. After all, an OS is only ever as good as the software you can run on it.
Thanks for the HU. It's nteresting.
But just wondering. Is just the giveaway period limited to 1 year? Or if I get it during the free period will I have to pay after 1 year to continue fully using it?
Charlie
Had a few software compatibilities issues too with Win8. Especially with some old ones that used VS2005 runtime. So I'm still on Win7 and I don't think I'll change. I don't really see anything interesting in Win10 and I'm not really wanting to spend few days reinstalling and configuring all the software. Eventually the new DirectX will interest gamers but I don't play
I'll certainly give a shot to the enterprise version though
from what I read, no restrctions; once you update within that year "window" you are licensed for the duration of your ownership, so 12 months later you still own windows 10, you still don't pay anything: e.g. free for life.
However; If you decided against and wait the year out then decide you want it after the year runs out you will have to pay for the upgrade.
Making W10 available to corporations and developers for free we may see solid support base sooner than later. W7 was probably the most rock solid Windows platform ever for all around use (Windows NT was rock solid but had far fewer 64 bit app choices to run on it.)
Going from XP to Win7 there was a big performance increase on the same HW. MS is donw with win7 in terms of support and features it would be foolish MHO not to have a system configured with at least a dual boot W7/W10 option, especially if it's free and especially since CPU gains in the past 5 years have been lack-luster at best, and slower cheeper CPU's have become very common in tablets and portables to keep PC sales moving. My 5 year old i7 is far from retirement when I place it against the latest and greatest CPU's going for the same price as when I bought mine.
Oh boogers! :-( That means I'm going to have to find another computer of sufficient horsepower to try the damn thing on.
My lab has Win98, WinXP, WinVista, Win7pro, Win8.1pro all on-line and serving various purposes. And besides, I can't bring myself to decommission the 7's or 8 and the older machines are underpowered.
Am I a hoarder? 8-s
Well, there are several options. You could install it on a virtual machine on one of your existing machines. Alternatively, if you have a spare drive suitable for a boot drive, you could disconnect your existing (Win 7 or 8) boot drive, connect the spare drive and install Win 10 on that. The advantage of this is that you will retain your older installation of Windows while having a fully activated copy of Windows 10 to use if you wish, as well. This would not be a dual boot configuration since you would need to physically connect/disconnect the drives to run either install. That way you are not in violation of the EULA, assuming that Win 10 is an upgrade version. If you decide that you don't like Windows 10, disconnect the drive and format. You will still have Win 7 or 8 installed and ready to go by reconnecting the original drive. This is going to be the approach that I will be taking.
from what I read, no restrctions; once you update within that year "window" you are licensed for the duration of your ownership, so 12 months later you still own windows 10, you still don't pay anything: e.g. free for life.
However; If you decided against and wait the year out then decide you want it after the year runs out you will have to pay for the upgrade..
What happens if I "purchase" and download it but don't install it until after a year? Also if I do install it and don't like it will I be able to revert back to my Windows 7 without losing the programs I currently have installed?
Guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens after it is released
Charlie
You can still, I think, sign up for the W10 Beta/preview - I believe the beta version is good until April, unless it's been updated. I keep meaning to grab it and give it a go.
should work for Mac users with boot camp of VPC too.
This is smart on MS part. I recently downgraded because the software I use was not playing nice with windows 8.1 pro 64bit. Downgraded and all my problems went away. I have a Intel i7 6-core with 64gigs of ram and windows 8 was still driving me bonkers. I have a separate pc for games that I play my steam games on so If Win 10 looks promising I may upgrade that machine.
I'm happy with my win8.1,
I am using a program: "Virtual Painter 5", released in 2006, and I'm glad it works in win8.1 ...
as the directx, I do not play games.
...from what I have been reading it is real hit or miss as some users are having a lot of conflicts while others say it works fine. Most likely this has to do with the software being run and what the PC is being used for.
As it is still a beta (some are calling it an alpha) release I'll just keep reading the user reports. Still have five more years with Win7 so not in any kind of a a hurry to possibly bollox everything up if it doesn't work.
Also read that MS is considering making the full release of 10 by "subscription". May be great from a marketing standpoint but a daft decision from the users' (particularly enterprise user's) perspective.
FYI:
The latest build is 9926 .. was updated the other day
I've been running the Technical Preview since it came out and it runs all my software with no signs of problems.. so far ;-)
This includes
Carrara 8.1, 8.5 & 8.5 beta
daz Studio
Bryce 7 Pro
Hexagon
Silo
PoserPro 2012
Photoshop Elements 13
Comic Life 3
as well as all my other software and browsers and stuff.
and the release version of 10 will be free for 7 & 8 users ;-)
Thanks for the information and the links, but I only have one machine at the moment, and I won't be using it to beta test a new OS. Until I see proof that Windows 10 is something that actually works and is something that I actually need - and isn't another kludge like Windows 8 -- I'll stick with Windows 7.
Well, there are several options. You could install it on a virtual machine on one of your existing machines. Alternatively, if you have a spare drive suitable for a boot drive, you could disconnect your existing (Win 7 or 8) boot drive, connect the spare drive and install Win 10 on that. The advantage of this is that you will retain your older installation of Windows while having a fully activated copy of Windows 10 to use if you wish, as well. This would not be a dual boot configuration since you would need to physically connect/disconnect the drives to run either install. That way you are not in violation of the EULA, assuming that Win 10 is an upgrade version. If you decide that you don't like Windows 10, disconnect the drive and format. You will still have Win 7 or 8 installed and ready to go by reconnecting the original drive. This is going to be the approach that I will be taking.
Shhh,... that's good advice but don't let the reasonable side of my brain hear that. I needed an excuse to get a new computer anyway. Shhh.
So Windows 10 is basicly just Windows 8.1 with a new UI?
When I built my current PC about a year ago I purchased 8 retail , then 8.1 retail shortly after that. At the time there was a "bug" that prevented certain 8 owners from using the free upgrade to 8.1so I was lucky enough to be "one of the few" that got to pay for 8 twice. (Just so I could play MMOs with my friends.Well one MMO really , and since none of us are interested in tweeting selfies from garissonville we've all unsubbed and are trying out other MMOs to find a new MMO home.)
I do understand the free upgrade they are offering to W7 - W8.1 users, but the idea that it could become a subscription after a year really weighs heavily on me considering what I've been through with this company so far with their "Free" upgrades. I know several people have posted on various websites that it won't become a subscritption, but that really does remain to be seen. Nothing is stopping MS from changing the rules after the game has started. I , for one, refuse to pay a monthly/yearly ransom to MS to use Daz Studio or any of the other programs I purchased that must run from that platform.
I'm a Gentoo user ( the Linux OS not the penguin ) , so my only current connection to Windows is Daz Studio and friends. IF Daz where to provide a linux version I don't think it would reduce the companies profits, in fact I think it would open a larger market for them. I would even be willing to re-purchase all my existing software from Daz Studio to get the linux versions. I curently have Hexagon, Carrera, and Bryce. Like wise I would also be willing to re-purchase all the 3rd party plugins I have , namely Reality. Luxrender is a linux project so I already have that one. Then I wouldn't need Windows for anything at all.
Ah, what tangled webs we weave, especially when it comes to deceiving ourselves!
BTW, LG, I think I may have you beat when it comes to "hoarding". I currently have boxes of various appropriate vintages running Windows 95, NT4, 98SE, 2000 pro, XP pro, XP pro 64, 7 home premium, 7 pro and 7 ultimate. (You'll notice no Vista or 8 for me).They all have their uses. Its all quite logical, I believe.
I just built a new box, to replace a system that died in December, and installed Windows 7 as a downgrade from 8.1. I'll probably wait until about 10 months into the free offer and order the Windows 10 install media - and then just sit on it until I need it.
I had several really old machines that ran Win95 but they all died and I cannibalized & resuscitated them back & forth until it was useless to try any further. My W98 is a separate boot disk in one of my old XP machines. Never had an "NT". My Win2000 software is still around and I could convert one of my three XP machines to 2000 but haven't had a need to. Never had a 7ultimate. I still have a wall of shelves and drawers full of various software and parts new & old. Someday a lot of that will end up in the trash. Don't have the patience or room for it anymore. Next machine will either be a better top end machine with gobs of horsepower, or I'll finally bite the bullet and get a tablet. Can't afford both. Yes, my machines each have a purpose, if only to play old games or run old software. I was a UNIX guru from the 80s but I never transitioned to LINUX. My days of rapid firing magic Regular Expressions from my fingers were finished 10 years ago when I left the corporate/government/network world. I got several of my PC machines as partial payment for fix-it work I did for private customers who upgraded when I convinced them that it was time.
I spend a little of my time now answering infrequent questions and fixing computers for old customers but am not taking any new customers. I spend the rest of my new found "time for life" re-reading the classic SciFi books, reading Russian history and biographies of the Czars , learning Russian, and learning how to cook more than a hamburger. Don't know why Russian history fascinates me so much, I hated history in school.
Let's see - I dumped the two RS-6000 systems running AIX 4.1 and 5.0 a while back. I dumped NT 4.0 because it was an upgrade from NT 3.51 and required 3.51 to be installed on the system to do the upgrade - and 3.51 was an upgrade from Win95 and required either a Win95 installation or a valid diskette 1 of Win95 in order to install.
I've dumped most of my old systems when the motherboards went, but I still have an original Hayes 300 baud SmartModem that could be overclocked to run at 450 baud, and both my original IBM 5.25 inch, full-height, single-side, single density floppy drives - that cost $540 each when I bought the system. I've a perfectly good Okidata dot-matrix printer up in the attic - a replacement for the Epson MX-1000 I sold with my original system in the late 1980s.
And some other interesting but no longer really useable hardware cluttering up a closet - an ESDI disk interface card, a 512 KB memory expansion board from before the LIM spec and only useable as a ram-drive, a couple of quad-density floppy drives (5.25 inch - worked just fine with MS-DOS 3.0 and 4.1 when defined as 3.5 inch drives, or I could run the dedicated driver which allowed reading/writing the double-density 5.25 inch floppies in the drives). If I had just a penny for every buck I spent as an 'early adopter' I'd have a whole lotta pennies! :-)
...yeah, as much as dealing with Windows can be pain in the wazoo,, I'll be staying with it. 7s been pretty stable and will be around for at least 5 years (hopefully that's enough time for MS to work the bugs out of the next two windows versions). Why not go to Linux? Well, aside from Daz software not working very well with it, it requires more attention on the user's part to maintain. Not my cup of tea so to say.
The one thing I have read about 10 is while it has brought the old Start Menu back, it still uses a "tiled" rather than cascading windows environment. Ick and poo. I want my OS's UI to look and function as close to 7 as possible. That means no hidden task or toolbars, being able to resize and "cascade" application windows instead of having everything open "full screen", and not having to deal with annoying features and "assistants" I don't care to use that just add bloat and get in the my way (man, I so hated "Clippy" in MS Office, such childish rubbish).
An OS should be nothing more than a platform for running and accessing the software on one's system and nothing more. it should almost be "transparent" in the sense of how it impacts one's ability to work with the software one uses. it should be lean, elegant, and efficient. Part of the reason I have liked Daz Studio is because of its modular concept. You can effectively set it up to fit the needs you have through customisation and various plugins. For example I am primarily into illustration, so I have no need for the advanced animation plugin, lip syncing modules etc bloating the application further. I can also disable any built-in plugin I won't use rather easily (compared to the way MS usually handles such functions).
It's actually rather simple.
Microsoft dropped support for win 7??? I didn't hear that, I heard that they just dropped XP.... Augh.
I bought Windows 7 only 3 days ago. (Blame mercury retrograde for frying my computer's window install and I had to buy and reinstall windows). Not a thing was said about it being not supported anymore????
..that's only for the free user support. They will still be issuing security updates until 2020.
Wow.... what year is it??.... I must have slept thru Windows 9.
...Windows 10 is actually 9, they're just using that "New Math" from back in the 60s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIKGV2cTgqA
Bill Gates counts ...
I heard the free versions will be just for new buyers of small devices - tablets and smartphones, so it kind of isn't free.
Anyway, I wonder how much time it would take to get Thief running on it...
New features no longer supported, you wont see a Windows 7 Service Pack 2 for instance, you wont see bug fixes if some huge flaw gets discovered all of the sudden. You will still get security patch updates so if you use automatic update don't turn it off, unless your like me and want to see what MS screwed up when they release their patch before you go and do it and click that little box that says "Not Recommended" because robots don't have trust issues like I do.
New features no longer supported, you wont see a Windows 7 Service Pack 2 for instance, you wont see bug fixes if some huge flaw gets discovered all of the sudden. You will still get security patch updates so if you use automatic update don't turn it off, unless your like me and want to see what MS screwed up when they release their patch before you go and do it and click that little box that says "Not Recommended" because robots don't have trust issues like I do.
I like "Tell me when there are updates" - for all those updating thingies (Flash, Air, Java, Windows ...) ...
And then I take a close look!
FROM MICROSOFT.COM
Free Upgrade Offer
Great news! We will offer a free upgrade to Windows 10 for qualified new or existing Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices that upgrade in the first year!* And even better: once a qualified Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it up to date for the supported lifetime of the device, keeping it more secure, and introducing new features and functionality over time – for no additional charge. Sign up with your email today, and we will send you more information about Windows 10 and the upgrade offer in the coming months.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/about?ocid=WIN10_0_WOL_Hero_Home_Windows-10_Null_01