Windows 10: Retail license W10 upgrade permanent?

If your a pessimist, anything they do is doom and gloom. And it seems free will never be free enough for some people. That's life I guess.

 

MS should just have charged in the first place.. some people don't like free I guess.. or just want to have something to complain about.

 

Well Microsoft cannot unilaterally void your owned retail license. That license, according to its terms upon purchase, is your personal property. After upgrading, it will retain all its original definition - which means transferable but can only be used on one PC at a time.

OEM keys are meant to be tied to a particular system's hardware, and so the life of the license is equal to "for the lifetime of the device". But in the case of a retail key, the license is good permanently for one machine. If the license has received upgraded status, then it has upgraded status. And if Microsoft provide an upgrade to that license for use with Windows 10, then that upgraded status is the new definition of the personal property which is a retail license, and it is no longer for Microsoft to say whether or not that license may be transferred, because Microsoft does not hold domain over a person's retail license.

A license purchase is not a rent, or a lease. An owned software license is a personal property - not over the software itself, but over the right to access and use a particular software. Transferable, single-PC use is already the identity and definition of a retail license, and Microsoft cannot take that from a retail license owner, because that license is not Microsoft's to make such unilateral changes over.

If Microsoft wishes to provide an upgrade to that license, that is Microsoft's call to make. However, it is not in Microsoft's power to amend the terms of the retail license from what they were at the time of their purchase, because, again, that licenses originally-agreed-to rights is the legal property of the purchaser, and not the company who sold those particular rights in a license-agreement.

An upgrade to that license still preserve's the license-agreement as a right of the purchaser.

That's the legal reality.

 

The upgrade is free - the eligibility for the upgrade, and what it is that is upgraded, was not free. What is upgraded is an existing Windows license. It is for Microsoft to decide that they want to provide a free upgrade (which is to get people using the MS store and make things easier for MS), but it isn't for Microsoft to choose whether the existing licenses that are receiving the upgrade lose any of their authorizing definition.

For Microsoft to change the usability terms of an existing license, the ownership of the original bought license would first have to revert back to Microsoft and become their property again, with a new license and agreement being then delivered from Microsoft. If a license reverts to Microsoft, that would have to happen through an explicitly clear legal agreement - but then there is no upgrade taking place, and rather a barter, an exchange of one license for another. But who would knowingly exchange their forever-lasting Windows 7 / 8 retail license for a very temporary Windows 10 OEM license? Even just changing the advertising for Microsoft's Windows 10 offer at this point could be worthy of a class-action lawsuit, for people who would get confused and hand over their full retail license under unexpected terms.

Microsoft doesn't hold the legal authority to claim that a person's license is now their property anymore than a car salesman who sell you a car could unilaterally claim that the car they sold you has once again become their property.

Therefore, OEM licenses should upgrade and still function as OEM licenses (lasting for the lifetime of the device), while retail licenses continue to function as their purchased agreement stipulated (install on one machine, transferable).

If some people have been using Windows under the impression that their bought licenses are not actually their property, then that's a misunderstanding on their part. But would they make the same mistake regarding a house they buy, or clothing they buy?

 

Are you an Attorney? You are posting all of this legal stuff as to what MS can do and can't do. How about posting a source?

 

It's language I deal with often and regularly regarding law to the extent that I know commercial law is not whatever a company decides they want it to be at their arbitrary discretion. An EULA is not law, but an EULA is subject to the law. Also, a software license is a personal property. EULAs can change arbitrarily, but a license purchase is a matter of legal and binding contract, and that cannot change by one side's unilateral action.


"You are posting all of this legal stuff as to what MS can do and can't do."

Would you feel the same if someone told you any other item you bought wasn't yours to choose what to do with? Would you respond as if you expected you had no rights to your property (thereby meaning it is not your property at all, and that you have no property) and that someone would have to prove to you that the businesses you bought stuff from weren't your overlords?

 

Then I would suspect that you are aware of a RTU?

 

That in bold is exactly what credit card companies do. In fact, you don't even own the credit card (see your terms). You don't own the software.

 

You don't own it you have a license to use subject to terms and conditions.

This is from the Windows 8.1 EULA, http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windo...e/default.aspx

How can I use the software? We do not sell our software or your copy of it – we only license it. Under our license, we grant you the right to install and run that one copy on one computer (the licensed computer), for use by one person at a time, but only if you comply with all the terms of this agreement. Typically, this means you can install one copy of the software on a personal computer and then you can use the software on that computer. The software is not licensed to be used as server software or for commercial hosting, so you may not make the software available for simultaneous use by multiple users over a network. For more information on multiple user scenarios and virtualization, see the Additional Terms.
May

What about updating the software? If you install the software covered by this agreement as an update to your existing operating system software, the update replaces the original software that you are updating. You do not retain any rights to the original software after you have updated and you may not continue to use it or transfer it in any way. This agreement governs your rights to use the update software and replaces the agreement for the software from which you updated. After you complete your update, some apps may not migrate or may be incompatible with Windows 8.1 Pro and additional software may be required to play back or record certain types of media, including DVDs.
Can

 

I'm not, but I am understanding of consumer law rationale, consumer rights, and the identity of a purchased license as a property.

 

A person does not purchase their credit card, and the financial credit given from a credit card company is not a gift - therefore that credit is not a person's personal property, that whatever they purchase instantly becomes their own property.

It is an unrelatable concept.

 

That would depend on your state law. All contracts have something, saying something to the effect if any part is not legal the rest of the contract will remain in effect.

 

The "it" in your statement refers to the software, and that's correct. A person who owns a license does not own the software which their license entitles them to use - but they do own the license, which grants them right to use the software under the conditions granted at the time of purchasing the license.

In the case of purchasing a retail Windows 7 license, a person would not own Windows 7, but would own a license to use Windows 7, and to have it installed on a single machine at one time, with the license being transferable.

 

The aspects being discussed here I believe to be ubiquitous across North America and also Europe. The EU has previously ruled that a software license is a personal property, and retains all the rights of a personal property.

 

Once you upgrade to windows 10 you are agreeing to a new contract and the other contract is void. Very simple. I am basing this on U.S. & state laws.