Windows 10: Windows 10 to launch 'this summer' with free upgrades even for pirated

I bought 4 copies at $40 each, maybe we're the only ones that liked Windows 8.

 

The way I read it the new version of 10 won't be pirated, it will be non genuine/not activated. You'll end up with a 30 day trial or something. It's going to nag you to buy/enter a valid product code and activate it. They won't get a free ride forever. That's my take on it anyway. I haven't read that other link on Licensing mess yet though.

 

That's the way i read it too.

 

Hi there

While not getting into the morality of the situation it's obvious that the suggestion outlined above will not reduce PIRACY by even ONE SINGLE COPY so what on earth was the point of Ms even bothering to make this announcement. There's nothing radically different to what happens now.

It didn't take long for Pirates to "activate" W7, W8 and W8.1. I suspect that methods are already in place for "Alternative activation" of W10 when RTM appears.

Maybe Ms should simply just bite the bullet -- allow everyone a W10 license - in the long run it probably won't cost them too much money as it seems that they are trying to move as many people as possible to Cloud based and subscription services.

Ms should learn the old simple maxim --"When you are in a hole --stop digging ". They would have done much better to say NOTHING and at RTM offer people really cheap upgrades. Wouldn't STOP piracy buy would reduce it if the price was right - say 15 USD upgrade.

Cheers
jimbo

 

@alphanumeric

My post number 14 was referring what the life cycle policy is not licensing issue but that same ZDnet article talked about that pirated issue as well as some licensing issues.

However, I don't know if that life cycle policy is official or ZDnet interpretation, like I said above some of it was confusing.

 

Forget about the piracy aspect for a minute and look at it this way. This is likely going to make upgrading to Windows 10 easier for everybody, even legitimate installs. No multiple checks and hoops to jump thorough to verify your install qualifies legally. There will be less things to go wrong. Remember the rash of false non genuine Windows 7 popups that happened and the heat Microsoft got over that?
Giving everybody a free ride sounds good but I bet all those that actually paid for Windows 7 and 8 aren't going to feel that way. You can't please all of the people all of the time.

 

I hear you, all these different " interpretations" is getting confusing. My main thing with all this is the suggestion that a pirated system upgraded to 10 will still be a pirated system. I just don't see that happening. I guess it all depends on your definition of pirated. I figure what ever cheat of compromise used to pirate the system will be removed in the upgrade process. The new install will be non genuine because it is unlicensed and not activated. It's not pirated anymore though because you can only use it till the trial period runs out without activating it.