Windows 10: Windows Insiders will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 RTM for free

First, it was not rumored. It was posted by Gabriel Aul but a further tweet corrected it. As of 10:29 p.m. EDT U.S. 5/11/2015 this site has not be updated with the correction Windows Insiders will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 RTM for free | Windows Central

 

Me too, Dave. In fact, I have never done twitter at all. My kids forced me onto Facebook and that's enough for me.

Seems to me that everyone who's testing Windows 10 is most likely on Win 7 or 8/8.1, so it's a given that Insiders would get the free upgrade. Not that I'm trying to rain on anyone's parade. It would be really nice if that were true, because I want it on all my computers, including the old, old HP laptop with only Windows 10 on it.

 

Yep, I was afraid of that:

Gabriel Aul ‏@GabeAul 12h12 hours ago @DirtyWindows_ @tao_huan You'll have to be upgrading from a system with a valid license for 7 or 8.x

This was further down in the body of the thread.

 

Exactly right, Dave. I saw that too. *Sad And yes, from the first, we were told we would have one year to "collect" our upgrade.

 

There, there, now <pat, pat, pat>

Have you ever known Microsoft to tell us all their secrets in advance? I have to say, though, from the beginning, we were told that all valid licenses for Windows 7 and 8.x would be allowed to upgrade to Windows 10 RTM for free. What we haven't been told yet is how it will be done (mechanics) and what the supported life of our machines will be (they haven't figured that out yet).

They do seem to have backed off the "everyone" would include even pirated copies; now it's a valid license, which to me is good. I may not seem very nice when I say I don't want those who stole their copy of Windows to get the free upgrade along with me, but why should I pay full price while a thief gets off scot free . . .

 

Human nature, m'dear gzt7d8. *Smile

We all want a bargain. And we're just greedy enough to want more than what we thought we were going to get. Ever heard the phrase, "You can't have your cake and eat it too?" Well, we all want our cake and for awhile there, we thought we were gonna get to eat it too! *Smile

 

Are you folks really trying to make something from nothing. . ."It is going to be FREE." Nothing more and nothing less. Just figure out what free is and go from there. . .*Party

 

A little (personal )puzzle for me is. Apparently MS/Abe assume everyone is using Twitter. I, for one, do not unless something is drawn to my attention, like this topic. Surely, an announcement, or comment such as being discussed here, would be 100% more appropriate on the insider pages, and in more depth?

 

I need more clarification on this, how exactly will the upgrade be handed out? I'm planning on a new PC build when school ends and I need to know whenether I can use this free upgrade to get a genuine copy on my new pc build installed since OS license.

EDIT: I think that what MS meant was that people didn't have to reinstall win7 first in order to be eligable for the upgrade

 

We all need more clarification, Antic. Because from the get-go, things haven't been adequately explained. All we know for sure is that everyone with a valid license to Windows 7 or Windows 8.x will get a free license for Windows 10 RTM and that we will have one year to "upgrade" to Windows 10 RTM.. That's it!

Contrary to what some have come to believe, one year doesn't mean we'll have a one year license to Windows 10. It will be for the life of the machine (whatever that turns out to be) and will be updated and patched the same as prior Windows versions.

We don't know how that "upgrade" will happen; whether we will be allowed to clean install or if we must upgrade the current OS on the machine. [I feel sure that one of the authors of Windows Tutorials will come up with a way to clean install if Microsoft doesn't "allow" it.]

We've been told the upgrade will be for the life of the machine; however, we haven't been told what the life of the machine is according to Microsoft.

From what I've gathered, there will be one version of Windows 10 for consumers; one size fits all, whether it be a tablet, laptop or desktop.

There are several trains of thought on this, and most think you will be able to use your Win 7 or 8.x key to install Windows 10. However, there are a whole lot of pirated keys that allow Windows 7 & 8 to be installed, so that would have to be covered. It could also be that Microsoft plans to "check the BIOS" for a prior key, which would leave those whose machines are more than a few years old, or those who built their machines more than a few years back kinda laying in the dirt. I'm sure there are other ways too, but I'll leave that for those far more knowledgeable than I to surmise on . . .

That's all the "further information" I know for sure, and it's not much, I'll admit. *Smile

 

@Wynona

How will Microsoft do keys that are OEMSLP for Windows 7 & 8? Windows 7 users will have access to the key on the back/bottom of the machine. Some Windows 8/8.1 from what I read won't have access to Oem key it is not listed anywhere. When OEMs use those pre-activated key, that internal key is used on more than one machine. I just hope Microsoft doesn't kill the OEMSLP key. For example one OEMSlp upgrade to windows 10 and the other user decided to keep windows 7. If Microsoft kills that key it would show legit systems as not legit.

 

Ya got me, Groze. Like I said, I'll leave that for those who know a lot more than I do to figure out. *Smile

 

It really wouldn't be that difficult to do. If you do a clean install Windows 10 can check to see if a valid key is available in the bios. If a key isn't found then Windows 10 could ask you to type in a valid key. If the key is valid then Windows 10 can install and activate. If the key is invalid the install can stop until a valid key is typed in. I think what Gabe meant was for those who installed Windows 10 over Windows 7 or 8.1 or a clean install will be able to update to Windows 10 final without reloading the earlier version of Windows. This way you could keep everything and not have to start over.

 

I'm running W10 in VMWare on W7 as I'm sure lots of other insiders are - so we will presumably have to delete that after a certain date and MS will update W7 to 10 if we want it. Personally, I'll stick with W7 at least for a while and see how W10 progresses.
There's nothing in it that I want at the present time - except Edge/Spartan doesn't seem bad.

 

They provide a key in the Insider Group. If you use that key then you would have a valid licensed OS.