Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year - BBC Report

[gamesaregood]

I agree, I got the popup / upgrade message on my desktop PC today which is using an upgrade license purchased directly from microsoft so is not OEM, it also shows as being ready to go with no issues found during the scan so the fact I don't have a UEFI bios appears to be irelivent.

I think the reality is the UEFI bios requirement is for all new PCs which will ship with windows 10.

[GuidoLS]

I agree, I got the popup / upgrade message on my desktop PC today which is using an upgrade license purchased directly from microsoft so is not OEM, it also shows as being ready to go with no issues found during the scan so the fact I don't have a UEFI bios appears to be irelivent.

I think the reality is the UEFI bios requirement is for all new PCs which will ship with windows 10.

As with Windows8, the UEFI bios 'requirement' was solely for the purpose of getting a cute sticker that says Windows(ver) ready. That particular requirement also allowed for an opt-out from the bios with Win8/8.1, and I seriously doubt that option won't be there for 10 as well (for new OEM equipment, not already sold product)

[excalibur2]

Well if you have the space I've found the ideal solution for me in that I've bought a Asus P5q motherboard with 4 gig of ram, overclocked it so it's reasonably fast and being an insider hope to get a free upgrade..so I have Win 7 on my other computers and Win 10 on the new one...so have the best of both worlds and can choose. E.g. if win10 is found to be watertight for security (or better than win 7) would transfer my accounts and banking and other personal stuff to the win 10 machine.

[switchmode]

I do not like the way Microsoft is just giving out the minimum information on the way forward, almost none.

If you take the wording, "life of the device" as correct it will in effect make a retail copy of win7 or 8.1 that can move to a new build now, not able to be installed on a new build later.

I suspect the "Reserve your copy" (You need to reserve as a shortage is expected.) will just install win 10 like an update / service pack and bingo you have lost your ability to move your OS (Windows fly paper)

Be careful, the lack of information is a clue, I think.

[TheDutyPaid]

I like many others is still running Windows 7, I to have got the "Reserve your copy" box come up for the Windows 10, also the wifes lappy has it as well.

The points that bother me are, to my understanding Win 10 free upgrade, will only be free till the 29th of July. So then after that date would I have to pay?

Also if I do not like it or my machine is not fully working with it, Software, hardware and printers ect. I would have to install Win 7 again and loose everything.

I really do not know what to do, stick with Windows 7 and then probably by the end of the year they will stop any updates for it, or go with Windows 8 and bite the bullet as a first day user?

[scaryjim]

Windows 7 is already out of mainstream support (January this year), so it will no longer receive any new features. It will be in extended support for another 5 years though, so it will continue to receive security updates through to January 2020.

There is a one year period, that has been clearly advertised, during which it will be free to upgrade Window 7 SP1 and 8.1 machines to Windows 10. So you don't need to reserve your copy by 29th July.

The "reserve your copy" feature is thought to allow MS to prioritise your download, including potentially pre-downloading the update package so it's ready to install on the 29th. I believe it also allows you to run a system check to make sure that all your current hardware is supported in Windows 10, and it should advise you if Windows 10 won't work on your system. AFAIK the driver model hasn't changed significantly from Windows 7/8, so if it works in Windows 7 it should work in Windows 10. The only issue I've had with the preview is my wife's Very recent AMD dual graphics laptop, which appears to be a support problem with AMDs drivers rather than Windows 10 itself.

If you decide you don't like Windows 10, or it causes technical problems, then (I think fairly obviously) you'd have to reinstall Windows 7. I've found recent versions of Windows tend to be very good at assisting you with getting back to where you started though, and at the very worst you could take a system image prior to running the update which would let you reset your computer to the condition it was in before you updated. How that would interact with the license terms of the Win 10 upgrade is another question entirely though, and while it may be possible in practice it may also breach the terms of the upgrade - I'd read the EULA very carefully before clicking "next"

[TheDutyPaid]

There is a one year period, that has been clearly advertised, during which it will be free to upgrade Window 7 SP1 and 8.1 machines to Windows 10. So you don't need to reserve your copy by 29th July.)

Thank you for the information, I do not know why I got it into my head 'it would only be free till the 29th July'
Can't see day one with being with out problems, what I have seen of Win 10 I do quite like and am interested in upgrading.

The upgrade checker found no problems with my machine but I have never trusted them, will review in a month or two after release.

[Saracen]

...

I really do not know what to do, ....

My advice is that unless you MUST have an up-to-date OS, simply wait. It's still pre-release, and quite a few questions require further clarification, many of which should become clearer when we get release, and the actual EULA.

That's the short-term, and maybe medium-term, position.

Long term, you have another decision to make. It is very unlikely that anything us users do or say, at this point, is going to make any material difference to MSs strategic direction. So, sooner or later, we are all going to have to decide whether to hop on the MS Win10 train, or not.

The answer to that will depend on a lot of things, not least what your background is, what your level of expertise is, what you use your PC and/or other devices for, what your priorities are, and what, if any, red lines you have beyond which, if MS go, you will dump MS.

So, sooner or later, regardless of EULA, tranferability, privacy, etc, you EITHER have to jump onboard with Win10, or abandon ship. So it'll help to know what other ships there are, and what travelling on them is like.

Personally, I am and always have been an MS user. Oh, I've experience of other OSs, including Apple, IBM, Netware, are countless command line pre-windowing systems. But for the last couple of decades, or more, my in-house decision was MS. But this time, I've checked out other ships. I found Ubuntu, for example, dead easy to install, a bit different to use (depending on which graphical front-end you pick), and a bit of a learning curve at first. But it didn't take long to establish that, other than some very limited Windows legacy software, I can do anything I need to do, day to day, on Linux as easily as I can on Windows.

So, long-term, I have proven to myself that another suitable if slightly unfamiliar ship is available, and it's going where I need to go. I can, therefore, abandon the MS ship if I decide to.

You need to decide if there are any alternative ships for you. If not, you're kinda stuck with Win10, whatever the ticket conditions are.

So my advice ....

- short-term : wait, and evaluate other ships.

- long term : depends on that evaluation.

Oh, and don't ignore keeping a Win7 system, even if it's just a single HD, for any essential "legacy" uses, and something else, whether it's Win10 or Linux, for your main daily uses. I can boot my 'main" PC into XP, Win7, Win8, Linux or, if I add another HD/SSD, Win10 just by changing HD/SSD (via a removable drive bay) before I boot.

[peterb]

Nothing I've seen or read gives any compelling reason to move from Windows 7. Like Saracen, I've used other operating systems, including Linux as a desktop machine quite happily, although the development of Gnome 3 rather spoiled that experience.

I am now a happy OSX user, combines a familiar graphical interface with the underlying strength of BSD Unix.

What is clear is that while OS is relatively important, the underlying cloud infrastructure is becoming more relevant, whether that is Microsoft's sky drive (or whatever it is called this week) Apple's iCloud, or Google's cloud. Google is unique in that the Google cloud applications are OS agnostic. Linux doesn't really have a cloud infrastructure, which makes it a compelling choice for those that distrust the security of any cloud system (and I use security in its true definition to include data availability, data integrity and data privacy)

It isn't yet essential to use any cloud system, but it is becoming a default position for Android and Apple, and I can see Microsoft keen to get in on the action - office 365 is a prime example.

[GuidoLS]

Nothing I've seen or read gives any compelling reason to move from Windows 7. Like Saracen, I've used other operating systems, including Linux as a desktop machine quite happily, although the development of Gnome 3 rather spoiled that experience.

I am now a happy OSX user, combines a familiar graphical interface with the underlying strength of BSD Unix.

What is clear is that while OS is relatively important, the underlying cloud infrastructure is becoming more relevant, whether that is Microsoft's sky drive (or whatever it is called this week) Apple's iCloud, or Google's cloud. Google is unique in that the Google cloud applications are OS agnostic. Linux doesn't really have a cloud infrastructure, which makes it a compelling choice for those that distrust the security of any cloud system (and I use security in its true definition to include data availability, data integrity and data privacy)

It isn't yet essential to use any cloud system, but it is becoming a default position for Android and Apple, and I can see Microsoft keen to get in on the action - office 365 is a prime example.

The one overly compelling reason to upgrade from 7 to 10 is that MS has ended mainstream support for 7. Nothing new. No DX12 (which is the biggie). No Spartan/Edge (another, IMO, biggie). Nada beyond security updates. That doesn't mean I'm going to upgrade ALL my Win7 licenses, but that's only because, for me, there *IS* a compelling reason to keep at least one such machine - Media Center.

One thing that doesn't get mentioned is legacy hardware - especially printers/scanners. I've been shocked and amazed at how many older printers work, plug and play, with Win 10 that don't even have drivers for 7 or 8/8.1. I volunteer at a local Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and I get to do all the testing, etc, on the electronics, and anything that won't work with at least Windows 7, 8/8.1 and/or 10 goes into the recycle bin. I think it's about 2:1 printers that work with 10 that don't work with 7 or 8. And I'm not talking HP - they're pretty much native in the OS, it seems. I'm talking Brother, and the notorious Lexmark/Compaq printers that were never given drivers beyond XP, even though they were released when Vista was live, and 7 was in beta.

But it is pretty much true what they say - one shoes does not fit all. Find what's comfortable, and go with it.

[peterb]

I don't think I've ever knowingly used DX 1, - 11, so DX12 (or lack of) isn't going to cause me any sleep loss. Hardware might although the three printers I have (two networked, a Brother and a Lexmark, and a Dymo_USB_label_printer) all work with Win7 so that is not a issue. But W2k lasted me for at least 8 years, so as Win 7 is working now, I'm sure it will continue working in my current set up for a few years.

[excalibur2]

Well I've given up getting my X1950 pro to work better\properly in win 10 (ok in win 7) and have to settle for the basic Win 10 graphic card driver which is probably the same as win 8\8.1 which also caused a problem according to guys on the net.

[GuidoLS]

Well I've given up getting my X1950 pro to work better\properly in win 10 (ok in win 7) and have to settle for the basic Win 10 graphic card driver which is probably the same as win 8\8.1 which also caused a problem according to guys on the net.

There's not been a Catalyst driver for the X1950 since March of 2010... you might want to try one of the drivers for Win7 x64 (or x86 if you're running on a 32bit system). You didn't mention which company made your card, but that's the latest listed for Sapphire, and they make no mention of Win 8/8.1 drivers at all.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presenta...006&lid=1&os=6

[GuidoLS]

I don't think I've ever knowingly used DX 1, - 11, so DX12 (or lack of) isn't going to cause me any sleep loss. Hardware might although the three printers I have (two networked, a Brother and a Lexmark, and a Dymo_USB_label_printer) all work with Win7 so that is not a issue. But W2k lasted me for at least 8 years, so as Win 7 is working now, I'm sure it will continue working in my current set up for a few years.

If you've ever done any heavy gaming (or, in some cases, light gaming) you have probably used DirectX - in most cases, it's already there, and all you have to do is start things. Sometimes, the game will install it if need be. But I'm probably not saying anything you didn't already know - it's just not obvious if you're not a heavy gamer, or if it isn't at the forefront of your programming endeavors. And since you're on OSX primarily now, it probably wouldn't come to mind at all

[scaryjim]

I don't think I've ever knowingly used DX 1, - 11, so DX12 (or lack of) isn't going to cause me any sleep loss.

If you've ever done any heavy gaming (or, in some cases, light gaming) you have probably used DirectX

If you've ever used the desktop in Windows 7 you've used Direct X - the desktop is actually accelerated in Win 7 which is why it requires DX9 capable hardware

[peterb]

If you've ever used the desktop in Windows 7 you've used Direct X - the desktop is actually accelerated in Win 7 which is why it requires DX9 capable hardware

Which was why I added 'knowingly'! I guess if it just works, that's fine, but I don't think I've ever spent (or needed to spend) more than about £60 on any computer I have built, and my preference is for onboard graphics anyway.

Not sure what is in the iMac, but provided it does what I need (bought for video editing) I don't really care.