Windows 10 free for pirates
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Important to note that just because the update to Windows 10 is available doesn't make it legit or legal. Microsoft is simply treating the update as a patch rather than as something that is going to validate the underlying OS. It is very much in Microsoft's interest to keep everyone as up to date as possible, even those stealing their software, but also not to validate the piracy. This appears meet both requirements just fine.
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@thanksajdotcom No, you still can not run Windows 10 in the cloud.
Sorry, had to do it =P
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A Free upgrade indicates that the previous version had to follow licensing terms in order to upgrade. They are making an exception for china to get them up to date (and likely to make sure they aren't giving Microsoft a bad name/image). A full version would not require a previous licensed version but that isn't what they are doing with windows 10. Also "free" Does not mean free to do with what you want as in opensource it means free of cost, there is still a license that has to be followed to use the product rights granted to you.
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This isn't limited only to China, MS has noted this is free world wide. In other words, if you have a Windows XP machine lying around you might as well pirate a copy of Windows 7 for it so you can upgrade free to Windows 10 - not that I advocate piracy.
Moving everyone to Windows 10 quickly is definitely a great move for MS. I'm sure the hope is that this will push universal apps and other MS services.
@scottalanmiller MS could be treating this as you mention, they could also be giving licenses away to all those who are currently pirating it... I don't think we can say which is which at this point.
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@Dashrender It's a free upgrade to licensed versions of Windows 7/8 world wide. Not improperly licensed. You can still upgrade but you are still pirating.
With Windows 10, although non-Genuine PCs may be able to upgrade to Windows 10, the upgrade will not change the genuine state of the license... If a device was considered non-genuine or mislicensed prior to the upgrade, that device will continue to be considered non-genuine or mislicensed after the upgrade." This story has been updated to reflect that you don't get a legitimate copy of Windows 10
This doesn't make you licensed or not a pirate in any way.
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Interesting. at that point I don't understand why they bother? Those who want windows 10 will just pirate it too.
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@Dashrender said:
Interesting. at that point I don't understand why they bother? Those who want windows 10 will just pirate it too.
It may be going away from a key based model and a SaaS model where they may not be easily possible to pirate through normal means.
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@Dashrender said:
This isn't limited only to China, MS has noted this is free world wide. In other words, if you have a Windows XP machine lying around you might as well pirate a copy of Windows 7 for it so you can upgrade free to Windows 10 - not that I advocate piracy.
But that would be moving from legal to illegal. If you wanted to do that, you'd have pirated Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1 already.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller MS could be treating this as you mention, they could also be giving licenses away to all those who are currently pirating it... I don't think we can say which is which at this point.
Yes, we can. There is no question here. Stolen is still stolen. The announcement is a simple and obvious one, MS isn't blocking updates. It's super simple. The idea that they might be making those updates legal is completely fabricated and there isn't the slightest hint or reason for MS to do that. They are not, it's like saying they might also include a free trip to the moon with the upgrade. Sure, they could do that, but we all know they are not and would never consider it. That the upgraded Windows 10 systems are legit is ludicrous to suggest and completely out of the question.
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@Dashrender said:
Interesting. at that point I don't understand why they bother? Those who want windows 10 will just pirate it too.
It's a lot of reasons I'm sure. They want the path to be rapid and transparent. They want it to be as easy as possible. They want clean copies, not hijacked ones out there. They want as much control as they can get, even when not getting paid. They want install figures for marketing purposes. And they want to lower their own cost of doing business which verifying and validating each copy does. They want to make this simple like patching is.
They get a lot of benefit for getting this handles well even for pirated copies.
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@scottalanmiller said:
They want clean copies, not hijacked ones out there. They want as much control as they can get, even when not getting paid
Exactly. Pirated copies may be modified and have viruses/malware which looks bad on them. They can also keep track of the installs and have essential a bigger install base and testing base for updates/patch (yes, they are usually tested well internally but they can't test every condition).
They also get to sell the newest software that only works on the newest os. Like newer versions of Microsoft office, etc.
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Microsoft has stated in the past that obviously nothing is better than legit, paid copies. But pirates copies are better than no copies. Every time someone pirates Windows, they are blocking a Linux install. Pirating doesn't just hurt Microsoft, it hurts Linux more, so Microsoft prefers it to Linux installs happening. But just like for legit copies, Microsoft has a serious interest in all copies being as up to date as possible.
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"I have my orders from the Emperor himself. He has something special planned for them. We only need to keep them from escaping" - Admiral Piett
(Pirates ye be warned) -
@nadnerB said:
"I have my orders from the Emperor himself. He has something special planned for them. We only need to keep them from escaping" - Admiral Piett
(Pirates ye be warned)Too funny
