Windows 10 Not Really Free?

Microsoft has advertized Windows 10 upgrade is Free. I read on the site this;

"How much does Windows 10 cost?

For current Windows 7 and 8.1 users, Windows 10 upgrades downloaded directly from Microsoft will be free for one year, Microsoft's EVP of Operating Systems Terry Myerson announced in January. After that period "“ for both product keys and standalone copies of the OS sold on those flash drives "“ the asking price starts at $119. "

Microsoft has made people think it's free if you download within the first year. This makes it seem the upgrade costs $119, you just get to delay payment.

Is Windows 10 Free for people who download it the first year, then, after that, it cost people to download it? Or, is it $119 for everybody, some pay later?

What happens if you get windows 10, then, after a year, you do not want or can't pay the $119? Does your computer stop working?


Thank you,
Chris.

 

happydog500, thanks for raising this question as I was wondering the same thing.

And thanks for Evan Omo for the feedback.

I did the W10 install on my old Lenovo laptop this evening to go to school on it. Yes it's day one and yes it will no doubt have bugs to be worked out, but the laptop is rarely used so it's a low-risk learning opportunity for me.

Thanks again, and regards to all -

 

Thank you for the reply. Sounds right, but the problem is, that's not what Microsoft is saying.

I signed up a long time a go and I never got the update yet. Guess I get "rolled out" later. I have a desktop, laptop, and full Windows tablet. Hope I don't get one per ip address or something.

Chris.

 

Won't those "bugs" be addressed in the updates? I have installed W10 on my 8.1 laptop and found no "bugs" so far. Perhaps since I am not a power user?

 

I wanted to show patients by waiting for Microsoft. I signed up as soon as I got the "get Windows 10" icon months a go.

Still haven't got it yet. Hope MS didn't forget about me.

I still don't understand about the question. If I ever get windows 10, then next year I do a clean install, I'm back at Windows 7. After the year is over, and I then would have Windows 7, can I do the upgrade after the year, free?

Does getting Windows 10 now mean I can never do a clean install and get windows 10?
If I qualify for the upgrade, then reinstall, I lose it?

Chris.

 

After you upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10, you don't need to, nor can you go back to Windows 7. You can now simply do a clean install of Windows 10.

Once you upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10, your old Windows 7 Product Key is no longer valid. Microsoft issues you a new Product Key for Windows 10 that replaces your old Windows 7 Product Key.

 

So the "upgrade" I'm waiting for is a DVD size and is not an upgrade, but a whole OS? It's not an upgrade like we get regularly, but a file I can put on DVD and install like i did when I installed Windows 7?

Chris.

 

If you do NOT do an "upgrade" from Windows 7 to Windows 10, Windows 10 will prompt you for a new Windows 10 Product Key during installation. (Which I believe is $119 USD). If you do go this route however, your Windows 7 Product Key will remain valid ... because you have paid for two Windows Product Keys (for 7 and 10).

On the other hand, if you do an upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 -- which is free to do for a year -- in effect you are turning in your old Windows 7 Product Key to Microsoft so that they will issue you a new Product Key for Windows 10 for free.

 

Go back to your previous version of Windows

There are answers for most queries.

Have a good look through MS W10 FAQ's

It's all in there - just spend the time and open the headings. Neil.

 

My lap-top came with 8.1 already installed. This was an improvement?!!! XP was a lot easier to use, much more stable. AFAIC, Microsoft is digging its own grave. I'll give W-10 a fair shake, but there might be a recent model Dell lap-top on the market if (when?) I switch to Apple.

This is the Redmond Funny Farm's last chance with me, after going from Win 3.0 to 8.1 over a 30-year (?) span.

 

FWIW, Windows 3.0 was released to the public on May 22, 1990 and Windows 8.1 on October 17. 2013, which is a span of 23 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 4 days.

 

That *is* news to me.

I always thought a person could revert back to 7 if they did not like 10.

I wonder if 10 would run on a single-core processor?

 

Yes, you can revert back to Windows 7 if you do not like Windows 10, but you have to do it within one month after upgrading. I just did revert back. The process was a little more difficult than it was supposed to be, but it seems to have worked fine. I'm not sure how the keys work -- I did not see anything about that during the process.

I was told, though, that if you upgrade to Windows 10 but then revert back to Windows 7, you cannot later upgrade for free to Windows 10 even during the free year that ends August 2016. (I don't know if that is true or not.) So I tried to get Windows 10 to work. But it was just too buggy. I only had 24 hours left in my one month, so I had to act now.

The problems I had with Windows 10 were with some older games not working, with drivers not working, with the computer turning on at random times even though I chose not to let anything wake it up but the mouse, and with it not going to sleep after inactivity. I thought those problems would be fixable, but they were not.

 

You can revert back for 30 days. Microsoft keeps track of your Product Keys.

ZDNet > My biggest problem with Windows 10: Instability - by Mary Jo Foley

The Register > Fed-up sysadmins beg Microsoft to improve pisspoor Windows 10 update notes

 

I think you have 30 days to revert back to your previous version of Windows. Doc: It would have be interesting if you could have calculated back to minutes and seconds. But that would've been literally impossible. Great article Doc. MS should be more specific to everyone about what their updates fix. Consumer end users do not want follow MS blindly into the next generation of Windows computing.

 

Yep. And businesses cannot afford to allow Microsoft to potentially destabilize their entire fleet of Windows computers.

 

You have one month, rather than 30 days, to revert back. At least, that's what Microsoft says. In my case, that was true. I reverted back on the 31st day.

Does anyone know whether you can again upgrade to Windows 10 if you upgrade once and then revert back? I thought I read somewhere that you could not, but the option to upgrade still appears on my computer after reverting back and I cannot find anything now on the internet and in Microsoft's FAQs that says you cannot.