Need help deciding whether to get free upgrade

Obviously, Microsoft is looking for this free upgrade to be a way of bringing in more money for them, but I'd like to know the true cost before I decide to change from 8.1.

Will I be able to burn an ISO of 10 Pro, in case my OS crashes and I need to reinstall? What problems, if any, are anticipated with the upgrade versus a clean install (which we'd apparently have to pay for)?

Will these mandatory updates end up exceeding my available free space on my HD? Will any of these mandatory updates require payment?

Will I have to keep a bootable Win 8.1 in order to continue to run Office Professional 2007, Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.0 & Photoshop CS3?

Is there a complete cost vs asset assessment that can help me decide whether to upgrade or not?

Any other information that might help me make a decision would be appreciated.

 

Win 10 is still work in progress & MS is not coming out with all the details. Like you, I also have a lot of questions about the upgrade and have decided to stick with Win 8.1 for the time being.

We have anyway, one year to decide to take the plunge or not. By then, I assume, most of the things would be pretty clear.

My advice - hold your horses.

 

Thank you for the information. I'm thinking of waiting till the first service pack is issued, as long as it is within the first year. I do need a little more clarification, though.

If I take the upgrade, will the ISO be available at no charge? That way, I could do the upgrade and then do a clean install from the ISO.

I have two bootable harddrives, so I have no problem keeping one as 8.1 if certain programs won't run on 10. Is there a list of common programs that will no longer be workable with 10?

This free for the first year reminds me of cable company or cellphone providers that give you a come on low price for the first year and then require mandatory high payments after that to offset their losses. I can ignore their store, but am wary of other fees. Will we be charged for Windows 10 updates?

Also, please comment on Microsoft's instructions for a clean install in their FAQs for Win10:
Will users who take advantage of the upgrade offer for Windows 10 from Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 also be able to obtain recovery media?

Microsoft recently noted the following options available:

With Windows 10, you can create your own recovery media and back up the pristine state of the operating system and preinstalled software. If things go wrong and you are unable to refresh or reset your device successfully, you can boot the device using recovery media and reset to the prior pristine state.

Source: http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/03/16/how-windows-10-achieves-its-compact-footprint/

You can also initiate a clean install by doing the following:

You can do a clean install a couple ways.

Press Windows key + i

Click Update and Security

Click Recovery

Under Remove everything and reinstall Windows, click Get started

or

At the Sign in screen

Hold down the shift key on your keyboard while clicking the Power icon on the screen

Continue to hold down the shift key while clicking Restart

Continue to hold down the shift key until the Advanced Recovery Options menu appears

Click Troubleshoot

Click Reset


Thank you for your feedback.

 

It just seems that there should be more of a catch than I'm seeing. Does Microsoft expect the sales of apps to balance out giving Win10 for free? Maybe it is cost effective... I'll just have to wait to see how the reviews come out on its stability, speed, functionality and security.

 

Hi Barry, I have been signed up in the "Insider" program for W10 Preview Evaluation and have received a total of 9 updates. The first was an ISO which you burned to DVD and installed to your HDD.
I have put my Motherboard Drivers onto the HDD and my normal use Software eg. Mozilla FF and TB and Open Office, Foxit and Malwarebytes etc.
I have not had any major problems when the 9 updates have been applied - all my software has worked including Graphics card driver updates.
As I understand it, if you 'own' a legit/activated MS OS ie. W7/W8.1 you can sign up to receive the "FREE" upgrade to W10 and receive all upgrades from then on "Free" for the life of the comp.
Again, I understand this is because you have paid for your original OS, Microsoft are competing with Apple to secure user numbers and the endeavour is to attract 2 Billion users to this new W10 OS.
I stand to be corrected if I have not understood what I have read in releases from MS. Neil.
PS. I'm in boots and all as I enjoy the W10 Evaluation and I've had to purchase Windows 98/SE, ME, XP, Vista, W7 & W8.1 filling the MS coffers for some years.

https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/3898/a-few-more-answers-about-windows-10-upgrades

 

I've heard that MS plans to pay for the program the way Google does (spyware). To maintain privacy, we'll need to find the spyware implanted into Windows 10 and find a way to defeat it. Has anyone heard this or know the best steps to prevent personal information from being sent to MS to be sold?

 

Barry, This may answer a lot of your questions and concerns:
http://www.reddit.com/r/windows/comments/3820ma/windows_10_free_upgrades_kb3035583_and_you_a_faq/
There are 2 links also near the start on this link which give very comprehensive details. Neil.

 

Neil, nowhere in those articles did I see anything saying that Microsoft would be receiving data from our computers that they plan to sell to others. I don't think MS would want to admit that. I guess we need to research and discover what MS is using to send information back to them and then find a way to disable that. At least Google is upfront in stating they sell information they glean from users.