Question About Free Upgrade To Win10

The OS and updates free for the LIFE OF YOUR Computer. The charges for software such as word etc is unknown. It may even be a yearly fee, no one knows.

Free for the life of the machine... what happens if a person upgrades parts of their PC? It sounds like the free Win 10 license is the kind that comes when buying a new PC from a store - one of those shared batch licenses, or whatever they are (I'm sure I'm not identifying them correctly).

I'd rather the license by associated with an existing Windows license, so that it can be transferred to a new machine, though still only run on a single PC at one time.

The free CANNOT be transferred. That much information was given to us by MS already.
They want you to try it, like it and buy software and in the near future by it when needed. They want you to stay away from Apple, and all others.

richc46 said:

The OS and updates free for the LIFE OF YOUR Computer. The charges for software such as word etc is unknown. It may even be a yearly fee, no one knows.

Rich, there are two ways you can get Microsoft Office. Office 365 (subscription) and .msi (to be installed on one computer).

There are many versions of Office 365 (O365) for consumers and businesses. Follow this link and then scroll to the bottom of the page to see exactly what's available. You will get a cost per version also. http://products.office.com/en-US/?le...4-6460ab1ab4e1

There is a beta of Office 2016 that I'm not a part of because (I'm told) Microsoft doesn't support Office 2016 and O365 on the same computer. Office 2016 licensing is restricted to one computer only. Going by past pricing, I would say that Office 2016 should cost around $139.00 for Home and Student version. If one should keep Office 2016 for five years, that would be a cost of around $27.80 per year. With this, you get Service Packs and security updates (the usual stuff you've always gotten).

I have O365 Home Premium, which can be installed on five computers and five tablets costs $99 per year. I have it on five computers (my dual boots count for two each if it's on both partitions). This is around $20.00 per year per computer. With this, I get perpetual updates; my software never goes out of date and in fact is always up to date.

As you can see, either way you go, depending on the number of computers you have, Microsoft Office is pretty economical. The one exception seems to be O365 Personal, which costs $69 for one computer per year. There is a perk, though, in that O365 Personal is always up to date.

By "up to date" I mean that as soon as a new feature is added, tested and passed, it's automagically added to your subscription. Not bad, but you do pay for what you get. :)

The information is very much appreciated. We are all learning

I think that's poor business planning from Microsoft, once again. The gaming industry has now gained extensive experience in this type of model, and they've found that giving away the initial product maximises revenue by making the user base as large as possible, and creating reason for people to be there worry-free, so that they spend on optional purchases. That's the whole free-to-play concept, which has such developer behemoths on board as Epic with Unreal 4, and Valve with DOTA 2.

The products that aim to make money on their base game don't have an in-app market setup that highlights the market items as a focus, and the products that highlight in-app market items as a focus don't push the base game as a purchasable property.

It seems that MS, with its half-willing incentive, is ultimately wanting to profit on both ends, and to create powerful user draw on neither.


MS should commit to the ideal behind the free upgrade period, and make it an upgrade-and-forget prospect, that leaves users focusing on everything they do afterwards. An upgrade that's tied to hardware expires as soon as a person upgrades a major component of the PC, even if it's the only PC they use. The tied-to-specific-hardware condition means that for people who expect to upgrade their PC in the next couple of years, the Windows 10 upgrade is a trial that ends with requirement to purchase.

A person who expects to replace their PC hardware cannot take MS' Windows 10 upgrade with ease of mind. All it is is a delayed bill for Windows 10. And so it's not exactly a genuine free upgrade.

Delicieuxz said:

Free for the life of the machine... what happens if a person upgrades parts of their PC? It sounds like the free Win 10 license is the kind that comes when buying a new PC from a store - one of those shared batch licenses, or whatever they are (I'm sure I'm not identifying them correctly).

I'd rather the license by associated with an existing Windows license, so that it can be transferred to a new machine, though still only run on a single PC at one time.

I'm pretty sure we'd all like a license that can be transferred; however, it seems that Microsoft may be heading in the opposite direction.

If Microsoft is smart, they'll continue to sell Windows on DVD simply because there are so many of us who do build our own systems. Who knows, though.

Delicieuxz said:

I think that's poor business planning from Microsoft, once again.

Don't indict Microsoft yet. We still don't know what the end result will be. I'm not sure they know either, but you can rest assured that their bean counters won't agree to activity that will lessen Microsoft's market share. :)

Delicieuxz said:

I think that's poor business planning from Microsoft, once again. The gaming industry has now gained extensive experience in this type of model, and they've found that giving away the initial product maximises revenue by making the user base as large as possible, and creating reason for people to be there worry-free, so that they spend on optional purchases. That's the whole free-to-play concept, which has such developer behemoths on board as Epic with Unreal 4, and Valve with DOTA 2.

I'm not sure what you think is poor business planning. They are giving it away for free for a year. this is likely the exact concept you're talking about. They want to see if they can make their money back on app and other purchases. It's probably an experiment. If it goes well, Windows may always be free.. but they're not going to say that up front. OS's may not work out like games. The model works for Apple because they make their money on the hardware. MS only has the Surface to make money on.

Delicieuxz said:

MS should commit to the ideal behind the free upgrade period, and make it an upgrade-and-forget prospect, that leaves users focusing on everything they do afterwards. An upgrade that's tied to hardware expires as soon as a person upgrades a major component of the PC, even if it's the only PC they use. The tied-to-specific-hardware condition means that for people who expect to upgrade their PC in the next couple of years, the Windows 10 upgrade is a trial that ends with requirement to purchase.

Where did you get the idea that upgrading a component would expire your license? Traditionally, Microsoft has said the OS is tied to the motherboard. And that's it. If you replace the motherboard, then you need a new license, everything else is fine. Nobody has to worry and this is a upgrade and forget prospect.

Delicieuxz said:

A person who expects to replace their PC hardware cannot take MS' Windows 10 upgrade with ease of mind. All it is is a delayed bill for Windows 10. And so it's not exactly a genuine free upgrade.

Only a person who expects to replace their Motherboard, in which case they should just buy a retail license that allows transfer to another PC.

The fact is, MS is giving you something.... Beggers can't be choosers... it seems all too many people want to spit in the face of MS for not being generous enough.