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#1180
Good points! Thank you!It can be a little more complex than that though. It may be possible to purchase OEM versions of Windows 7 or 8 to build your own system from, at a lower cost than the Retail versions. These will be readily and freely upgradeable to 10 in the next 12 months.
Also there are various editions: Introducing Windows 10 Editions | Blogging Windows
On top of this, if you are a "tinkerer", there are always trial versions of Windows around - usually the business (ENTERPRISE) time limited trial or development versions, which are free to use like the Insider Program, which is a rolling beta development for Windows 10 Pro and Home editions.