Wanting to buy Windows 10 OS online as a download--how to and where?

pintree3 said:

You guys haven't read my Q. In it I said it is to be placed in a brand new, never used PC so yes it would have to be bought as itself and not as an upgrade. Having said this I went on Amazon (USA) and the Microsoft store within Amazon has a DVD for $99. How can a DVD be cheaper (40% cheaper) that a download? (see attachment) I don't get it. Unfortunately shipping it here will add sufficiently to the price tag.(snip)

The version of Windows 10 that you show is Home for use by System Builders. (That's "white box" system builders, companies too small to do the bulk licensing that companies like Dell or HP use.) It comes with no support from Microsoft (not a tragedy, usually) and it is supposedly not transferrable to a different PC than the one it is first installed on. It also can't be run as an upgrade. I'm not sure about the current license agreement, but for older version of Windows, you weren't supposed to install it on a PC for personal use, just for resale. The latter had no enforcement. I don't know how many copies ended up in personal use, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was the majority.

As far as I know, OEM copies are not available from the Microsoft Store. Newegg has legitimate download versions available, although they cost a little more than the disks. (?) I'm astonished at the goods that come up in a search at Amazon that appear to be pirated or otherwise illegal. (Selling MSDN license keys was popular a few years ago. They worked, until MS blacklisted them.) No one can sell a legit Win10 license key for less than $10.

Windows is a little expensive, but you can upgrade it forever, if only on the same hardware if it's an OEM license. With a retail license, you can put it on new hardware. The "same hardware" thing probably won't really be forever in practice, even if the motherboard never fails, because few manufacturers provide driver updates forever for old hardware. They spend resources to make drivers, and receive no payment for it.

Hi there
A possible way (rather unconventional though) is to go down to your local Tip ("re-cycling centres" I think they are called in some places and see if there are any junked computers -- if they have an HDD in them you might find it's installed with retail W7 or so -- in which case you can image that, get its key and upgrade on a new machine to W10. Those old junk computers at the tip will probably cost ZERO -- so the answer to the OP's question is with a little bit of checking around you might be able to find a perfectly legit way of getting W10 for exactly 0 USD. !!

Cheers
jimbo

Hi there

One has to ask how can a site sell something for say 27 USD when the base price is 180 USD or so.
Of course there's always from larger stores / suppliers etc some discounting but that is usually if you buy something -- for example in the past I've got W7 Ultimate thrown in when I bought a PC at a store.

Some OEM's can also sell on legit OEM stuff if you qualify - but IMO any business that is giving you what appears to be an 80% discount (or more) without making you buy or subscribe to something else is heading on a one way trip to the Bankruptcy Courts !!! So one really has to ask how these businesses source this stuff and what are they really selling.

I can understand some older or discontinued software selling cheaply and legitimately - especially if it's still "Shrink Wrapped" - stores often dispose of end of line items at sales etc but I can't see a legit copy of W10 coming my way for 28 USD or so.

Sorry if I'm being a bit cynical here - but the business economics just doesn't make sense unless the items "Fell off the back of a truck") !!.

Cheers
jimbo