New
#261
If I upgrade my existing retail license to a (free) Windows 10 license, it does not become a retail Windows 10 license, because when I change my hardware after July I will not be able to move the license to a different Windows 10 system. OK, Microsoft have not made 100% clear what will be allowed in terms of changes, but I'm sure that when I upgrade my motherboard and CPU I will not be able to use the existing license. And yes, I do have spare copies of Windows 7 and 8 retail licenses but they don't help after July unless I downgrade.
Actually I like Windows 10, and won't have any problem buying new retail licenses for it when I need to. I've been doing this for every version of Windows since Windows 3.1, only missing out Windows Vista (for obvious reasons). What I object to is how Microsoft has introduced this policy, particularly the lack of clear detail on the offer early on, and the subsequent harassment of users who have not upgraded.
In the past, Arnold, we've always been able to use a Retail version of Windows at will; we just had to call Microsoft (in most cases) if we changed computers. I was asked if I had taken it off the old machine, and once I answered in the affirmative, I got a string of numbers to plug in and Windows got activated.
A number of the denizens here think the same thing should apply.