New
#41
Aha! See, even I wasn't clear on Mike's actual statement. I believe I've seen a statement from Aul that said, in essence, that even Insiders have to have a qualifying OS in order to get a free copy of Windows 10. I don't remember where, but most likely in one of these threads.
What I think too, David. I've been running Windows since around 1985, and every time I've upgraded from one version of the OS (95, 98, XP, Win 7, etc.) I was not allowed to keep the "old" version for use on another machine. So, with that in mind, I'm not expecting to be able to use my retail copy of Windows 8.1 if I upgrade from it to Windows 10.
And, although Microsoft has been generous (my words only) in promising a free upgrade, they're not so generous as to allow us to keep an active license to the "old" version of Windows.
A thought just occurred to me . . . probably dangerous!
I have a retail copy of Windows 8.1. Using that copy of 8.1, I upgrade to Windows 10 and get to keep the active retail copy of Windows 8.1. I put it on an XP machine that didn't qualify for the free upgrade and start the process over again. OK, that worked, so I put the retail copy onto a third machine, that happens to be Vista this time . . .
Nah, I just don't see Microsoft letting us keep the license to the version of Windows we upgraded from.