Windows 10 Coming This Summer, Still No Precise Date

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Michael Justin Allen Sexton is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware component news, specializing in CPUs and motherboards.

39 Comments Comment from the forums

kawininjazx

So how are the new keys being handed out? If you have an activated copy of windows they will just give you one, or do you have to prove you actually have a key and didn't use a loader to activate windows.
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ksharp25

I wonder that too. Also will the "free" upgrade allow me to upgrade to a newer Edition build for free as well? Meaning I have Windows 8.1 Single Language because it came pre-loaded but I would want to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro and not Single Language
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CybKnox

I wonder that too. Also will the "free" upgrade allow me to upgrade to a newer Edition build for free as well? Meaning I have Windows 8.1 Single Language because it came pre-loaded but I would want to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro and not Single Language

It's simple, you'll upgrade for free to the edition that 8.1 had and then from the "System" window you can choose to pay additional fee to upgrade to Pro or whatever edition you want.

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Kewlx25

Updated: ZDNet's Ed Bott got a response from a Microsoft spokesperson, confirming that the free upgrade path is indeed available for all pirates everywhere, and not just in China.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/03/windows-10-will-be-a-free-upgrade-for-genuine-and-non-genuine-users/

Even pirates are getting a free upgrade.
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dstarr3

What's the cost/business model for non-upgrades?
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canadianvice

So how are the new keys being handed out? If you have an activated copy of windows they will just give you one, or do you have to prove you actually have a key and didn't use a loader to activate windows.

While I don't condone piracy, there's an article on Ars stating that for at least China, if not globally, ALL copies of Windows (loaded or not) that are 7/8/8.1 will be given a free, legitimate copy of 10, probably only the Chinese though, so MS can try and get them to be honest about their OS use.

Again, not confirmed in the slightest, but Ars seems to think that's one possibility.
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quilciri

Given Myerson's media campaign for Windows-as-a-service, I have to wonder why Microsoft isn't offering Windows 10 for free, period, to anyone with hardware that can support it.
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gggplaya

While i understand why they want to upgrade windows 8 users for free, i don't see what business sense there is to offer free upgrades to windows 7 users. But hey, i guess their losing market share like crazy, so maybe they want to re-establish market dominance like the glory days of windows 95-windowsXP. Then start charging out the butt for windows 11, once they've gotten people locked in to the OS again.

Also, i think there's going to be a resurgence of PC gaming given the mediocre performance of Xbone and PS4, where PC hardware is more powerful for just a little more money. That and the porting of console games to PC is much easier thanks to a similar hardware architecture. So DX12 will really get he ball rolling.
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PaulBags

It's likely that old activation loaders won't work in windows 10, your upgrade is free but it's an upgrade to the trial version you already had.

Still need to know versions and absolute pricing, I don't currently "own" a windows license & if 10 is all it's cracked up to be it might actually, finally, be worth paying for. If it's affordable. And if they're not going the route of yearly subscriptions, which is one rumor I've seen.
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IInuyasha74

For those wondering how they will get the access key free, like mentioned above it will be an update to your existing Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 system. You might need to input your old key at some point during the update though.
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