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Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year

bbc.co.uk

31–40 of 75 posts

Re: Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year

#31

Can someone explain why it would only be free for the first year? To spur adoption? It just seems like more trouble than it's worth to start charging people for it sometime in the future.

For 1 year from release it is free to migrate from 7/8 -> 10.

After 1 year from release you must pay to migrate from 7/8 -> 10.

Regardless of when you migrate, system upgrades are included for the lifetime of the device.

This is a push to get everyone onto the new platform and jumpstart the ecosystem.

Re: Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understood from the video it means you get the chance to upgrade within a year of release. They also said you'll be receiving automated updates for the supported life time of the device (whatever that means)

They've done a really poor job of communicating that. The free upgrade for one year thing is fairly cut and dry. However what they meant by that "we'll support updates for the lifetime of the device" is completely meaningless and confusing. As opposed to what they've been doing until now..? Also they keep on talking about "Windows as a service" with zero clarification on what that means. Is Windows becoming a paid su…

I agree that the language "This is more than a one-time upgrade: once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device – at no additional charge." found on Terry Myerson's blog ( http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/01/21/the-next... ) is troubling at worst and confusing at best.

Since when does Microsoft decide what the "supported lifetime of the device" is? All of my devices running Windows were hand built by me from best-of-breed components that I frequently swap out.

I could see it making sense if it was for the supported lifetime of Windows 10 because that at least is something where Microsoft should be expected to define a final end of support date. But that is not what it says, and even that would be odd...Microsoft is going to either turn off my OS when they decide to no longer support it, or make me start paying to use it at that point?

Makes no sense any way you slice it, at least as currently (poorly) communicated.

Re: Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year

#33

Guys arguing about what "free for a year" means, be aware they DID specify this and if you think they haven't communicated it, you probably weren't there! "For the first year after Windows 10 is available, we will be making available a free upgrade to Windows 10 for all devices running Windows 8.1. Once a device is upgraded to Windows 10, we'll be keeping it current for the supported lifetime for the device." If that…

Here's the smallprint from the page on their current Windows 10 promo site[1]:

> It is our intent that most of these devices will qualify, but some hardware/software requirements apply and feature availability may vary by device. Devices must be connected to the internet and have Windows Update enabled. ISP fees may apply. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 Update required. Some editions are excluded: Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT 8.1. Active Software Assurance customers in volume licensing have the benefit to upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise outside of this offer. We will be sharing more information and additional offer terms in coming months.

1: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/about

Re: Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year

#34
post #2

It's not the price of Windows that was keeping people from adopting Windows 8. It's the irrelevancy and the fact that corporations don't see the ROI. The time it would take to upgrade their company isn't worth the gains, which are minimal. Unless Windows 10 proves to be a massive improvement in performance or usability, I suspect it's uptake will be just as anemic, free or not.

I haven't used Windows in 10+ years, so I've got some questions for those who are smarter than me on the subject of Windows: Does it come with package management yet? Can I easily avoid DLL hell these days? Can I add my own local repository and use it to maintain a fleet of workstations, making sure they always have the same configuration no matter what? Is it easily possible to connect to a Windows machine and admin…

> Does it come with package management yet?

No. There is the Windows Store (all or most Metro apps, GUI) and things like NuGet for Visual Studio, but that's not what you're looking for. There are third-party solutions.

[EDIT: See sibling comments; W10 adds one.]

> Can I easily avoid DLL hell these days?

DLL Hell is no longer a concern. It's not a matter of avoiding it, it won't happen except perhaps in very unusual edge cases I'm not familiar with.

> Can I add my own local repository and use it to maintain a fleet of workstations, making sure they always have the same configuration no matter what?

You can do this. This is one reason Windows is so big in enterprise.

> Is it easily possible to connect to a Windows machine and administer it from a command line/scripting environment?

Yes.

> Can I disable the GUI and use Windows without tying up resources for unneeded functionality - i.e. no graphics card required?

In Server 2012 onwards, the GUI is optional.

> If its not onboard, can I validate that 3rd-party with signed keys? Is there an onboard key agent that will make this possible?

I am not 100% on what you want, but yes, Windows executables are commonly signed and that is integrated with the OS.

> Is there an easy way to get a compiler onboard without requiring registration and so on, or does it ship with development tools already set up and configured?

Windows does not ship with a compiler or other developer tools installed. You can install Visual Studio 2013 Community Edition, which has all the features of Professional Edition, for free and without registration (afaik - I'm doing it right now, so if I'm wrong, I'll edit). You can of course install all the free-software development tools you want. Most tools support Windows reasonably well.

> Are these tools usable without requiring GUI involvement - i.e. remotely?

Yes, although most people don't do so. I've only fiddled around. I've heard that manually fiddling with msbuild is actually more pleasant than using the GUI.

Re: Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year

#35

Guys arguing about what "free for a year" means, be aware they DID specify this and if you think they haven't communicated it, you probably weren't there! "For the first year after Windows 10 is available, we will be making available a free upgrade to Windows 10 for all devices running Windows 8.1. Once a device is upgraded to Windows 10, we'll be keeping it current for the supported lifetime for the device." If that…

Here's the smallprint from the page on their current Windows 10 promo site[1]: > It is our intent that most of these devices will qualify, but some hardware/software requirements apply and feature availability may vary by device. Devices must be connected to the internet and have Windows Update enabled. ISP fees may apply. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 Update required. Some editions are excluded: Windows 7 Enterprise…

No RT! That's harsh, but the truth is dropping RT like a bad habit is the best thing they could do. Sucks for anyone who bought a copy on a cheap tablet, though.

Re: Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year

#36

Guys arguing about what "free for a year" means, be aware they DID specify this and if you think they haven't communicated it, you probably weren't there! "For the first year after Windows 10 is available, we will be making available a free upgrade to Windows 10 for all devices running Windows 8.1. Once a device is upgraded to Windows 10, we'll be keeping it current for the supported lifetime for the device." If that…

> we'll be keeping it current for the supported lifetime for the device.

My question is: what exactly is the "supported lifetime for the device?"

Is this "supported lifetime" defined by the manufacturer's warranty? The original OS date of installation? Something else?

Re: Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year

#37

Guys arguing about what "free for a year" means, be aware they DID specify this and if you think they haven't communicated it, you probably weren't there! "For the first year after Windows 10 is available, we will be making available a free upgrade to Windows 10 for all devices running Windows 8.1. Once a device is upgraded to Windows 10, we'll be keeping it current for the supported lifetime for the device." If that…

> we'll be keeping it current for the supported lifetime for the device. My question is: what exactly is the "supported lifetime for the device?" Is this "supported lifetime" defined by the manufacturer's warranty? The original OS date of installation? Something else?

You're thinking too hard.

It means if you install Windows 10 during the free period, it will be as if you bought a normal Windows license.

Re: Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understood from the video it means you get the chance to upgrade within a year of release. They also said you'll be receiving automated updates for the supported life time of the device (whatever that means)

They've done a really poor job of communicating that. The free upgrade for one year thing is fairly cut and dry. However what they meant by that "we'll support updates for the lifetime of the device" is completely meaningless and confusing. As opposed to what they've been doing until now..? Also they keep on talking about "Windows as a service" with zero clarification on what that means. Is Windows becoming a paid su…

As opposed to what they've been doing until now..?

My interpretation is that Windows 10 will by the last 'version' of Windows, in other words, that there won't be a Windows 11. So, for as long as you own the device, Windows will be supported on it.

Re: Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the smallprint from the page on their current Windows 10 promo site[1]: > It is our intent that most of these devices will qualify, but some hardware/software requirements apply and feature availability may vary by device. Devices must be connected to the internet and have Windows Update enabled. ISP fees may apply. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 Update required. Some editions are excluded: Windows 7 Enterprise…

No RT! That's harsh, but the truth is dropping RT like a bad habit is the best thing they could do. Sucks for anyone who bought a copy on a cheap tablet, though.

RT would have been amazing if they had been able to create an x86/64 emulator. Even if it ran 50% slower than on a native CPU and even if it ate battery like crazy at least it would have given the platform a nice back-catalogue.

Instead not only did RT have virtually no software on it, but Microsoft went out of their way to make it "impossible" to build ARM-native software for it without essentially hacking into your own system.

Microsoft set RT on the road to ruin from almost day one. It is unsurprising that they're pulling the plug. I will say when they announced the Surface Pro 3 without a Surface RT 3, the writing was on the wall as far as end of life...

Re: Windows 10 upgrade to be 'free' for one year

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't used Windows in 10+ years, so I've got some questions for those who are smarter than me on the subject of Windows: Does it come with package management yet? Can I easily avoid DLL hell these days? Can I add my own local repository and use it to maintain a fleet of workstations, making sure they always have the same configuration no matter what? Is it easily possible to connect to a Windows machine and admin…

> Does it come with package management yet? No. There is the Windows Store (all or most Metro apps, GUI) and things like NuGet for Visual Studio, but that's not what you're looking for. There are third-party solutions. [EDIT: See sibling comments; W10 adds one.] > Can I easily avoid DLL hell these days? DLL Hell is no longer a concern. It's not a matter of avoiding it, it won't happen except perhaps in very unusual e…

>You can install Visual Studio 2013 Community Edition,

If you prefer to use the compiler and build system at the command line and you're only interested in managed development (i.e., C#), you can download the Microsoft Build tools package[1], which contains the compilers and MSBuild for headless development.

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=4493...

>> Are these tools usable without requiring GUI involvement - i.e. remotely?

Yes, I do most of my building on the command line. Editing, of course, is in VS, but I've also had fine success with Vim.

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