When Windows 10 was first announced, it appeared that Microsoft would do the unthinkable and give it away for free. Later, the software company amended that promise to a free upgrade to anyone who owns a genuine copy of Windows 7 or 8. Over the weekend, Microsoft published a blog post offering the upgrade to anyone currently using the Windows 10 Insider preview; which was quietly amended a couple of days later.
The Friday post on the Windows Insider blog indicated that those currently running the Windows 10 preview would “receive the Windows 10 final release build and remain activated.” However, the post was later amended and removed the “activated” part of the sentence.
This slightly alters the deal for Windows 10 preview users who were hoping of getting a full genuine version of Windows 10. For the individual user, it doesn’t really matter. They will still receive the Windows 10 final release build, and will be able to use it for as long as they want. The only issue is the fact that the copy of Windows 10 will not be activated and will not show as “genuine”. On the other hand, companies who were hoping to get free copies of Windows 10 through the Windows Insider programme will have a harder time, since they are required by law to have genuine software.
Microsoft was been wobbling back and forth about the conditions of getting Windows 10 for free, and it has not been helping the buildup to the final release of the operating system. However, there are still technically many ways for the average user to get their hands on Windows 10 for free.
[Source: ArsTechnica 1,2; Windows Insider]
