Skip to main content

No Free Windows 10 Upgrade For Pirates

Microsoft: Sorry Pirates, No Free Windows 10 Upgrade For You

PC running on pirated Windows? You won’t get a free upgrade to Windows 10, contrary to what you might have heard in the past. Microsoft confirms pirates won’t get the upgrade, but will have “special offers” to attract them to start paying for Windows 10.
Microsoft has made its final word on non-genuine Windows devices. They will not be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10 when it becomes available this summer.
Terry Myerson, chief of Microsoft's operating systems unit, says in a blog post that owners of devices running on non-genuine Windows 8.1 devices will not be able to receive the free upgrade to Windows 10, despite earlier statements he made that Microsoft is planning to "re-engage" users of bootlegged Windows computers, millions of which are believed to be found in China.
"While our free offer to upgrade to Windows 10 will not apply to Non-Genuine Windows devices, and as we've always done, we will continue to offer Windows 10 to customers running devices in a Non-Genuine state," Myerson says.
This could mean that Microsoft plans to continue pushing regular notifications to users of non-genuine Windows to convince them to upgrade to genuine Windows 10 in the form of nagware. Non-genuine Windows will also have a watermark informing users that their devices are running on a pirated copy, and although Microsoft has issued updates even to non-genuine software in the past, Myerson says the unofficial copies have a "high risk of malware, fraud, public exposure of your personal information, and a higher risk for poor performance or feature malfunctions."
At the same time, Microsoft also plans to attract non-genuine users to upgrade to Windows 10 with a bunch of promos that will be launching in partnership with device manufacturers, though no details are available yet.  
"We are planning very attractive Windows 10 upgrade offers for their customers running one of their older devices in a Non-Genuine state," says Myerson.
Users of non-genuine Windows are not always guilty of piracy. In many instances, such as in China, users unknowingly purchase devices running on counterfeit software that its sellers pass off as legal, a reality that Microsoft itself and device makers know to exist.
"Microsoft and our OEM partners know that many consumers are unwitting victims of privacy," says Myerson, "and with Windows 10, we would like all of our customers to move forward with us together."  
In March, Myerson announced at the Win HEC technology conference in China that it is making the one-year free upgrade to Windows 10 available to all qualified PCs, even those running on pirated software. This he also confirmed to Reuters and The Verge, saying that Microsoft believes that "customers over time will realize the value of properly licensing Windows and we will make it easy for them to move to legitimate copies." 

Stay connected for more latest updates...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Apple Car

Could This Be The Apple Car? There’s been plenty written about the potential Apple car. Now, though, we have an interesting guess as to what it might look like when it hits the road. This version is quintessentially Apple with smooth lines, tons of technology, and that iconic Apple logo prominently featured. These Apple car concepts were drawn up by  CarWow ,and they include both interior and exterior design possibilities. It starts by taking a cue from Tesla with an absentee grille and flowing, aerodynamic lines that look a bit like the Magic Mouse. Colors are white, black, and gold in a nod to the newest iPhones with carbon-fiber reinforced plastics that include a coating to keep dirt from marring that perfect finish. The wheels are designed to cut drag and look good. The interior is where it suddenly looks like no other car. There’s a fingerprint-reading home button on the driver and passenger front doors and it’s all unlocked from the outside with a left to rig...
Post a Comment
Read more

Apple Drone

Here's what an Apple drone might look like Many major tech companies are eyeing drones — Amazon, Google and even Facebook. It's unclear at this point whether Apple wants in, too, but one designer has envisioned what the company's version of a drone might look like if it ever launched one. German designer Eric Huisman mocked up a sleek drone concept called the  Apple Quadcopter , which has a minimalistic black-and-white design. It's very, well,  Apple . In a series of photos posted to his  website , which are stylized to look like Apple's traditional promotional pictures, the company's iconic logo sits in the middle of a slightly curved body, an element that Huisman says will support its many built-in cameras. Similar to a typical quadcopter, the Apple drone has four rotors and four cameras that can shoot still and panoramic photos (up to 100MP). The concept, which was first spotted by  CNET , also incorporates 4K video functionality and built-...
Post a Comment
Read more

HTC One M9 vs Apple iPhone 6

  HTC One M9 vs Apple iPhone 6 (Video) They’ve got almost nothing in common besides their aluminum casings – and that shouldn’t come as too big a surprise. The iPhone 6 is Apple’s crown jewel, a curved and super-thin ingot packing technologies cherry-picked by Apple to run its closed and meticulously managed iOS platform. By contrast, HTC’s One M9 is a thick block of precision-machined metals, its sharp angles exaggerated by a dual-anodization manufacturing process, its software a heavily customized version of the much more mutable Android Lollipop. There’s so much more to say – but it’s all been said; to get the full picture of each of these handsets you’ve got to check out the full reviews. We called the iPhone 6 “excellence exemplified” despite its aesthetic devolution from previous models, and we criticized HTC for too little evolution in its product since last year’s outstanding One M8. Check those out to get the lay of th...
Post a Comment
Read more