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Windows 10 free upgrade for Win 7, 8

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McGreed polycounter lvl 15
So apparently Microsoft announced that Windows 7/8 will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free the first year, however what does that actually mean?

Can you get a free upgrade to Windows 10 the first year, or can just upgrade and use Windows 10 for free the first year (as trial)? I'm getting a bit conflicting info, anyone knows more about this?

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  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    You can upgrade in the first year that Windows 10 is available, it's not a 'free trial'. They'd be really shitty for anyone upgrading because it's not like you can go backwards again afterwards.

    Whether you'd want to be an early adopter for a Microsoft operating system is another question.
  • McGreed
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    McGreed polycounter lvl 15
    Hehe, well I usually wait a year or more before upgrading to any OS, to be sure that most major issues has been fixed. I'm still on my Windows 7 though, which was why I was slightly interested. Might wait till the 11th month and then upgrade if it looks reasonable.
  • mystichobo
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    mystichobo polycounter lvl 12
    ambershee wrote: »
    Whether you'd want to be an early adopter for a Microsoft operating system is another question.

    Surely the true early adopters are the people currently using the technical preview?
  • Visceral
    Who would want Win 10? Jesus looks like they are bringing back that god awful GFWL
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    ambershee wrote: »
    Whether you'd want to be an early adopter for a Microsoft operating system is another question.

    or just any OS for that matter. Just get a hold of Mavericks... shows you that the idea of semi mandatory yearly releases is rubbish (or look to Autodesk)
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    mystichobo wrote: »
    Surely the true early adopters are the people currently using the technical preview?

    Those are masochists.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I'm upgrading as soon as there is a DX12 game or UE4 DX12 release.
  • martinszeme
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    martinszeme polycounter lvl 8
    Upgrading as soon as its out. And I don't see GFWL coming back. At least the way it was before. I do hope they have something that could compete with Origin and Steam.
    Competition is good.
  • John Lancaster
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    John Lancaster polycounter lvl 7
    Shoot!
    I like the sound of that!!!
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    I wouldn't fool yourself into thinking that MS are actually going to do something positive with the gaming experience on the Windows platform. They've trotted out the same tired line every year without fail since the launch of GfWL, and it has been a completely empty promise every time.
  • martinszeme
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    martinszeme polycounter lvl 8
    Well I personally think that Phil Spencer and their new CEO might change some stuff. But yeah, not holding much hope for that. The way they treat indies is also not indicating much of a change.
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    Visceral wrote: »
    Who would want Win 10? Jesus looks like they are bringing back that god awful GFWL

    Windows 8 users
  • Joao Sapiro
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    Joao Sapiro sublime tool
    no thanks , id rather not beta test windows when i have work to do hehe...
  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    I hear it finally has proper virtual desktop support, which is reason enough for me to switch.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    I hear it finally has proper virtual desktop support, which is reason enough for me to switch.

    what's wrong with tools like virtua-win? been using that for the last decade or so.

    kwramm: are you suggesting mavericks is bad (haven't tried myself, so no opinion either) or that it's better than yosemite?
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I'm on Windows 7 and have wanted to upgrade to Windows 8 for their performance improvements, but I didn't want to spend money on it. So Windows 10 has me really excited.
  • AtticusMars
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    AtticusMars greentooth
    ambershee wrote: »
    Whether you'd want to be an early adopter for a Microsoft operating system is another question.
    I'd agree generally, but I was an early early Windows 7 adopter, was running the release candidates for months before the actual launch. It was amazing, I went from XP to 7 because I had held out on vista due to it being a massive pile of shit.

    With 10 I'm not sure there's much point, I don't really care much about borderless windows and other minimalist UI stylings. Nor is the ability to shout commands at my computer particularly appealing. Unless there's something else to this OS I'm not seein (other than dx12)
  • HitmonInfinity
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    HitmonInfinity polycounter lvl 11
    With 10 I'm not sure there's much point, I don't really care much about borderless windows and other minimalist UI stylings. Nor is the ability to shout commands at my computer particularly appealing. Unless there's something else to this OS I'm not seein (other than dx12)

    I keep running into things that require windows 8 to use so I'll probably upgrade just for that. I have a wireless display adapter that requires win8, and I was needing to stabilize a video in movie maker recently and I found out that feature only exists in the win8 version. It's mainly just BS things they restricted to win8 users, but whatever, I'll play along I guess.
  • Swizzle
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    Swizzle polycounter lvl 15
    Windows 8 users

    Yuuup. I occasionally use a Surface Pro 3 for work and, while it certainly works and I can get stuff done, Windows 8 is kind of a pain to work with because it's so disjointed. If they can provide a more seamless, overall integrated experience that uses the best features of Win 7 and 8, then I'll upgrade ASAP.
  • Anthony
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    Anthony polycounter lvl 2
    I switched to Windows 7 mainly for the 64-bit benefit, as i was running 32 bit xp (granted, i've only got 6GB of ram in this thing but still)

    I probably won't need to upgrade to W10 until the unreal engine stops running on Win 7 (which won't be for a few years i think), besides, when i do upgrade, it'll be a whole new system for me, the hardware in this thing is getting old.

    But since I don't use anything with a touch screen (no depth perception = no point), certainly not a monitor, which seems to be W10's selling point, i can't see myself needing W10 anyway.
  • elGuapo
    I'm a big fan of this. If you have a year, I'll do the free upgrade thing about six months before it expires. Probably do a complete computer overhaul at the same.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    thomasp wrote: »
    what's wrong with tools like virtua-win? been using that for the last decade or so.

    kwramm: are you suggesting mavericks is bad (haven't tried myself, so no opinion either) or that it's better than yosemite?

    Thinking of going back to Yosemite. Did a clean install of Mavericks, but stability wise it's worse. The UI is also not very well thought out. The flatness makes it hard to read UI elements and turning on the assistive features makes it ugly. The font also doesn't match older apps. I find it harder to read than the old OS X default font - but there's no way to change this (yeah, user-friendliness bla bla)
    Swizzle wrote: »
    Yuuup. I occasionally use a Surface Pro 3 for work and, while it certainly works and I can get stuff done, Windows 8 is kind of a pain to work with because it's so disjointed. If they can provide a more seamless, overall integrated experience that uses the best features of Win 7 and 8, then I'll upgrade ASAP.

    you may be right about the surface. On the PC, just turn Metro off and you have a Win 7 experience, but with a OS optimized for SSDs and without the bloat (bye bye movie maker!).

    That's the only thing I'm worried about 10 - please MS, don't bring back the bloat apps!
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    sounds like you're confusing mavericks and yosemite here. :)

    btw. you can apparently hack-change the font on yosemite, just have to re-apply with every OS update.
  • iadagraca
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    iadagraca polycounter lvl 5
    I always feel like I'm the minority of people who are very adapted to Windows 8 and wouldn't dream of going back to windows 7 interface.

    I'll probably still use the start screen in windows 10.
  • .nL
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    .nL polycounter lvl 3
    I've loved 8.1 since I got it, and I've found that I'm actually much more efficient in it. Some of the touch interface, I like. Other bits don't quite fit, but can be ignored about as easily as Windows Media Player could in the past (I'm looking exclusively at you, default start screen) the the change of a few simple settings.

    Windows 10 seems to be a refinement of the formula that 8 used, removing some of its more awkward pieces.

    So long as that search button isn't taking up real-estate on my taskbar with no option for removal, I'm happy. Not as happy as I was when there was nothing but my applications on the taskbar, but the windows logo/start button is a necessary evil for those who have trouble with hotkeys.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    thomasp wrote: »
    sounds like you're confusing mavericks and yosemite here. :)

    btw. you can apparently hack-change the font on yosemite, just have to re-apply with every OS update.

    sounds good. Might save me the hassle of reverting. Do you have a link or is it easy to find on google?

    I mean Mavericks isn't much worse than Yosemite, but it's not much better either. To me it felt mostly like an upgrade for the sake of it. which made me more way of Apple's yearly releases.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    Kwramm wrote: »
    sounds good. Might save me the hassle of reverting. Do you have a link or is it easy to find on google?

    I mean Mavericks isn't much worse than Yosemite, but it's not much better either. To me it felt mostly like an upgrade for the sake of it. which made me more way of Apple's yearly releases.

    try this: https://github.com/schreiberstein/lucidagrandeyosemite
  • Kwramm
  • Ruz
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    Ruz polycount lvl 666
    I am gonna stick with win 7 forever because its so stable.
  • martinszeme
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    martinszeme polycounter lvl 8
    People underestimate the amount of updates windows team did to Windows 8. If you ignore start menu that most hated and just look at technical things people that have left said that it was most advanced OS they've ever worked on.
    I think that if you configure windows 8 start correctly its much much faster and better than windows 7 start. Also small things in that OS make the switch better.
  • iadagraca
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    iadagraca polycounter lvl 5
    Ruz wrote: »
    I am gonna stick with win 7 forever because its so stable.

    I'll never understand why people say this too.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    This is definitely the industry where you always want to be trying new software and new things, or you might get left behind.
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    Iadagraca : Because ... it is ?

    After previous releases being less than stellar, and a win8 launch that came with annoying extra features (who needs tiles on a desktop PC ... not everybody has the time or desire to learn how to turn all these little things off), I think it's safe to remain a bit skeptical by simply sticking to something that works until a justifiable upgrade comes around. Zac : I'd rather spend my time learning how to use the latest release of 3DCoat rather than messing around with a brand new OS :)

    Now of course DX12 is a different subject altogether, as it might be the one feature justifying the switch. We'll see !
  • Ruz
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    Ruz polycount lvl 666
    ZacD - does n't stop me trying other new software and obviously if it gets to the point where it's affecting that or even if Win 10 turns out to be the best thing since sliced bread, then I will upgrade.

    Until then I can't see the point unless I need to work 'holographically' any time soon:/
  • AtticusMars
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    AtticusMars greentooth
    People underestimate the amount of updates windows team did to Windows 8. If you ignore start menu that most hated and just look at technical things people that have left said that it was most advanced OS they've ever worked on.
    I think that if you configure windows 8 start correctly its much much faster and better than windows 7 start. Also small things in that OS make the switch better.
    Everything I'd read suggested that the performance differences were marginal or likely unnoticable over 7 on a high powered machine except boot time.

    And having an SSD makes boot time a pretty trivial concern. A 100% increase in boot speed sounds like a lot until you realize we're talking about the difference between an 8 second boot and a 15 second one.

    I'm gonna need a more convincing reason than that to change OSs.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    pior wrote: »
    Iadagraca : Because ... it is ?

    After previous releases being less than stellar, and a win8 launch that came with annoying extra features (who needs tiles on a desktop PC ... not everybody has the time or desire to learn how to turn all these little things off), I think it's safe to remain a bit skeptical by simply sticking to something that works until a justifiable upgrade comes around. Zac : I'd rather spend my time learning how to use the latest release of 3DCoat rather than messing around with a brand new OS :)

    Now of course DX12 is a different subject altogether, as it might be the one feature justifying the switch. We'll see !

    Win 8.1 boots to desktop right away. There's nothing you need to do to turn metro off. The only thing you need is to install a free start menu replacement. Done! ;)

    I'm not telling you you're wrong to not replace a working system - that's a perfectly good reason to stick with 7.
    My point is, there's a lot of mis-information out there how "difficult" it is to make Win 8 usable for people coming from 7. It isn't. It's actually pretty easy.
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    I had flashbacks to Microsoft BOB when I messed with Windows 8, it still felt like a kludged together mess after installing the start menu replacement stuff. I used to worry about recommending Macs to older family members but Windows 8 is such a mess I figure they might as well take the plunge now.

    The Dell computer we bought for my girlfriend's parents booted into metro by default, I managed to crash the metro interface trying to find the network settings and was able to configure it to be more like windows 7 from there. I've built hundreds of computers ranging from Windows 3.1 to OS/2 Warp and beyond and Windows 8 is one of the most fuct operating systems I've come across. I thought Windows Vista & ME weren't that bad, 8 is an ass sandwich.
  • NegevPro
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    NegevPro polycounter lvl 4
    I got Windows 8 for $20-$30 back when it came out thanks to a promotion that was going on at the time. I hated it at first but the 8.1 upgrade fixed a lot of the stability issues I had. The UI still feels completely ass-backwards sometimes but I got used to it and I actually like it more than Windows 7 now.

    I'll gladly take a free upgrade to Windows 10, though. Besides, I thought Microsoft was going to completely "change" their Windows releases with Windows 10. I'm guessing they are going to try to get everybody to jump on the W10 train at some point so there's no harm in getting used to it sooner rather than later.
  • Ben Apuna
    Tried out the Win 10 Tech Preview on an old Macbook Air result wasn't pretty.

    I'm sure the bugs will get ironed out eventually.

    On my Mac Mini it runs OK. (no insane overheating issues) but I can't stand the sluggish start menu. It keeps on trying to load up search results from the internet which might be the problem. The flat UI is not my cup of tea either.

    I just upgraded to Mavericks as well, haven't used it much though, been mostly running on Linux Mint 17 Xfce. (Triple boot ftw! - and for the extreme frustration of setting it up in the first place... :( if anyone else is interested start your journey here).

    I find it odd that in this day and age of free OSes (OSX, Linux, Android, iOS, BSD...) that Microsoft still wants to charge money for Windows. I guess they just want people to upgrade so they put the psychology of a limited time free upgrade in play, but why not just make if free for everyone or at least anything less than a mid sized company like they did with Visual Studio?
  • Neox
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    Neox veteran polycounter
    Swizzle wrote: »
    Yuuup. I occasionally use a Surface Pro 3 for work and, while it certainly works and I can get stuff done, Windows 8 is kind of a pain to work with because it's so disjointed. If they can provide a more seamless, overall integrated experience that uses the best features of Win 7 and 8, then I'll upgrade ASAP.

    hu? mine feels exactly like win7. i just installed classic shell. thats it
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    NegevPro wrote: »
    the 8.1 upgrade fixed a lot of the stability issues I had.

    that's true. big difference between 8 and 8.1.
    8 is indeed rubbish.
  • DrunkShaman
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    DrunkShaman polycounter lvl 14
    that shit aint funny even if its free, or even if they pay you to upgrade it.
  • lovingsaskia
  • WarrenM
    Windows 8.1 is the best Windows I've ever used. Rarely fucks up and has yet to require a complete re-install like previous versions did every 6 months or so.

    And Neox is correct ... I haven't even installed classic shell and the only time I see anything resembling the new interface is if I hit the START button. And I tend to not do that much, so ... it's essentially Windows 7 in look and feel.
  • martinszeme
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    martinszeme polycounter lvl 8
    Everything I'd read suggested that the performance differences were marginal or likely unnoticable over 7 on a high powered machine except boot time.

    And having an SSD makes boot time a pretty trivial concern. A 100% increase in boot speed sounds like a lot until you realize we're talking about the difference between an 8 second boot and a 15 second one.

    I'm gonna need a more convincing reason than that to change OSs.

    Yeah I understand where you coming from, but there are few small things that came with Win 8 that I miss whenever I use my work PC which is Win 7. Like the ability to revert to clean install to "freshen up" the system.
    As I understand the tech they put in was to clean up some mess left from previous iterations and built some new things for upcoming technologies (directx updates etc).

    Here is a video comparing gaming performance with all three releases:

    [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmb3b7JRPHs&ab_channel=PetarStaynov[/ame]

    Pretty much the same, though a bit more stable fps on win 8.1.

    Generally I like how smoother it is even on older machines and I actually prefer the new start menu, but I understand those who hate it.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    Like the ability to revert to clean install to "freshen up" the system.

    We do outsourcing, and having the ability to reset the system all by itself without Ghost or any other software sounds nice. Especially when a dozen of client tools creates DLL-hell on your machine (also, is there any studio that writes uninstallers for their tools???)
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    but I understand those who hate it

    I think that's the core of the problem with these discussions. I don't think anyone "hates" on an OS or feature, it's more about not wanting to be bothered by countless little annoying things when ones time would be better off spent on more productive things.

    At least, that's how I see things. I am personally very curious about new tech and UX improvements, but not to the point of willingly wasting days of work messing around with settings and browsing Lifehacker posts !

    I do understand the appeal of trying the latest tech toy ... as long as it doesn't involve installing new stuff on my machine :)
  • sziada
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    sziada polycounter lvl 11
    Currently using the tech preview, cortana is meh but overall it's not too bad
  • Mask_Salesman
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    Mask_Salesman polycounter lvl 13
    Ignoring UI, stability is the main issue I have. Not much works properly with 8^ yet. Production wise; reliability is more valuable than the slight benefits and massive cons upgrading carries.
    I'll be sticking with 7 for now.
  • Pancakes
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    Pancakes polycounter lvl 10
    iadagraca wrote: »
    I always feel like I'm the minority of people who are very adapted to Windows 8 and wouldn't dream of going back to windows 7 interface.

    I'll probably still use the start screen in windows 10.

    Some people don't seem to be able to handle change. Yet on the other hand if programs don't change, then those same people start to call the developers lazy, unimaginative, and out of touch.

    Free Windows 10!? Sign me up!:)
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