With a nod and a wink, Microsoft gives away Windows 10 to anyone who asks
Yes, Microsoft is giving Windows away for free to people who don't technically qualify for the upgrade. That's a good deal, but it's not that big a deal. Here's why.
Microsoft's stated goal is to have Windows 10 running on a billion devices within the first three years after this summer's launch. To reach that huge number, they need to convince hundreds of millions of current Windows users to upgrade.
Asking people to pay means most will say no. So the upgrade is free to the overwhelming majority of current PC users.
You could think of it as a reward for the millions of people who have participated in the Windows Insider program, but there's really a much more practical reason: It simply isn't possible to do any kind of meaningful license check on individual PCs, and any attempt to do so would just cause friction. Likewise, activation hassles cause friction.
Friction means people get frustrated and cancel the upgrade. Friction is not consistent with getting a billion Windows 10 users in the next few years.
So the new rules are written with the expectation that activation will be ridiculously easy. If that allows some people to get free upgrades they're not technically entitled to, that's a fair exchange for absolutely minimizing the friction on those upgraders who meet the technical qualifications.
How many "freeloaders" will be able to use this so-called loophole? The number is downright tiny, a fraction of a blip on Microsoft's balance sheets. (See the chart in this article if you don't believe me.)
Any homebrew computer builders who put together their own PC and have been running the Windows 10 preview on it gets a nice little gift. Happy Birthday!
Likewise, Microsoft is offering every Mac owner an opportunity to try out Windows 10 and keep it for free if they like it. Just install a preview release now, either in Boot Camp or in a virtual machine, and you will get an automatic, fully activated upgrade to the final edition when it is released. No strings attached.
If you like to tinker with virtual machines, you can do so with ease as well.
Microsoft is leaving some money on the table obviously. But the amount is, quite literally, a rounding error for its Windows business, and having a gargantuan user base is more important than that puny revenue.
So why not just say, "Windows 10 is free"?
Because it's not.
Businesses still have to pay for their Windows Enterprise edition licenses. PC builders still have to pay for their OEM copies. Yes, in theory a business could pick up a hundred "naked" PCs (no operating system installed) from a local system builder, install the Windows 10 Pro preview edition on each one, and then drop out of the Insider program after the final, fully activated version . At $140 per copy, that's a pretty fair chunk of change.
I suspect Microsoft's lawyers will include language in the final license agreement that prevents those "creative" deals from cutting into the core Windows business.
License terms for a new Windows edition don't typically appear until the very last minute. The broad outlines rarely change, but Redmond's lawyers like to throw in one oddball change just to mix things up.
At the moment, there's only a preview license agreement in place, so there's no telling what surprises we'll find this time around.
With a nod and a wink, Microsoft gives away Windows 10 to anyone who asks | ZDNet
