Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

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HansV
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Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by HansV »

Microsoft has confirmed rumors that the upcoming Windows 10 will be available as a free update to users of Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 for one year from the official release (expected late 2015).

See Microsoft to make Windows 10 free to Windows 7, 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 users.

Microsoft also demonstrated the new browser for Windows 10, code named Spartan. It will not be available yet in the next preview of Windows 10, so apparently it is still in the initial stages of development.
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Hans

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John Gray
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by John Gray »

I still haven't heard when the next preview of Windows 10 will be available, after build 9879...!
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by HansV »

The next build of the Technical Preview is expected next week, and the Consumer Preview in April, but there are no official dates yet, as far as I know.
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Hans

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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by RonH »

Sounds like a good deal but will programmes such as Office 2010 still function or will it all be in the 'cloud'.
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by HansV »

I'm sure that reasonably recent desktop programs will still work; older programs may need compatibility mode, or not run at all. Office 2010 should be OK, it's 'only' 5 years old.

Microsoft will undoubtedly publish a list of compatible/ incompatible programs, just like it did for Windows 7 and Windows 8. See for example Windows Compatibility Center for Windows 8.1.
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by Rudi »

From a completely uninformed standpoint: I cannot see that MS with publish an OS that with sever one of their flagship programs (MS Office) and loose 1/3 of their revenue. It makes no sense.
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

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That's true, but only the more recent versions will be supported. Windows 8.1, for example, runs Office 2007, 2010 and 2013. Office 2003 and before are not compatible with Windows 8.1, at least not officially - some components will run, others won't.
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

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Thank you gentlemen. Now I feel so relaxed :cheers:
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

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Regards,
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by HansV »

John Gray wrote:I still haven't heard when the next preview of Windows 10 will be available, after build 9879...!
Build 9926 was released yesterday (23 January 2015). It contains some, but not all of the features demonstrated on Wednesday.

See January build now available to the Windows Insider Program.
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John Gray
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by John Gray »

Thanks, Hans, I downloaded and installed it late this morning. It was a very slow update, with several reboots, and many messages about "things", such as "Setting up some things", "Setting up some more things"...
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by JoeP »

The builds should be coming faster now especially if you opt for the "fast" lane. Guess that means the probability of issues is higher too.

@John, the multitude of boots and messages appears to be the norm for new releases.

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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by Jay Freedman »

Updates KB3035129 and KB3035034 were issued yesterday for build 9926. The first is a reissue of the January rollup from the previous build, and the second is a security update for Flash in Internet Explorer.

If you don't want to wait for automatic installation, go to Settings > Update & recovery > Windows update and click the Check for Updates button.

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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

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Note that after you install KB3035129 you may get WU error 0x80246017. It is benign. There is a bug in the patch which exposes internal Win10 builds intended for Microsoft employees only to the outside world. Another patch is supposed to be released soon which fixes this.

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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by viking33 »

So if you get rid of all the ballyhoo about how wonderful Windows 10 is and what all these new features are, etc., Where can I find out the nitty-gritty details?
Like:
1. Is this right now being released as an in-place replacement upgrade for Windows 7 & 8? ( I know it's a work in progress ) What happens to my Win 7 and all the data?
2.Can I make it dual boot, instead of blowing away 7?
3. How about fall back to prior versions of Windows?
4.What are the hardware requirements? Any upgrading needed?

Are things like this available in a link somewhere or can People in the Lounge answer them?
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Jay Freedman
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by Jay Freedman »

Bob, take a look at http://www.tenforums.com, especially the sticky posts at the top of the Tutorials page.

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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

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It is important to remember that at this time Windows 10 is still pre-beta. Installing Windows 10 as your production OS may be risky. Some features are not released yet. Others are incomplete. It is recommended you install Windows 10 in a VM or in a dual boot environment.

Be sure to backup your system before embarking on the Windows 10 journey.

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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by Jay Freedman »

JoeP wrote:It is important to remember that at this time Windows 10 is still pre-beta. Installing Windows 10 as your production OS may be risky. Some features are not released yet. Others are incomplete. It is recommended you install Windows 10 in a VM or in a dual boot environment.

Be sure to backup your system before embarking on the Windows 10 journey.
Also be aware that there's no guarantee that you'll be able to do an "upgrade" install of the actual release version from the preview or the last beta, rather than having to wipe the disk and do a clean install. And even if you don't have to do a clean install, it's probably going to be the best way to avoid trouble from leftover bits. Overall, following the recommendation of a VM or dual boot (or a whole separate computer, if you have one) for testing will save a lot of headaches.

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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

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Jay Freedman wrote:Bob, take a look at http://www.tenforums.com, especially the sticky posts at the top of the Tutorials page.
Jay, Thanks for the link. That is more like it and what I was looking for.
I've been dual or triple booting whenever a new OS comes out. I feel it's a LOT safer way to do it and you always have the fall back to return to your prior OS if things go wrong and they usually do.
I'll go back to your link and do some reading and if I do try it out, it will definitely be at least dual booting. Maybe I'll finally give XP the boot. (out) :laugh: :thankyou:
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Re: Windows 10 to be a free upgrade during its first year

Post by viking33 »

Here I am using Windows 10 and the new IE.
I installed OK into dual boot mode and windows automatically gave me a new boot option screen for Win 7 or Win10. Nice.
I'll have to start using this more and seeing how things work but so far, so good. Going off to play now.
BOB
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