So Windows 10 cost??

[Wevenhuis]

free or not, microsoft in my opinion still has to do a lot of tweaking and UI changes before I'm satisfied enough to make the switch from 8.1 on my surface pro to windows 10. I stil prefer the current start menu with live tiles and charms bar over the current demo of windows 10, otherwise I would have not invested in a surface pro and just stuck with my desktop and windows 7. I think the only good thing from windows 7 perspective for me would only be project spartan. But that could also be a windows 7 update, not withstanding the argument of the kernal story.

 

[legend921]

The keys will be independent. Your Window 8.1 license is your qualifying product to obtain your free upgrade to Windows 10. However, if you choose to clean install Windows 10 as thousands of people will do on existing hardware, that will also be ok. The key won't suddenly invalidate after 1 year and neither will your Windows 8.1 key after you upgrade.

Actually before yyoudo the upgrade, you would want to make a recovery disc first and foremost. What I had found out was that there are going to be two keys, there is going to be an upgrade key and a full product key just like the way they sell their current OS. You cannot do a clean install with just the upgrade key. Trust me, I know because I have been there.

Make the recovery drive so you can reinstall the old os and upgrade it that way with nothing new on the drive and everything will go smooth.

 

[legend921]

I have a windows 8.1 pro retail key so i will be automatically qualified for windows 10 upgrade if i do it in the first year. So my question is

What if i wanted to reset the PC for clean installation after a year
1. Will the 8.1 key works as it did in the first year or as one year passed out for free upgrade do i have to buy ?
2. To make it work do i need to go back to windows 8.1 pro and then upgrade ?
3. Once i upgrade my PC to windows 10 via 8.1 pro key will it forever linked to 10 so i can use whenever i want to reset ?

I think no one knows how it will turn out after the first year. But if u know care to answer !

You would go back to Windows 8.1 pro for the clean install and then do tthe upgrade with the new key for windows 10.

 

[Carjackd]

Just curious if anyone knows...I have windows 7 professional, when the upgrade is available will I ne updating to a pro edition of 10? 7 pro offered some things I needed compared to home premium.

 

[tangledW]

Just curious if anyone knows...I have windows 7 professional, when the upgrade is available will I ne updating to a pro edition of 10? 7 pro offered some things I needed compared to home premium.

They haven't announced any "Pro"/"Home"/etc. editions of Windows 10. Who knows, there may not be a difference.

 

[Carjackd]

They haven't announced any "Pro"/"Home"/etc. editions of Windows 10. Who knows, there may not be a difference.

Thanks for the response, glad you could read my illiterate typing skills

 

[Ma Rio]

I don't think it will be a free upgrade from W10 TP.
There are 2 reasons why I think that.
First, they haven't mentioned it on the press event. They only said WP8.1, Windows 8, and Windows 7.
Second, you can get W10 TP for free, so that would make W10 also free for you.
You might say - but haven't they said it's free. Yes they have, but it's only free if you already bought W8, or W7.

That way we (uh, I mean they) who pirated W7/W8 won't get the free upgrade and they will have to buy W10........ or just pirate it again. Yarr.

 

[JamesDax]

How is this thread still open?

 

[QwarkDreams]

How is this thread still open?

Where else would you be able to complain?

 

[Scott Bradley]

No free upgrade from W10TP, you have to have a registered /paid version of Windows 7 or Windows 8... And you guys are getting the free limitations wrong. You can upgrade from windows 7 within the first year as a push to drive migration. There is no time limit for upgrading from Windows 8.1

And STOP WITH THE SUBCRIPTION GARBAGE! They are moving to a free update for the life of your machine. And they are not making windows free, when you buy a new computer and you are purchasing a new license. (All supported future updates will then be free)

 

[envio]

Just curious if anyone knows...I have windows 7 professional, when the upgrade is available will I ne updating to a pro edition of 10? 7 pro offered some things I needed compared to home premium.

They haven't announced any "Pro"/"Home"/etc. editions of Windows 10. Who knows, there may not be a difference.

This is perhaps the only real question in this thread. Will there be multiple editions such that you can only upgrade Home to Home, Pro to Pro etc for free? I would love there to be just one edition of Windows (on the desktop). Then certain enterprise or Premium features can be unlocked through the Anytime Upgrade or similar mechanism but all the discs or ISO images are the same. Would certainly be a breath of fresh air and a clean break from the past and make it a very easy buying decision.

 

[DavidinCT]

Does anyone know if you will get free upgrade to windows 10 from windows 10 preview?

Why would they do this ????? The free upgrade is for people who PURCHASED windows, 7, 8, 8.1 etc. By downloading the Free preview of Windows 10, you did not actually purchase Windows(or come with your OEM PC), in this case, you would NOT qualify for a free upgrade to the final.

Now, if you upgraded Windows 7 to the Windows 10 preview, that might be different.

In a nutshell, you would have to OWN a version of Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 to get 10, if you don't, you will have to buy it.

For people building a new computer, and think they can just install the Preview to have windows for free, not sure this will fly...

 

[ratsttam]

I read it more as a separation: Enterprise editions have a completely different licensing structure over the "regular" editions. Functionally they are exactly the same as the Pro versions. Besides, you would not want your system users upgrading the OS version without your IT team making sure all your stuff works with it.
The Surface RT/2 are tablets, and will get updates respective of their hardware, much the same as the phone devices getting their updates.

 

[ratsttam]

This is perhaps the only real question in this thread. Will there be multiple editions such that you can only upgrade Home to Home, Pro to Pro etc for free? I would love there to be just one edition of Windows (on the desktop). Then certain enterprise or Premium features can be unlocked through the Anytime Upgrade or similar mechanism but all the discs or ISO images are the same. Would certainly be a breath of fresh air and a clean break from the past and make it a very easy buying decision.

From what I can tell, the only difference between Home and Pro editions was the ability to join a domain, enable bitlocker, and manage users via mmc (in windows 7 anyways, windows 8 has a different method from what I can tell). A home user won't have a domain to join, I believe bitlocker will be available for everything (it is on the Surface 2 and default on Phone), so the Pro features are only really usable in a "Professional" environment, so why differentiate the versions now?

 

[rhapdog]

From what I can tell, the only difference between Home and Pro editions was the ability to join a domain, enable bitlocker, and manage users via mmc (in windows 7 anyways, windows 8 has a different method from what I can tell). A home user won't have a domain to join, I believe bitlocker will be available for everything (it is on the Surface 2 and default on Phone), so the Pro features are only really usable in a "Professional" environment, so why differentiate the versions now?

If you want to be able to use Hyper-V for virtual machines, you have to have the Pro in the Windows 8.1 line. The regular won't do it. It has to be Pro or Enterprise.

I think that Windows 10 needs to do away with that distinction entirely, and have only the licensing structures change between "Consumer" and "Enterprise" versions. Everything else should be the same.

Sell Windows to everyone for the same low price, and stop the "you want some extra features, then pay extra" garbage that they've been doing with all these versions for years. That is one thing that has made a lot of people hostile towards Windows in the past, including me. I needed the Hyper-V, but it just wasn't within my budget at the time I purchased. That is, it was only installed on laptops that were out of my price range, and I couldn't afford or justify the extra expense for the upgrade on a laptop in my price range. Just make it all the same already.

 

[ausidog]

In practice, it will be a normal upgrade license, but with a discounted price to $0.00.

 

[GazooAz]

From Microsoft community forum moderator.

Andre Da Costa replied on January 24, 2015See post history Close

MVP Community Moderator Wiki Author MCC: Content Creator MCC: Content Curator Conversationalist Most Recommended Discussion Wiki Master


Question:

I am building a new computer. how can I install windows 10 preview on a new hard drive. Will I be able to get the consumer release without having a previously installed version of windows?

Answer:

Windows 10 January Technical Preview is a full install, you can do upgrades and clean installs without a previous version.


You will be able to upgrade to the final release from the preview without having a previous version installed.


Download: Windows 10 9926 English: x86 | x64 | More versions


After obtaining the .iso file you use the Microsoft .iso to USB/DVD tool to create a bootable DVD or USB (requires a blank DVD or USB flash stick of at least 4 GB).