Microsoft has announced it won’t offer a free Windows 10 upgrade for consumers who are running non-genuine versions of Windows 7 and 8.1.
Previously at the Windows 10 launch earlier this year, Microsoft had announced that it was offering users running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 free upgrades to Windows 10. The software giant said that once a customer upgrades, they will continue to receive ongoing Windows innovation and security updates for free, for the supported lifetime of that device.
The Redmond had confirmed then that the free upgrade was available to even those who had pirated their copies of the operating system.
But now, the recently released statements claim that there will be no free upgrade for pirated versions of Windows.
Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s executive vice president of operating systems, in a blog post published Friday, noted that “Microsoft and our OEM partners know that many consumers are unwitting victims of piracy, and with Windows 10, we would like all of our customers to move forward with us together. 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. In addition, in partnership with some of our valued OEM partners, we are planning very attractive Windows 10 upgrade offers for their customers running one of their older devices in a Non-Genuine state.”
Myerson confirmed that users of pirated Windows versions will be warned with a watermark and regularly asked to upgrade.
Recently, Microsoft announced that its highly anticipated OS iteration dubbed Windows 10 will be the ‘last version of Windows’, meaning that there won’t be a Windows 11.
Technienews has announced it will offer free click-bait to its readers.
In an amazing(ly idiotic) “news” piece, it reported in its headline that MS will not offer free W10 upgrades to pirated copies, but two paragraphs below it cited MS official who said:
“….we will continue to offer Windows 10 to customers running devices in a Non-Genuine state.”
Essentially reiterating what MS has been saying for a month or two now, that pirates will NOT get a de facto free upgrade LICENSE, but WILL GET an unlicensed but usable FREE upgrade nonetheless.