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Microsoft is making a big push with Windows 10 to re-ingratiate itself with its customer base. It made a big splash earlier this year when it announced that it would be giving everyone with legitimate copies of Windows 7 and 8 free upgrades, but it's now looking like it might extend that offer to anyone with a pirated version of the OS too. The only downside, is it may be limited to Chinese pirates only.
“We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10,” said Microsoft's OS head, Terry Myerson in a phone call with Reuters. He went on to state that the reason for this was because Microsoft wanted to “re-engage,” with all of the hundreds of millions of Windows users in China. The lack of clarification comes from the fact that he didn't elaborate on whether that meant that the deal would be extended worldwide.
I guess it wasn't kidding
Even if it is restricted to the eastern nation however, this is a surprising move by the company, which has traditionally employed lengthy activation keys in an attempt to thwart piracy. For those that don't mind skipping out on Windows updates though, that rarely poses much of a problem and piracy is endemic in China, which is presumably why Microsoft plans to offer the free upgrade, because at least if people are using a legitimate version, they will have a better experience with the software.
That and they might buy the next version further down the line. Microsoft is also looking to market some of its more traditional products like Office as a service, using a subscription model to make up for losses in other areas.
Myerson also said in his chat that Windows 10 would be released sometime this summer, marking the first time that Microsoft has officially slated a date for its launch.
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KitGuru Says: This is an unprecedented move by a major software company. It will be interesting to see if it pays off in the long run.
If only they were so liberal with their money when it came to creating the XB1…
Still, on an unrelated note, I see fanboys /still/ saying Microsoft are losing money while Sony are rolling in it when Sony are selling out almost all its divisions while Microsoft are doing things like this and that’s hilarious
The Playstation brand is making money hand over fist, and is currently being used to entirely prop up Sony. Those “fanboys” weren’t really lying about that. I find it hard to believe that Microsoft aren’t rolling in it either, though. The console market is serious business.
I think Sony are going down the road of “We just want to make consoles because you know… that’s super profitable right?” I miss the days when Sony’s music peripherals were actually decent and something to be proud of owning…
Sneaky way to get NSA backdoors into the Chinese population.
Even if MS were making massive losses on every console sold (which they are not) the make enough money from pointless expensive DLC, content which cost $200 to develop and publish makes them hundreds of thousands of dollars with no effort at all.
I would be curious to see if you had a 32 bit could you get the choice to get 64 bit instead.
Sony still makes damn awesome phones! 🙂
Microsoft…with this you have earned my full support with windows 10 🙂 Well…granted I’m only using a pirated copy because I wipe my computer so often and can’t be bothered to look for where my cd / key are hiding…
Just make it cheap (at max 25E) and i’ll buy it.
I have a Sony Xperia M and it’s not quite as powerful as I hoped, the Z series I’ve heard is fantastic though, so yeah, I suppose Sony do create some decent hardware still… I just liked the old walkman stuff, loved it until I got my iPod Nano 4th Gen.
I’d prefer it if they rolled it out to Europe, I use a pirated edition because I maxed out the uses of my W7 Key on other systems that have bitten the dust unfortunately and like you, I can’t be bothered to go through the process of finding the key and deactivating it.
IS it news? i thought it was a bug when i found out about it
Whoever said crime doesn’t pay.
You could just use “ProduKey” – it’s free, and it’s only 113kb in size… It searches for the Bios product key (factory default Windows product key), as well as the currently activated key.
With windows 10 i dont mind to pay 100$ for full version for 3 pc`s 🙂
xperia Z compact all the way. best normal sized phones out there.
It’s a trap!
ITS A TRAP THEY’RE INSERTING PROGRAM TO TURN ALL PC IN THE WORLD TO BECOME DECEPTICON!!!
ITS A TRAP! Upgrading from a pirated version is very risky, It means they’ll know you pirated it. That’s why I don’t use pirated versions. Y’see, I’m legit.
Let’s say they do give Windows 10 upgrades to those in China that are not running legitimate version of Windows…and let’s say in the future the do make more money in the Chinese market due to the “better experience”. How much will they lose in the rest of the world when those that have always paid for every version of DOS/Windows they used when they feel alienated and switch to Apple products?