If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Windows 10 To Be A Free Upgrade: What Linux Users Need To Know
All devices running Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 will get a free upgrade to Windows 10 for the first year.
Ehh what ? What are you all brabbling about it being "free" ? What happens after the year ? Auto-Downgrade to the previous version if you don't buy it (like that'll work) ? Or will you be just locked out ?
Ehh what ? What are you all brabbling about it being "free" ? What happens after the year ? Auto-Downgrade to the previous version if you don't buy it (like that'll work) ? Or will you be just locked out ?
what i undertand is you can upgrade your windows 7/8 to 10 for free in the first year only, they want the end of windows 7 and 8 quickly
what i undertand is you can upgrade your windows 7/8 to 10 for free in the first year only, they want the end of windows 7 and 8 quickly
Why should they limit that offer then ? Well, maybe to get people under pressure to really do the upgrade and not just drag it out indefinitely.
I'm no english native speaker, but wouldn't be a better phrasing for what you understood be: "... will get a free upgrade to Windows 10 during the first year." ?
A lot of marketing.
Anybody anything about the downsides? DRM? Cloud is mandatory? MS accounts? Does not allow any other OS on the same HW? Forces "secure boot" to be active? Programs only form an "app store"? MS controls all your programs and data remotely? Come one, I'm sure there is even more of that than enigmatic improvements in the kind of "oh, we're scared of mantle so let's say (up to) 50%".
I can't vouch for their cloud integration, but I seriously doubt ms accounts will be required to use the OS. Encouraged, sure, and probably required for the store. But you can't expect or require companies to set up mandatory employee hotmail accounts, for example. They've got a lot of small/medium businesses out there that have company computers, but don't have exchange. They're not going to start logging in to their PCs as [email protected] to send you invoices.
Regarding preventing dual-booting? Possible, sure, but I seriously doubt it. Dual booting with GPT disks on EFI systems is significantly easier than it ever was with MBR disks and boot sectors. I fully expect them to keep setting themselves as default boot option whenever updates happen (which Linux distros also do occasionally), but that's not the end of the world. They also have no reason to, honestly..
Secure boot isn't a bad thing, it's all in the key control. Through the Windows 8 cycle their requirements have actually mandated that control be available to users (otherwise those pc's are not "Windows 8 certified"), and signing be available to OS vendors. It would be ideal if this was run by an industry group instead of Microsoft themselves, but they really haven't done anything to be worried about with their stewardship yet. Unless they announce sweeping changes to that scheme, I wouldn't worry (It would also likely get them in front of another antitrust suit if they abused their power to lock out all third-party operating systems from all computers).
Programs only through an app-store is also unlikely, though I can understand their heavy push toward that distribution model. It's worked for Linux, OS X, and Android, would help eliminate every app having it's own update mechanism on their platform, and give them a small source of additional revenue. That said, Microsoft's reason for continued existence is backwards compatibility. I've worked in a few different industries, and one commonality is a lot of old, old software out there. The only reason these places keep buying new windows licenses is that these old VB6 apps still run on Windows 7. Even on Mac OS X, the app store was generally pretty openly adopted by developers, and they still has the option to allow local "unsigned" apps.
I'm not a Microsoft fan by any means. I'm entirely Linux based at work and home (aside from one machine that can boot windows, solely for running Steam), but some of the conspiracy theories are rather overblown.
Ignoring reality doesn't make for a very compelling argument. The "long dry spell" that was XP was 13 years long, a significant period of time, not something you can simply "ignore" for the sake of making a point.
Comment