Software Windows 10 Free Upgrade?

[ex-orbinaut]

Curious. I am getting a Free Windows 10 Upgrade reservation offer on the task bar of my Windows 7. Says it is the full version, etcetera, reserve and install when available, and so on.

As there are those here who are so much more clued up on Windows than I am: What's the catch???

Is doing this upgrade going to wipe or render incompatible my various installed programs? I should think not MS Office, but others like Corel Draw, for example? What is lurking in Windows 10 that makes MS want to give it away to present Windows 7 users?

I am sorry, but; I am highly suspicious of this "offer"...

 

[-Pv-]

Yes, there are some catches if you care about these things:
1) MS is trying to get a larger use base committed while it shakes out the code
2) Not free to home-built computers
3) Home version only (64 bit? I'm not sure. I myself would never use 32 bit OS again.)
4) You cannot customize auto-update. It's forced on all the time and you can no longer cherry pick which MS malware gets installed.
5) Games and software which currently work on Win8.1 should continue to work on 10. To find out if your favorite has trouble, there are a lot of people who have 10 reporting on these things, so do some searches.
6) Drivers. With any new OS, this is always the big unknown. You should start visiting the vendor sites for your hardware before you take the plunge. Again, as a rule, 10 is NOT HUGELY different than 8.1.

Me personally, I would never marry a new MS OS until its first service pack comes out.
Win7x64 is the best gamer OS MS has produced so far and it will remain viable for many years yet. I will not switch until forced to.

-Pv-

 

[ex-orbinaut]

Glad I asked. Thank you. Definitely a NO for me, as I suspected. :tiphat:

 

[jangofett287]

There's a couple things you got wrong;

Yes, there are some catches if you care about these things:
1) MS is trying to get a larger use base committed while it shakes out the code
2) Not free to home-built computers As long as it has a valid Win 7/8/8.1 license installed it's free.
3) Home version only (64 bit? I'm not sure. I myself would never use 32 bit OS again.) What version you get (home/professional) depends on what version you have right now.
4) You cannot customize auto-update. It's forced on all the time and you can no longer cherry pick which MS malware gets installed. Only on Home. Professional can still turn this off.
5) Games and software which currently work on Win8.1 should continue to work on 10. To find out if your favorite has trouble, there are a lot of people who have 10 reporting on these things, so do some searches.
6) Drivers. With any new OS, this is always the big unknown. You should start visiting the vendor sites for your hardware before you take the plunge. Again, as a rule, 10 is NOT HUGELY different than 8.1. AFAIK, the kernel isn't substantially different, so I don't think this will be a problem

Me personally, I would never marry a new MS OS until its first service pack comes out.
Win7x64 is the best gamer OS MS has produced so far and it will remain viable for many years yet. I will not switch until forced to. As with DX10/11 with Win 7 and DX11.1 with Win 8, DX12 will only be available for Win 10

-Pv-

 

[Kyle]

I wonder if Orbiter will work with Windows 10..

EDIT: Right as I post that, I find there's a thread already discussing this.

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=35763

 

[Hielor]

There's no catch other than the usual "catches" that happen with any OS upgrade. Software that is doing strange things or making invalid assumptions about APIs may run into problems, but that's usually only an issue with smaller software houses--I would expect something like Corel Draw to work just fine. As jangofett287 pointed out, there are a lot of misconceptions floating around about the upgrade.

It's really nothing more sinister than Microsoft wanting people to be on the newest version of things, since that makes supporting what's out there a whole lot easier. The following sample conversation applies to Windows just as easily as IE or anything else, and it's not unique to Microsoft:
"XYZ doesn't work."
"Oh, we fixed XYZ in version 3, what version are you using?"
"I'm using version 2. I don't want to update because <reasons>."
"Oh, if you update, XYZ will be fixed."
"I don't want to update. Can't you just apply all the fixes in version 3 to version 2?"
"...yes, we made a version that has all of the fixes in version 3 but applied to version 2. It's called version 3."

And yes, occasionally required disclaimer: I do work for Microsoft. I've been using Windows 10 on a daily basis since sometime last year, and it works just fine for me.

 

[Linguofreak]

"I don't want to update. Can't you just apply all the fixes in version 3 to version 2?"

What's really meant here is generally "Can't you just apply all of the fixes and none of the regressions in version 3 to version 2?".

 

[Xyon]

As I understand it, it doesn't actually matter if you have a valid Windows license; an unlicensed copy of 7 would be upgraded to a (still unlicensed) copy of 10.

As I said in the other thread, I use it on my gaming rig in an EFI dual boot solution (cohabiting with gentoo for work). I've found it to be very stable and also found that the 8.1 drivers by and large all work perfectly with 10. I'm gaming on it pretty often, from Orbiter to GTA V and a few in between, and I've yet to have an issue with it.

 

[Hielor]

What's really meant here is generally "Can't you just apply all of the fixes and none of the regressions in version 3 to version 2?".

Well, as anyone who's worked on major multi-version consumer software products knows, that's pretty much impossible.

 

[ex-orbinaut]

Fair enough. These are the two points that are putting me off...

...
2) Not free to home-built computers
...
4) You cannot customize auto-update. It's forced on all the time and you can no longer cherry pick which MS malware gets installed.

Point 2 is cleared up and is no issue to me now; my Win 7 is bona fide on a home built rig. Point 4 remains an issue. By and large, on Home Windows 7, I am not bothered by the security updates, updates to MS products installed (namely Visual Studio and Office), OS patches, MSE definitions, new drivers and such, but every now and then, among the Win 7 optional updates, there appears something I am not keen on (eg; Bing toolbars). I would like the option to deny at least what are currently classed as optional updates on Home Win 10. That's all, really.

Finally, is this upgrade going to force me to reinstall everything again? And, without a doubt it will be a different size on the drive than Win 7. It says 3 GB download (for the installer, I imagine), but I know an OS's actual installed size can vary depending on user install preferences. What is a typical size on the drive people are getting? Space is always at a premium on drives.

 

[Hielor]

Point 4 remains an issue. By and large, on Home Windows 7, I am not bothered by the security updates, updates to MS products installed (namely Visual Studio and Office), OS patches, MSE definitions, new drivers and such, but every now and then, among the Win 7 optional updates, there appears something I am not keen on (eg; Bing toolbars). I would like the option to deny at least what are currently classed as optional updates on Home Win 10. That's all, really.

I will check on that. I really doubt that "optional" updates will become "required." I could possibly see "required" updates not being able to be ignored.

Finally, is this upgrade going to force me to reinstall everything again?

That shouldn't be necessary.

And, without a doubt it will be a different size on the drive than Win 7. It says 3 GB download (for the installer, I imagine), but I know an OS's actual installed size can vary depending on user install preferences. What is a typical size on the drive people are getting?

I think it's about the same size on-disk as windows 8.1, so maybe in the ballpark of 20GB? Not sure exactly, but it's not a massive increase.

Space is always at a premium on drives.

I'm not sure what world you're living in, but in the world I'm in, you can get a 1TB drive for less than $60 off Amazon. Storage space isn't really a premium anymore, except on low-end portable hardware...

 

[ex-orbinaut]

I will check on that. I really doubt that "optional" updates will become "required." I could possibly see "required" updates not being able to be ignored.

Thanks. Makes sense and no problems with that, so long as I don't have to install ancillary stuff that becomes a nuisance while using the OS or browsers; you know, tool bars and "products", or as is the vogue word, "Apps", that I don't really want, like that awful iPad thing.

I think it's about the same size on-disk as windows 8.1, so maybe in the ballpark of 20GB? Not sure exactly, but it's not a massive increase.

I'm not sure what world you're living in, but in the world I'm in, you can get a 1TB drive for less than $60 off Amazon. Storage space isn't really a premium anymore, except on low-end portable hardware...

The Third World!
:j/k:

The thing is I am all SSD now with a 512GB, and not likely to go back to HDDs. Nevertheless, I can always double that with another SSD and RAID it farther down the road, so at the end of the day it does not bother me that much, either.

 

[Linguofreak]

I will check on that. I really doubt that "optional" updates will become "required." I could possibly see "required" updates not being able to be ignored.

Even if that is the case, for anyone buying, rather than building, a machine, I would tend to recommend that they go for a business class machine from whatever manufacturer they're buying from, as consumer machines tend to be ten kinds of crap. If you buy a business class machine, you'll get a professional edition of Windows, and the update flexibility that we've been told will come with that.

 

[ex-orbinaut]

Well, I have considered all the aforementioned, but I still have a couple of important questions before commiting.

How does a reinstall of the OS work, in case I ever need to do this? I mean, this Win 10 is an "upgrade" on my present Win 7 OS, for which I have a bought, physical disc. Not the case with the upgrade. Is my current Win 7 registration key ported accross to the new Win 10 install? Or do I get a new key?

Do I burn the downloaded Win 10 installer onto a DVD or flasdrive and use only that in future, if a reinstall is required? Or do I have to go through the process of installing my Win 7 and then upgrading to Win 10 all over again, if I need to reinstall? You see, what is bothering me is that I have nothing physical to fall back on except my Win 7 disc if everything were to go pear-shaped one day (say, my drive fails, for example, and I need to reinstall onto a new drive). See what I am saying here? The upgrade is a bit ethereal, for me, which leaves me uncertain.

Finally, I suppose I cannot revert to my Win 7 by reinstallation of it from the disc, for whatever reason, once I have agreed to and installed Win 10 on top of it? Would it be seen on line as an upgraded product and invalidated in some way as Win 7? Or is that exactly how I would go about the reinstall of Win 10, in the event I need to reinstall?

Thanks in advance for any comment.

 

[N_Molson]

Well I just read in a local newspaper that those questions are very relevant, and that Microsoft answers are at best blurry. I'd wait that things get clarified.

 

[ex-orbinaut]

Well I just read in a local newspaper that those questions are very relevant, and that Microsoft answers are at best blurry. I'd wait that things get clarified.

Yeah. It would "seem" simple enough to reinstall it by re-downloading the installer, or by having it on a flash. However, could you still do this after the year of the offer is up, and you need to reinstall then? You are right, it is sketchy. I am a little surprised that some reviews rave exactly about not having a physical install media. I want to give it a fair chance, reserve and install it, but I also would like to have a little more substance added to faith here.

Also, no matter how self-satisfied you might be regarding the impeccable cleanliness of your computer usage, there eventually comes a point when you will want to say "hey, at least some of my computer still happens to be mine, you know". What have we got to hide? Nothing, most of us by and large, I wager, but no one is over the moon about blatant intrusion under some product improvement pretext.

Tell me I am wrong, please.

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

I've found it to be very stable and also found that the 8.1 drivers by and large all work perfectly with 10. I'm gaming on it pretty often, from Orbiter to GTA V and a few in between, and I've yet to have an issue with it.

That is a very good sign for Windows 10 going forwards. IIRC Windows 8 did not have that level of backwards compatibility at release, so it probably shows the effectiveness of a public beta for making the transition as smooth as possible.

The one thing I dont understand is the trepidation I hear about 'Windows as a service' from a lot of people. We already pay a fee every few years, with the massive short term headache of implementing end of life transitions every time a very popular version of windows ends support (cough, cough XP...), so I hardly think it makes much of a difference transitioning to a system where we pay Microsoft a smaller fee on a regular basis for an OS that will have ongoing support for a much longer timeframe. If you dont believe me, just wait until 2020, when IT depts everywhere are trying to retire Windows 7...

The only issue I see with Windows 10 going on forever is that there might be a critical flaw in the design of the OS that cant be fixed (similar to the unfixable hole in Win98 & ME), which would force a transition to Windows 11, but that would probably be something like 10-20 years down the road, if ever.

 

[Fabri91]

Windows 8/8.1 had a very different interface, but as far as I know all "normal" programs worked.

 

[Hielor]

Also, no matter how self-satisfied you might be regarding the impeccable cleanliness of your computer usage, there eventually comes a point when you will want to say "hey, at least some of my computer still happens to be mine, you know". What have we got to hide? Nothing, most of us by and large, I wager, but no one is over the moon about blatant intrusion under some product improvement pretext.

Tell me I am wrong, please.

That Forbes article massively (and, I suspect, intentionally, in order to generate views) misunderstands what's going on with data. There are very strict privacy requirements in the data that gets collected. The majority of the data that's getting collected also won't be collected from most computers after release--it's mainly a pre-release testing thing for those who have chosen to opt-in to that.

I'm also fairly sure that if you shut off the CEIP, none of that data gets collected anyway.

 

[ex-orbinaut]

That Forbes article massively (and, I suspect, intentionally, in order to generate views) misunderstands what's going on with data. There are very strict privacy requirements in the data that gets collected. The majority of the data that's getting collected also won't be collected from most computers after release--it's mainly a pre-release testing thing for those who have chosen to opt-in to that.

I'm also fairly sure that if you shut off the CEIP, none of that data gets collected anyway.

Well, with that Apple issue of data, voice and location collection, there's little wonder that those of us who have to own - for work - but dislike iPads might think MS had taken a page out of their competitor's book, for whatever obscure benefit it may afford them. Nevermind; good to get the inside MS angle on that topic. I suppose I will take advantage of the offer during the year it is valid, when a couple of questions regarding the reinstall process are clarified, and when I read some more reports on it in action from MS Windows users who more adventurous, adept and valiant than I.

Thanks!