
Windows 10 upgrades will cost $119 after July 29, Win 10 on 300M devices - jfuhrman
https://www.engadget.com/2016/05/05/windows-10-upgrades-will-cost-119-after-july-29/
======
EvanAnderson
You can lock-in your upgrade eligibility w/o actually installing Windows 10.

The WinToUSB tool
([http://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/](http://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/)) can
create a bootable Windows 10 USB thumb-drive (or hard disk drive, which is
much faster). You boot from this drive to lock-in your entitlement w/o
actually having to upgrade to Windows 10. (You must use the Windows 10 "1511"
update to do this. The earlier Windows 10 version won't activate w/ a Windows
7/8/8.1 product key.)

Create and boot from a Windows 10 thumb-drive and use the "Activate Windows"
functionality with your existing Windows 7/8.1 key. This will lock-in that
PC's Windows 10 entitlement w/ Microsoft's servers. No changes are made to
your existing hard disk drive.

If you're paranoid like me, you can even disconnect your hard disk drive while
you perform this procedure to ensure no changes are made.

I validated the "digital entitlement" to install Windows 10 after performing
this procedure on a PC. I put a clean hard disk drive in it, installed Windows
10 from scratch, skipped entering the product key during install, and found
that the machine was "Activated with a digital entitlement" after installation
completed.

~~~
Gmo
Thanks, I want to upgrade to Win 10 eventually, but don't really have time to
do it before the deadline, your post could really help me !

------
hacker_9
I'm still so undecided whether to upgrade from Windows 7 to 10. On the one
hand a free upgrade to the latest OS is so very tempting, but then I read
about how there is no privacy, people calling the installation malware, and
the ugly flat UI look. Not to mention does it push that basic tiles screen
from Windows 8 in your face? The one that is meant for a tablet/phone, and has
no place on a desktop?

I wonder if I'm going to miss out on new games that are DirectX 12 only, which
is Windows 10 only. I see on Steam [1] that 43% of people use Windows 10 now.
Could this be a problem soon?

So many pros and cons to upgrading, I can't believe I even have to think about
this stuff. Very unhappy with Microsoft about it all in all, who usually I
don't have a problem with.

[1]
[http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey](http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey)

~~~
raesene9
I think you may have a few mis-conceptions about windows 10...

1) no privacy... not really. Windows (like several other OS' and applications)
will, by default, send data to the cloud for processing and collect telemetry
data about the user. I really wish they had made it easier to opt out of (and
indeed not made the privacy invasive stuff the default) but I wouldn't say
that equates to "no privacy". Also with a bit of effort you can turn that
stuff off.

2) People calling it malware... well that's a subjective description, not sure
I see the basis for it.

3) Ugly flat UI.. Again that's a matter of taste I guess. Personally I quite
like Windows 10's new look

4) Nope the windows 8 full start screen is gone in 10 in desktop mode.

~~~
TrevorJ
>no privacy... not really.

> really wish they had made it easier to opt out of (and indeed not made the
> privacy invasive stuff the default)

Which is it?

~~~
raesene9
well some not great privacy settings is not the same as "no privacy" therefore
I would suggest those statements are not contradictory.

------
foolofatom
Reasons I would rather be on Windows 7:

\- search stopped working after upgrading \- twice it has changed my local
account to a Microsoft account without my approval (and failed to sync a
password change from online) \- after upgrading my computer my copy now
requires activation and support says I have to buy a copy since my product key
was a 7 one before upgrading

~~~
bargl
I have the opposite problem. WIndows 10 at home and windows 7 at the office. I
hate using the Win 7 at work.

I love the new search on win 10. I feel that the windows key is smarter now.

If it did that to me with the product key I'd be pissed. If customer support
doesn't fix that I'd consider that a reason to move to linux too. It hasn't
happened to me but if it had I'd move.

------
joesmo
So will they stop force upgrading systems now or will we come home to find a
ransom note for $119 now and an unusable system? That part, by far the most
important, is not even addressed.

~~~
noxToken
As in pay for Win10 or stare at this upgrade modal?

I can't tell if your serious or sarcastic.

~~~
joesmo
Yes, exactly. I'm totally serious. Considering Microsoft's actions up to this
point vis a vis Windows 10, it's hardly a stretch of the imagination that
they'd do that. It's amazing how many issues in technology come down to trust
--or lack of it--when you boil things down.

------
DanielDent
A while back Microsoft said that Windows 10 will continue to be free for
customers who will benefit from it's assistive technologies. I don't know how
they plan to implement this. Many assistive technologies are sometimes helpful
to individuals that would not typically be described as 'disabled'.

It seems like such a wide open backdoor to continued free upgrades that it
almost looks intentional...

------
krapp

        To the last, I grapple with thee; 
        From Hell's heart, I stab at thee; 
        For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee.
    

I will either continue using Windows 8, or replace my current system with
Linux entirely. If I didn't need to use VS and some Adobe software, I would
already have gotten rid of Windows.

But, even though I would probably like a lot of what Windows 10 has to offer,
I will never, _ever_ voluntarily upgrade to 10. I'll buy a new laptop with 10
installed, but not upgrade, _just because_ I object to Microsoft's aggressive
tactics so much, that I want to make a futile gesture of holding on to my
current Windows OS out of sheer irrational spite.

~~~
seanp2k2
And because upgraded versions of Windows suffer from extreme bloat,
instability, and weird random issues that you can typically not fix without a
clean reinstall anyway.

------
atomi
If Microsoft did this from the start, Win 10 install numbers would be
disappointing.

~~~
WorldMaker
Which has been the status quo for Windows. Microsoft admitted very early on
that in general consumers only "upgrade" Windows when they pick up a new
machine with the new Windows version installed.

------
username3
Is there any way to get the Windows 10 upgrade key without upgrading?

------
y7
I find it a bit ironic that after their very aggressive forced update
practices [1][2], they're now gonna charge people for it.

[1] [http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-pays-woman-10000-over-
for...](http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-pays-woman-10000-over-forced-
windows-10-install/)

[2]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/4mcdon/i_live_i...](https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/4mcdon/i_live_in_the_central_african_bush_we_pay_for/)

~~~
algorithmsRcool
They were always going to charge for it. The first time it was announced they
stated it was going to be free to upgrade for the first year.

------
walterbell
When will the last Skylake OEM machines be sold with Windows 7 downgrade
rights?

