
Microsoft tackles China piracy with free upgrade to Windows 10 - iamben
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/18/us-microsoft-china-idUSKBN0ME06A20150318
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jobu
_" Microsoft tackles China piracy with free upgrade to Windows 10"_

That's some impressive marketing spin there. To me this reads "Microsoft
admits defeat to software pirates and gives Windows away for free." They may
have some pretty legitimate reasons for wanting people to update to the latest
OS, but giving it away for free is a massive shift for the company that lots
of people call "M$"

~~~
Cthulhu_
There's probably a catch - a built-in app store where MS can earn via
commission on applications, a subscription model for future updates or basic
features, that kinda thing.

If they did some better marketing (like Google manages to), they could call it
'combating botnets' or something.

~~~
cwyers
The app store isn't really a "catch," it's been in Windows since 8.0.

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joshuapants
This move makes sense: better to have people running a legitimate copy of your
latest OS than a pirated copy of a 15-year-old OS. All the better to try and
convert them to paying customers of Microsoft services.

~~~
iamben
Bill himself said in the 90s - "About 3 million computers get sold every year
in China, but people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though. As
long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get
sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in
the next decade."

~~~
omh
Interestingly, that quote is from almost 17 years ago and they don't quite
seem to have figured out how to "collect" yet.

~~~
TeMPOraL
They did very well. When you and everyone around you grow up using Microsoft's
OS and office suite and then you start your own business, you will choose to
run Windows and MS Office in your company - and since you want it to be a
legitimate operation, you will buy the software.

And then there are various ways to pass the bill for your software further -
e.g. to the taxpayer, if you're a government organization or a company funded
by EU grant (I used to intern at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory; I'm pretty
sure Microsoft makes a boatload of money on the licenses for all those
thousands of Windows machines that run there).

It's a brilliant strategy. Adobe uses it too (Photoshop is so trivial to crack
that it _must_ be intentional).

~~~
digi_owl
I swear that MS only introduce the online serial code checks etc after the BSA
threatened to expel them. Before that you could install Windows and Office as
much as you wanted with just a serial code. No check back to a server, or any
kind of hoopla over swapped motherboards on already registered copies.

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unicornporn
So, this effectively means that Windows 10 will be free(ware). This also means
that Microsoft will have to make up for lost profits. Apple makes money from
hardware, Micrsoft made money by selling their OS. Seems they are going the
service/Google way as they will also be giving away roms for a Xiaomi
phone[1].

[1] [http://www.windowscentral.com/more-details-emerge-how-
xiaomi...](http://www.windowscentral.com/more-details-emerge-how-xiaomi-
windows-10-preview-will-be-distributed)

~~~
wernercd
If they can create an actual Windows App Store (not a mobile, but Windows),
they could more than make up the cost in the long run with a 30% cut (thats
what everyone is charging for stores these days after all).

Not to mention their Office 365, MSDN, etc lines that are mad profitable.

~~~
reymus
>> thats what everyone is charging for stores these days after all But as soon
as Microsoft starts doing it, everyone will bury them in negative reviews and
criticism for being evil, greedy and the reason the industry sucks. The
"everyone else is doing it" excuse doesn't work for Microsoft, people just
want more reasons to hate it.

~~~
nikanj
They also tried this with Windows RT.

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patja
As with any MS licensing press release it is necessary to read the fine print:
this is only for upgrades, so first you need to install something and then
upgrade it, and only upgrades from Windows 7 and up as opposed to the more
easily acquired/pirated Windows XP that is prevalent in China.

~~~
cwyers
There were a lot of people trying to read the fine print about the free
Windows upgrades "for one year," spinning out wild conspiracy theories about
how everyone would have to pay a yearly license that turned out to be based on
a misreading of some journalist's summary of what Microsoft said. If we're
going to read the fine print and look for loopholes, we should wait for
something more substantial than a Reuters article.

~~~
yohui
Read on Ars Technica that ZDNet's Ed Bott received confirmation from a
Microsoft spokesperson. ZDNet shows a chart.

Ars Technica: [http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2015/03/window...](http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2015/03/windows-10-will-be-a-free-upgrade-for-genuine-and-non-
genuine-users/)

ZDNet: [http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-to-launch-this-
summe...](http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-to-launch-this-summer-with-
free-upgrades-for-pirated-copies/)

~~~
cwyers
From the ZDNet article you linked:

> The additional detail about free upgrades for "non-genuine" (i.e., pirated)
> copies of Windows was a surprise, and it leaves multiple unanswered
> questions. Earlier, Microsoft said that consumer PCs running Windows 7 and
> Windows 8.1 would be entitled to free upgrades to Windows 10 for the first
> year after the product is released. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed via
> email that the plan to allow free upgrades for non-genuine copies of Windows
> applies to all markets and is not limited to China.

So it's not limited to China. But there are other "unanswered questions." I
think it's prudent to wait for those to be answered, rather than assuming
based on early news reports. Windows 10 isn't out until some nebulous summer
launch anyway.

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reymus
Well, if everyone is already using the pirated software in China, making it
free means no loss in profit, but an increment in legitimate beta testing. I
guess a free early release for China would make much more sense and might
result in a higher quality general availability release... or do we also need
to wait for Windows 10.1?

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yc1010
How would someone prove they are from China? It surely can not be just ip
address or language setting based

~~~
toxican
Read the article. They don't care where you're from. If your copy isn't legit,
you can upgrade to a legit copy of 10.

>"We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10,"

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reacweb
My entreprise has migrated from XP to Win7 last year and is in no hurry to
migrate again.

I think the strategy of microsoft is to accelerate the migration of users,
even if it is for free in order to stimulate entreprises to migrate earlier
and more often.

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sp332
OK everybody, time to pirate Win7!

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mavhc
At that point why not make it free for everyone, even the Pro version, charge
more for CALs if you wish.

You can more quickly retire older versions if the new one is free too, saves
money.

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throwaway43
Wasn't Vista supposed to have some revolutionary database like file system ?

Will we ever get to see it ?

EDIT: Wasn't being snarky, was just wondering if it's still in the works.

~~~
steveklabnik
Long ago, when it was still called Longhorn, yes. But it ended up being cut.

~~~
joshuapants
IIRC, it got axed as a separate product but some features from it were carried
over into NTFS. Similar to how Courier was killed, but they used what they
learned from it to build the Surface platform.

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aikah
So it will be free for everybody in summer right ?

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ganessh
I guess India will also fits into this strategy

