Oops, yea, I really meant the whole Windows-as-a-service direction. I could see Microsoft extending the free offer, though, since they appear to be aggressively pushing people to enroll in the service.
For most end consumers who didn't realize that they paid for a windows license when they bought their computer, it's just a free upgrade, no different than their iPhone updating.
Indeed, and I'm definitely not complaining that Win8 SP2 is a free upgrade from Win7+ ;) Still, only holders of existing Windows licenses qualify for it - "Windows for free" is something different, IMNSHO. But you are quite correct that an average consumer would see this distinction as pointless nitpicking.
