General Discussions

Security liability. China at this point is a massive botnet that either already exists or is ripe for the taking. Like it or not, a botnet powered but a large populous nation like China affects the world significantly. DNS Digital Attack Map website almost always show a stream of DNS attacks that originate from China that only a botnet could generate.

Giving it out for free in China is a calculated move that improved security from modern technology means less of that.

Makes a lot of sense but dont you think that they prefer to leave china vulnerable at that area because of it's growing economic and military power for espionage purposes? Or have I seen to many movies..

Absolutely not.

[Edited by Neo7, 3/18/2015 7:08:21 PM]

EDIT: I was wrong. MS spokesperson confirmed it's global. Pirates and legit users of Windows 7 and 8 will get free legit copies of Windows 10. I have no idea what their strategy behind it is.

[Edited by Neo7, 3/18/2015 8:39:45 PM]

MORE EDIT: Build 10041 is live in the Insider's Fast Ring and can be downloaded. I have not installed it successfully yet though (ran out of space on HDD).

Technical change log: Link
MS Blog Entry (includes known issues): Link

[Edited by Neo7, 3/18/2015 8:50:59 PM]

Wait let me get it straight, even those with pirated versions will get a free LEGIT update to win10?! That's bizarre and very unfair to all of those who actually bought Windows.

There's still the 1 year claim clause though. Don't claim it in a year, still have to pay. I don't know if this offer overrides that.

Probably market control or shares.

What I would like to know, despite DX12, is just how better will be/is Win10 outperforming Win7, 64bit versions of course, and if it's worth upgrading from Win7 Ultimate.

Okay I think I have full clarification on the pirated getting Windows 10 and it looks to be a massive miscommunication.

Part of the development of Windows 10 was to streamline the OS installation by allow the OS to be delivered over Windows Update instead of by installation media. What MS meant to communicate is that Windows 7 and higher will be the OSes to receive Windows 10 via Windows Update and both genuine and non-genuine version can receive the Windows 10 installation file.

Note that it only states just that. Installing it will not affect your genuine status. So while the pirates will have the benefit of having a Windows 10 installation from an official source, they will still need to buy a legit key to do product activation (or continue being flagged as non-genuine).

TLDR: Yes pirates can download Windows 10. No they don't get a product key for free.

[Edited by Neo7, 3/19/2015 5:35:17 PM]

Don't see how they'll win over China and pirates with that, it's essentially the same thing as downloading it from elsewhere.

Here's hoping they finally introduce yearly subs with Win10.