Piracy has always been the enemy to genuine software and we are pretty sure Microsoft has extensive experience dealing with counterfeit software – it is after all the largest software company in the world. However, the company has decided to take an extremely different approach for the upcoming release of Windows 10 in China later this year: by offering free upgrade to pirated Windows users.
This rather interesting information was announced by Terry Myerson, the Executive Vice President of Operating Systems for Microsoft in an interview with Reuters. That being said, Myerson did mention that the upgrade will be provided to qualified PCs but didn’t provide detailed clarifications on that matter.
Of course, it goes without saying that users with genuine Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will receive free upgrade to Windows 10 as well within the first year of its release as per what Microsoft has announced in January 2015. Still, we are wondering though if there is any hidden agenda behind this move by Microsoft in China.
At this moment, it is not known whether Microsoft will provide similar offer to markets outside of China or otherwise. It will be interesting to how the market will cope or change to such move, if Microsoft is willing to deliver similar offer in other countries.
[Source: Reuters and Windows Official Blog. Image: Microsoft China @ Weibo]
