Microsoft has finally clarified its position on the status of Windows 10 upgrades for pirated versions of Windows 7 and 8. It turns out that there will not be any free upgrades for pirates, which sounds like Microsoft is going back on what it said about the upgrade structure for Windows 10 during the original announcement.
Redmond has originally announced free upgrades to Windows 10 for everyone, including those without original copies of Windows 7 and 8. However, it later refused to clarify the stance when asked; providing vague answers about the status of the scheme and not providing any specific details.
The new announcement was made on the Windows Blog, which clearly states that there is no free upgrade for pirates, and that pirated copies of Windows 10 will be stuck with a watermark. However, Microsoft did say that it will offer pirates “very attractive Windows 10 upgrade offers for their customers running one of their older devices in a Non-Genuine state.” This takes some hype off for those running on pirated copies of Windows who were hoping to get genuine versions of Windows 10.
Microsoft has traditionally still supported pirated versions of Windows with security updates, and it looks like it won’t stop any time soon. That being said, it won’t be giving pirates a free ride on its shiny new Windows 10 operating system either.
[Source: Windows Blog, via PCworld]
