WIndows 10

At the risk of flaring up a new controversy I will just say that Microsoft has today announced that anyone with Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, provided they do so within a year of it's launch.
People running Vista or XP will have to buy it.

I was reading about this today. I usually don't upgrade an operating system, usually it comes with a PC replacement, so probably my next upgrade will be Windows 10, when we update our desktop computers.

For those who do upgrade, free sounds like a good deal!

8.1 was free too to Windows 8 users and it was a much bigger update and speed improvement than the number would indicate. We paid £24.99 each computer for the upgrade from Windows 7.

I certainly will upgrade. I get a free upgrade for my phone too.

I have been pondering buying a small laptop, but was waiting to see if the rumours about the free update were true or not. No excuse not to buy one now I guess.

Free? Now there's a price I can't resist.

Looks like I shall be updating a PC, 2 x laptops and a phone

Thanks for sharing Gwyn.

Carl

Interesting, but I guess the people who might be most peeved will be Vista users, while those with '7' quite happy to keep with that version...

Win 8.1 miles better than 8.

But if it's free I'll have 5.

PS Nice new Avatar John - still can't tell whether you've got a full head of hair or not

Good news on the free updates ....BUT, will the new version give us back a traditional start button? We've heard that many users downloaded the 'classic shell' add-on in order to use win8/8.1 more like previous versions. That seemed crazy to me, that it needed an add-on to offer the most basic functionality in a way that users were comfortable with.

There will be a start menu (the button never went and a right click settings menu is in already). it was the stupid charm bar that annoyed me as a mouse user having to poke in the corner to use it. Also fixed in 8.1 along with boot to desktop option to ignore allt he daft stuff.

Given the best way to swap or open programs/files is on the task bar Mac style now I don't get the fuss about the start menu. The apps in the full page start bar we have now are generally useless though.

8.1 is very fast on even quite slow PC's. They say this will continue.

Free upgrade for my 8" and 10" windows tablets and my Windows 7 laptop.

Cool

Have to say I really like 8.1 - used correctly it is a darn sight better than previous incarnations - especially Vista!

Carl

The are clearly a number of improvements related to stability, speed and security, and all that should be applauded and welcomed. But regardless of the varying individual user experiences (and they really do vary widely , considering the vehement debates we've had here before!) win 8/8.1 has been a problematic episode for Microsoft, a progression that has divided users, caused confusion and put plenty of people off ... Not what they surely wanted, given the already strong trends towards other competitors platforms. It's no wonder they want to move rapidly on and dish out the next version pronto.

And are we really expected to believe the the number 9 is being avoided because of some long obsolete and forgotten predecessor?

Lots of news, hot of the press here

I agree 8.1 definite improvement on 8. Had a big glitch with my desktop though. I had upgraded it from XP via a good value offer at PC World. The complete version was also on the dvd but because I used it to load the complete version and not the upgrade from XP i had a challenging time registering with Microsoft but all was well in the end. I hope the upgrade to 10 works out ok. The laptop upgrade was fine as it was a straight upgrade from 8 to 8.1.

I am hoping Ricoh adopt this sales model. Free FF Pentax DSLR to all K-3 and K-5 owners!

Why do people here think that Microsoft are giving it away ... Why throw away a new revenue stream?