Well, this is a free upgrade only for users having GENUINE licensed OS. What I heard, that users having non-genuine OS can upgrade their OS to W10, but their OS will remain non-genuine having personalization options locked & a watermark saying - "This Windows is not Genuine". With a nag screen saying you to activate Windows. So, non-genuine users will still need a KMS activator after upgrade to Windows 10. Correct me, if I'm wrong.
Does it matter? I mean, sure, my heart goes out to folks so desperately poor that they can't afford to buy an Operating System, but then I have to wonder if there really are such people in the world if they can afford to buy the hardware they're using--well, in that case, they can't be so desperately poor and poverty is not the reason. It's something else...some "principle" they have that obscures the fact that a Windows OS is likely to be the longest, best-supported piece of software they will ever buy. And even in the US where hardware is cheap, Windows is still a whole lot cheaper...So pardon me if I don't get all weepy-eyed over the folks running bootleg copies of Windows...
I've had my MSA connected to the Insider program for a long time, but I don't have Windows 10 on my system. What's the minimum amount of steps I can take to get a genuine copy of Windows 10 RTM for free, provided I do not want to beta test anything past the release day of the OS?
Why is anyone even worried about this? MS wants us all on their software because we are the experts in the field. We take care of everyone's computers. We take care of the police station, the fire house, the small business. If we move away from MS and say maybe go Android on everything MS looses BIG (And I'm on XDA! I do android). This is what's at stake with Windows 10. They want and need us to be their base and even pirating will be easy because they need everyone on windows. It's the old business model, it the right business model and I think they are returning to that.
According to Gabe Aul: "As a reminder, the Enterprise edition of the Windows 10 Insider Preview is not eligible for the free upgrade offer and can be upgraded to the final release of Windows 10 through an active Software Assurance agreement." You do not.
ok....so in the next official insider release i have to go back to pro.....if MS releases anything else sounds like their staying at 10130 until final release?
If you don't want to beta test, then you will need a qualifying OS like Win 7 or 8.1 to upgrade to 10 for free. 10 is a commercial OS, meant to make revenue for microsoft. The free copy for beta testers is meant to encourage and reward their effort in helping build the final product, and future updates.
Well right now I have 1 MSA account and 3 devices attached to it, 2 Win 10 and 1 Win 8.1... so how would they know which Win 10 to keep active on RTM...
Another guess - You'll get the free license for first device, on which you'll perform upgrade to Final build.
Can people run Windows 10 with vmware or virtualbox and sign up for the Insider? Can you get Windows 10 free doing that way or you have to physically install it on your machine?
I doubt that. Their blog post suggests that all of the devices you are running Insider and upgrade it to RTM will receive valid licensing, tied to that specific computer and MS account.