Probably just best to just wait and see what happens when it RTMs. I think WZOR said a year ago that activations would be tied to your Microsoft account. If that is the case, I plan to take some computers at work, install Windows 7 and upgrade them to 10 and tie them to my Microsoft account, then wipe and reload back to our enterprise image.
There is no upgrade key for you to keep, and W7/W8 retail keys WILL NOT BE Windows 10 Retail Keys, if you want a Windows 10 key that can be transfered like current W7/W8 retail keys you will need a new Windows 10 Retail Key. The free upgrade offer for Windows 10 is a promotion, Microsoft can give you any license they want as you are not "giving up" your Windows 7/8 retail key in exchange for Windows 10, your Windows 7/8 keys will continue to work after a upgrade but your Windows 10 "upgrade" will be bound to your hardware and that's it, no keys for you.
well dunno about that... they said, that you will get ISO for installing clean Windows 10 after updating from Win 7/8/8.1.. so if this is true, then you will need key, or account or anything from them to install it right?
You can clean install after upgrading to W10, you don't need a key for that as it will activate just fine on it's own and there are people that may not be able to update over WU so updating over the ISO is also possible.
I don't think you need a reservation icon to get a free upgrade, all you need is the code and I'm sure that will be readily available everywhere.
I'm sure we will get a key. And I'm sure you can run Windows 10 also without a MS account (you can it on the Preview versions now), and since they say that you will have the possible to do a clean install on a empty hard drive, you must get a key. I think (and hope) that the new Windows 10 key just is tied up to the old Win7/8/8.1 key, and not the hardware. (so long as you actually get a key, and you get the key before you need to activate on the old computer). Since I have 100 unique Windows 8 Pro keys (thats also work on Win8.1 Pro) it's no problem that Win10 "consume" the Win8 key, for I will not use that anymore. And since it's retail keys, the key is not tied up to the hardware. But up till now, I have just created lots of VMs, without any key. Will wait to after 29.July to see how we get the key, and how I can use it (and if it's tied up to the VM or just the old Win8 key), and how you can use the key to make a clean install. If in any way I can use the key I get on the first VM on the server on a new server (with different HW) or a new computer, I will start to mass activate all the VMs created, with new unused Win8 keys. I have created 40 key ready VMs now, and will continue to create up to 100 VMs before 29.July. In worst case, I will have wasted some time, and €30 (maybe €60), but the possible to use my old win8 Pro keys to get free Win10 is worth the money and the time. And if everything fails, I still have access to more then 10 MSDN Ultimate accounts, so I can get lots of free keys there also. But, the best solution is to use all the Win8 Pro keys I have.
Time will show. I'm pretty sure I will have 100 Windows 10 keys that I can use on what ever I want after 29.July. If not, you can say "told you in your face" a couple of weeks after. But if I'm right, I'm the person with most legal Win10 product keys out there for a day or two. and many will follow my idea.
Remember, I do not use any of my Win8 Pro yet (or I have tested with a few), so the only real fail in this project is using time to clone VMs, and rented a server. And then spent around €60 for the whole ting. /for two months. 39 days to we see if I'm right.
...and all that for a bunch of unused keys now and then? Just to see if it works? Yeah, I'd call that wasted time. But time you enjoy wasting is not wasted, so it's up to you.
Does it all really matter? OEM Windows 7/8 also gets free upgrade, and that is same OEM per manufacture (and 1000's machines) sebus
First I have to say I like when somebody dares to start an 'unusual' experiment. It had been the start to discover something great already..but...I think.. Yes the upgrade won't be tied to an M$ account. The upgrade qualification has to be made on each VM each of them has to have an OS installed with an unique key activated..and it would probably qualify. Then you'll get lots of activated w10 VMs with unique IIDs / confirmation IDs. To transfer them on real hardware you'd need to phone activate all of those again and that is not sure if it'd work at all. If they don't issue unique upgrade keys, then they have to store unique (virtual) hardware identifiers along with the IID. Those identifiers change when going on real hardware and a reactivation is not possible.
Understand that I'm the only one believing this can be something. So I will keep the server, with all the pre prepared VMs, just to write in a valid key, then signup for the free upgrade offer, then get the key one way or the other. If all you other is correct, I have wasted some spare time (like just now, while writing this, the server is creating a new pre prepared VM), and at the most €60 of my own money. It's like the lottery, I have used some time and some money, and the return can be big (of course, have no plans to sell the Win10 keys, but use for my own)