Windows 10 Upgrade For Pirated Software Users: Your Doubts Answered

When Microsoft announced their new operating system, the Windows 10, they said all users running Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 will be eligible for a free upgrade if they do so within a year of the launch. It obviously meant people who have licensed or legal copy of the operating system would be able to get the new one for free. Yesterday, Terry Myerson, the man who runs Microsoft’s operating systems department #-Link-Snipped-# at the WinHEC technology conference in Shenzhen, China that in an attempt to popularise legal copies of Microsoft software in the Republic of China and bring down software piracy, they will be providing Windows 10 upgrade to users who are running pirated copies of its previous operating systems. Noticing the bold move from Microsoft, Windows 10 to launch 'this summer' with free upgrades even for pirated copies | ZDNET asked to the Redmond giant if this free upgrade scheme for pirated copies is applicable only for the country of China or for users worldwide. A spokesperson from Microsoft confirmed that users worldwide will be able to take advantage of this offer from the company.


This announcement caused uproars from two kinds of people. First, there were the software pirates who rejoiced that they would not have to do pesky reverse engineering stuff to develop a crack file or keygen to register a pirated copy of Windows. Second, there were the folks who had paid for the previous version of the operating system and said that it was unfair that people who used Windows illegally were getting access to the new one for free.

The people at Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for all users worldwide [Updated] | Ars Technica, who take technology news very seriously decided to get to the heart of this matter. They put forth their query to Microsoft and the company was quick to clear the air regarding this matter. Microsoft said that although PCs running non-genuine copies of Windows are allowed to download and install Windows 10 at launch their licensing state will not change. To make the previous statement clearer, if you download and install Windows 10 it will still be an unlicensed copy of Windows, and remember software piracy is a crime and crime never pays.