Microsoft has announced that it will give be giving free upgrades of Windows 10 to anyone who uses Windows right now, regardless if you forgot to pay them for the version you are currently using, and are currently running pirated copies of the operating system.
Speaking to Reuters, Microsoft’s operating system chief Terry Myerson explained that Microsoft will be “upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10.” Seems like a novel way to stop piracy (give it away) but the move is apparently an attempt to “re-engage” users that currently run pirated software, particularly in China. Where illegal version of Windows are a huge problem, it is estimated that as many as 75 percent of PCs in China run pirated copies of the OS.
In fairness Microsoft has already announced that upgrades to Windows 10 will be free for the first year, much like Apples strategy of making the OS essentially a free product. Whether this means Microsoft will look to get money out of us elsewhere (there must be a catch) time will tell. That being said it makes more sense to bring everyone in line, give us all the offer of the same upgrade, does feel a bit like I’m being rewarded for stealing though…
Windows 10 will be available this summer.