Microsoft: Insiders using Windows XP or Vista won't get free Windows 10 upgrade

[anuseems]

And if you've lost your licence key, you're screwed too

From The Inquirer:

The company is using the Windows Insider programme as its biggest ever beta test for what is being billed as the final or definitive version of Windows, or Windows-as-a-service.

But Microsoft has made it clear that its generosity stretches only so far, and that being a beta tester is an honour in itself.

Windows 10 will be offered as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users when it launches later this year.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2408175/microsoft-insiders-running-windows-xp-or-vista-wont-get-free-windows-10-upgrade

[banned]

But didn't Microsoft already announce that Win7+ users will get Win10 for free within the first year? What does being an insider have to do with anything?

This announcement doesn't mean much to me as an XP user. I'll probably stick with XP anyways, until I'm no longer to obtain proper drivers for new hardware builds.

[mikie]

Microsoft says one thing then what was said gets revised. They have said in not too distant past that all insiders would be able to simply upgrade the win10 tech preview to the final build.

All win7 and newer except enterprise will get free upgrades ... even to pirate versions, for first year after released. IS the Deal.

[cyberber]

Windows XP users don't deserve to get a free update let them pay dearly full price for sticking to a useless obsolete operating system

[jtmulc]

Windows XP users don't deserve to get a free update let them pay dearly full price for sticking to a useless obsolete operating system

XP came out in 2001. You could conceivably have someone running 15 year old hardware trying to install 10 and it just won't work. The spec sheet for 10 says it requires NX and SSE2 support.

[CPowell46]

Cyberber is apparently one of those odd people who take it as a personal affront that anyone continues to use XP. He must have unusual definitions for "useless" and "obsolete". A system that does everything I want it to do, as XP does, is hardly "useless". XP might be considered "obsolete" if newer systems could do something...anything...of value that XP can't do; but this is not the case. Newer systems can use far more disk space and RAM than does XP, but a reasonable person wouldn't consider heavy use of resources to be of value in itself.

[satviewer2000]

Windows XP users don't deserve to get a free update let them pay dearly full price for sticking to a useless obsolete operating system

Maybe obsolete, but hardly "useless". I still use WinXP because quite a few of my fully working and expensive auto-feed scanners and printers will only work properly with WinXP. I don't use those computers for internet related tasks. I've tried Win7 and even Win8x hoping they will work with my hardware, but they just do not. I am not about to replace all of my expensive hardware with newer versions just for the sake of being able to use a newer operating system.

[MidnightDistortions]

Windows XP users don't deserve to get a free update let them pay dearly full price for sticking to a useless obsolete operating system

Tell that to my printer that simply won't work on W7 or any other Windows except W98 or XP. People stuck to it because MS has lousy compatibility issues and the reason i'm moving to Linux.

[cyberber]

@MidnightDistortions you must have a very old printer probably more than 10 years old.

@satviewer2000 how old is your feed scanner & printer maybe 10 or 15 years old.

[dcs18]

This means that anyone who upgraded from XP or Vista is automatically screwed.

Well, this might be only partly true (as far as Users of Vista are concerned) - I don't think XP Users might feel screwed.

The reason being that most XP Users either won't (due to their beliefs) or can't (due to their hardware limitations.)

[BTJB]

Windows XP users don't deserve to get a free update let them pay dearly full price for sticking to a useless obsolete operating system

Tell that to my printer that simply won't work on W7 or any other Windows except W98 or XP. People stuck to it because MS has lousy compatibility issues and the reason i'm moving to Linux.

So, you do not need to upgrade to Windows 10, then why you should need free license for Windows 10? For who? For your parents? Microsoft haven't with you any deal. If you stay to old system because of compatibility, I don't know how you surf without problems and another compatibilities in internet. Seems like something masochistic.

[CPowell46]

XP serves me just as well as it did when it was brand new. The latest versions of exactly two of the programs that I use...Java and Calibre...are incompatible with XP, but the last versions that are compatible are perfectly satisfactory.

[dcs18]

Check out the ground realities at this fully explained article.

[MidnightDistortions]

@MidnightDistortions you must have a very old printer probably more than 10 years old.

@satviewer2000 how old is your feed scanner & printer maybe 10 or 15 years old.

Should it matter? It's still in working condition. Why should i replace my printer if its not working with new software? I don't use XP to surf the net or use it regularly. I did try using it for a media player but it got too slow and often times will freeze up forcing a restart but that's mainly due to the PC being really old and barely have the resources needed for XP to function properly. It works better on my current media PC and i can even send printing tasks from W7 to XP but that's the only reason i ever use it.