If you buy a genunine copy of Win10 from Microsoft, in the UK it’s listed as around £220

Win10_from_microsoft

But, a quick google turns up people selling it for as little as £30

Win10_from_softwaregeeks

So, what’s the catch? Is it a legit copy, the deal of the century, or total scam??

Anyone got any experience?

They’re probably unused OEM licences. Legality is… grey in that it’s a legitimate licence but not supposed to be resold.

Also, I’ve PMed you, check your messages / email.

We once had a guy at work got caught selling our autocad software and licenses for a similar price. He noticed them sitting in the cupboard “not being used” and helped himself. Needless to say when we had a software audit it all went wrong.

Google Accessibility Technologies for Windows 10, you may qualify? But i’m sure Cougar has told you that already.

Ok, thanks Cougar, i’ve pm’d you back!

Accessibility Technologies would be a great name for a company selling doors btw……

Google Accessibility Technologies for Windows 10, you may qualify?

Even if you don’t qualify, there’s absolutely no checking in place. There’s nothing stopping you from downloading W10 and installing it right now if you already have a W7 or W8.1 licence.

I bought a Lattepanda for a work project this week. It is pretty much a Windows version of a raspberry pie. It was £95 including a pre-installed Win10 license.

An incredibly impressive little device!

got a link eskay? sounds interesting!

Its a bit of a joke really. I’ve known of hooky copies of 7 upgraded to 10 with Accessibility thrown over the top. This then activates with a legit licence. Who knows what we have coming our way with future Current Branch updates….Nothing is ever free in this life! 😀

Reminds me of an album cover.

I need to upgrade but I think my ram (4gb) and cheapo graphic card might not be able to handle it … hmmm … 😮

Have a look at THIS THREAD

I got Win10 for both my mum and my nan who were on Vista previously for no more than a few quid each. Up and running in no time too.

😀

Del – Member
got a link eskay? sounds interesting!

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/processor-microcontroller-development-kits/1244684/

ta! i saw the rs offer on a quick search i did and assumed they were charging the earth. will take a look.

chewy – 10 is no heavier on resource than vista or 7 ime.

assumed they were charging the earth

We’ve got circuit breakers which prevent that sort of thing these days.

I got Win10 for both my mum and my nan who were on Vista previously for no more than a few quid each. Up and running in no time too.

The upgrade from Vista to Windows 10 is still free – I did this very recently.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

The upgrade from Vista to Windows 10 is still free

From Win7, not Vista. Officially, the Win7/Win8 upgrade is not free for regular users, but the accessibility upgrade is free. You just need to say you have accessibility issues. Do it when you’re blind drunk to avoid having to lie.

eskay – Member 
I bought a Lattepanda for a work project this week. It is pretty much a Windows version of a raspberry pie. It was £95 including a pre-installed Win10 license.

For plain IoT use, you can also get Windows 10 IoT for an actual Raspberry Pi, and it’s free. Just don’t expect to see a desktop. IoT isn’t about running a desktop OS anyway.

If you want a cheap full Win 10 OS then the above sort of thing is okay, though typically underpowered, especially in the graphics department. Win 10 IoT is less power hungry as it’s really only running basic core of the OS an one or two apps. Though problem at the moment with the Pi version of it is they still don’t have graphics drivers so it’s running slow graphically.

You just need to say you have accessibility issues.

No you don’t.

You just need to say you have accessibility issues.

No you don’t.

[/quote]

Customers who use assistive technologies can upgrade at no cost

In order to use that, you have to click a button claiming that “Yes, I use assistive technologies and I am ready for my upgrade to Windows 10.” If you don’t say that you have accessibility issues, you can’t use that offer. Pretty simple really.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

The download of the Win10 installation media is free. But to authenticate the installation using the assistive technologies route, you need to claim that you have accessibility issues.

Huh?

From memory, you run the installer, it installs. At one point it asks you for a licence key, which can be any valid Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 key. There is no “assisted technologies route” that I’m aware of, the only time it’s mentioned is on that web page you linked to telling you it’s still free.

I could be wrong here though, I’ve not installed it for a little while now so could be misremembering. I’ll check it when I’m in work next week.

Oh hang on, I’m assuming a clean install. Doing an upgrade to an existing installation might be different (you shouldn’t need to enter a key for a start) so that might mention something about assisted technologies? I’ve not done an in-situ upgrade in forever.

Officially, the free upgrade from Win7 or Win8 is finished. If you have already upgraded an installation to Win10 and want to reinstall, then there is no problem. However, if you want to do a new upgrade, officially you have to pay for an upgrade licence. However, if you use the assistive technologies upgrade, it is apparently still free, but you are legally making a claim that you have accessibility issues. Microsoft obviously don’t care, they want people to upgrade, but it does mean that they could revoke the authentication if they wanted to.

I agree with everything you’ve just said bar the last sentence. You’re arguably outside of their licensing terms, like you are if you use one of those $10 OEM licences mentioned earlier, but there’s no differentiation at a technical level. An install is an install, once your machine is registered on MS’s activation servers that’s it. Microsoft neither knows nor cares whether you’re using accessibility features.

Yes, but people are buying dodgy OEM Win7 licences and upgrading to Win10, which MS might clamp down on. In Asia, dodgy Windows licences are a big thing, so that is potentially something MS might decide to put an end to. Probably won’t happen, but MS do have a reputation for surprising people.

Again: there is no technical difference. They can’t “put an end” to transferring unused W7 OEM licences as there is no mechanism by which they could tell the difference. They could readily revoke the free upgrade process by stopping new installs from accepting keys from previous versions of course, but that won’t affect anyone who has already upgraded. Once a PC is registered as being licensed for W10 that’s the way it stays.

I’ve no idea about “dodgy” licences in Asia I’m afraid. Are you talking about OEM licences or counterfeits?

Microsoft neither knows nor cares whether you’re using accessibility features.

Microsoft track almost everything you do on W10, I bet that includes the accessibility features

They’re not so fussed about the licencing now except in corporates. Microsoft’s money making is now in services. That’s why Win 10 is the last actual version for sale. Technically still sold but mostly would come with a new PC or volume packs for enterprise environments, but otherwise that’s the last you’ll pay. Just free upgrades to the latest feature update.

I’ve thought that for a while now. For W10 at home it’s all about market penetration. Why would you care about a consumer desktop OS when you can squeeze ten grand out of an Enterprise for a copy of SQL server?

The softwaregeeks link is completely legit, I’ve bought 3-4 Win10 licenses from them. You get a key sent to you, download the Win10 install from Microsoft and enter the key when prompted.
It’s an OEM license which is the only difference with respect to the retail copies at £200+, the only real difference is you might have to do an automated phonecall to reactivate the license if you change the motherboard of your PC.

Also, with respect to Win10 tracking concerns..

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

Been using that since Win10 launched and it allows you to completely control what Win10 does with respect to tracking and reporting back to Microsoft, just have to re-run it after a major update (I usually rerun it after patch Tuesday every month).

From Win7, not Vista

Ah yeah, you’re correct. My upgrade was from Win 7.

I’ve never used Vista so was unsure where it fell in the Windows release history.