Microsoft planning "attractive Windows 10 upgrade offers" to grab pirates

Windows 10 Desktop

We've known since January that Microsoft really wants to get people to upgrade to Windows 10: that's when the company announced that all Windows 7 and Windows 8 owners will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free during its first year of release. For awhile, there were some confusing headlines floating around that claimed even pirates would get Windows 10 for free. Microsoft has since clarified that non-genuine copies of Windows will remain non-genuine after an update to Windows 10, but they've also teased some special deals in the works to try to get pirated Windows users to go legit.

"In partnership with some of our valued OEM partners, we are planning very attractive Windows 10 upgrade offers for their customers running one of their older devices in a Non-Genuine state," wrote Microsoft's Terry Myerson in a recent Windows blog post.

We can only speculate on what that means at this point; it sounds like the big OEMs like Dell and HP will be the ones offering special deals to people who already own their systems. Those deals may not apply to a home-built system running non-genuine Windows.

Also, if you're curious what happens when you try to upgrade from 7/8 to Windows 10 using a non-genuine copy, Myerson clarified:

"When we can’t verify that Windows is properly installed, licensed, and not tampered with, we create a desktop watermark to notify the user...Microsoft and our OEM partners know that many consumers are unwitting victims of piracy, and with Windows 10, we would like all of our customers to move forward with us together. While our free offer to upgrade to Windows 10 will not apply to Non-Genuine Windows devices, and as we’ve always done, we will continue to offer Windows 10 to customers running devices in a Non-Genuine state."

Recently, AMD's CEO stated that Windows 10 will be released at the end of July.

Wes Fenlon
Senior Editor

Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).

Latest in Windows
Microsoft's Task Manager in Windows 11
After years of complaints about Windows Task Manager displaying CPU utilization incorrectly, a fix is finally on its way
Microsoft Windows 11
The latest Windows 11 dev build gives you the ability to snap together commonly paired apps for access in a single click, and I'm already sold
Windows 11's new emoji button in the taskbar.
You might mock Microsoft's new emoji button in Windows 11 but as someone that's explained how to quickly access emojis and special characters too many times, I get it
Windows 10 operating system logo is displayed on a laptop screen for illustration photo. Gliwice, Poland on January 23, 2022.
Valve's monthly survey reveals that almost 45% of Steam users on PC are still using Windows 10 even with the sword of Damocles hanging over them
Microsoft Windows 11
If you installed Windows 11 with certain security updates and a USB stick, you may not get any more security updates warns Microsoft
Retro 1990s style beige desktop PC computer and monitor screen and keyboard. 3D illustration.
Microsoft nixes details of its Windows 11 TPM 2.0 security bypass though there are still other ways of getting the latest OS on 'unsupported' hardware
Latest in News
assassin's creed shadow naoe
We asked two parkour athletes to rate the realism of Assassin's Creed's acrobatics, and a surprising 'crime against parkour' might actually be one of the most realistic things they saw
Mechs fight on the outside of a spaceship
MechWarrior 5: Clans is getting DLC with playable Elementals and a fight on the outside of a spaceship
Aloy - Horizon
'I feel worried about this art form:' Unsurprisingly, the real Aloy from Horizon isn't a fan of AI Aloy
Crying laughing emoji with disturbing realistic elements for REPO
REPO's first update will add a new map and a 'duck bucket' so we can finally give that pesky quacker a time out
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch