Windows 10 Does Windows 10 free update not include Vista?

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I was just reading about Windows 10 upgrade policy and it seems to indicate that users of Windows Vista (already screwed once, LOL) will not have the free upgrade offer even though the previous and post versions of Windows are eligible.

If that's true it seems like a very strange option.

Why wouldn't they get the same offer as Windows 7 users.

I was at my friend Paul's house a couple of days ago and both he and his wife, Windows 7 and 8 have their little upgrade icon as does my wife's Windows 8.1 computer.

I don't know anyone running Windows Vista so I can't ask them if they have the upgrade offer so I don't know for sure if it will really work this way.

Mike

 

[strollin]

MS has stated from the beginning that the Win 10 free upgrade is for Win 7 and Win 8 only. Vista, XP, ME and earlier are not eligible.

 

[Ralph Bromley]

Yeah but there are legal ways around it, buying a licence for windows is cheaper then buying a copy of it.
Plus there will be USB options.
Or linux

 

[Mike]

even though the previous and post versions of Windows are eligible.

There is no upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 10 and no free upgrade.

Why wouldn't they get the same offer as Windows 7 users.

They may not be able to guarantee hardware compatibility. Windows Vista was primarily a 32-bit operating system that required 128MB of RAM (in theory) to run at bare bones. Windows Vista was compatible with DirectX 9 graphics cards, which, since then, may not necessarily run properly in an upgraded environment due to their lack of processing power. Some of the devices upgrading from Windows XP used a WDDM compatibility graphics driver, which barely worked. As far as why you cannot upgrade from this operating system, though, ultimately I believe it to be a matter of time and resources. The development time to provide an upgrade path from Vista or XP may not have been feasible when they had to take into account how many of these systems were running on older hardware, as well as how much development time would have to go into building a proper upgrade installation path.

I don't view this as fair to the customer, but that is the way they have done it. I think they are more likely to be inclusive with upgrades after Windows 10, as they seem to be intent on promoting the "Windows as a Service" upgrade path, where you will likely get your upgrades online, and over the Internet.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I guess a lot more time has passed since Vista then it feels like to me.
It's really true about how fast time passes as you get older.

It seems like only a few years ago, that everyone was complaining about Windows Vista, instead of Windows 8! LOL

Mike