Windows 10 free for users of Windows 7 and 8 for first year?

[kane_magus]

Huh, how about that.

What's the catch? Is there a catch? If there's not a catch in there somewhere that I'm not seeing, I'll be surprised. If there's not a catch, I might actually go for this.

Comments

[owsf2000.livejournal.com]

I suppose one catch might be "Is the holographic headset (which kinda reminds me of XB1 for some reason...) a requirement of Windows 10?

[kane-magus.livejournal.com]

One catch I can see even now, almost immediately on the heels of this announcement, is that they're already developing games that will be exclusive to Windows 10 on PC (http://www.pcgamer.com/fable-legends-coming-to-pc/).

"System requirements have not been announced, but Lionhead confirmed that it will be a Windows 10 exclusive, and will support DirectX 12 graphics options as long as you're rocking a DX12 video card."

DirectX 12 itself, it should be noted, will also be exclusive to Windows 10.

Yeah, I guess I won't be getting Fable Legends anytime soon, as I won't be buying a new video card (which would, I'm sure, likely require buying a whole new system altogether, at this point) anytime soon. I figure more and more games are going to start following suit sooner or later as well (though that, admittedly, is probably not such an amazing prediction to make, and more like a bit of a no brainer).

[owsf2000.livejournal.com]

I was just told by someone with more interest in it than I, that Xbox will be built in to Windows 10, likely as a non-removable part of the system. If that's true, that might be another catch.

And it might also mean Microsoft is attempting their old Internet Explorer trick from the 90's against Steam. ie: bundle the software with the OS and make sure the option is non-removable to try to crush competition.

Imagine! You're very own XB1 permanently attached to your PC!

[kane-magus.livejournal.com]

Hmm, well, that is certainly an argument against blindly, or even not-so-blindly, taking them up on this "free" upgrade offer. ¬_¬

[kane-magus.livejournal.com]

And, indeed, it looks like the person who told you that was right on the money (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/01/22/windows-10-xbox/). Goddammit, Microsoft. -_-

[owsf2000.livejournal.com]

Now the big question is: What will Microsoft be doing for the non-Home version of their Windows 10?

You know, whatever version Microsoft expects -businesses- to use.

I don't think many businesses will welcome having video game integration onto their computers.

Doing shit like this should never be opt-out regardless. (Assuming they even let you opt-out, but then I guess they can't very well force you to put in your Xbox Live account details.)

"I look at the opportunity to make Windows gaming and Xbox gaming symbiotic with one another and try to grow the number of people who are connected and the amount of content that’s available on both platforms"

Heh. This is the same company that absolutely refused to do up a mouse or keyboard attachment for the original Xbox because they wanted to separate their new console from being "just another windows computer" in the minds of gamers - even though that's exactly what it was.

[kane-magus.livejournal.com]

What it seems like they're essentially doing here is taking the much reviled Games For Windows Live, rebranding it as Xbox and dramatically expanding its scope, and baking it into the OS as a "required" feature, rather than having it be optional like GFWL used to be (well, optional aside from the games that required it, but then, those games weren't required to be played either).

Then again, this is the same company that once infamously claimed that they could bundle a ham sandwich in with their operating system if they wanted to, so it doesn't surprise me that they have the hubris to think they'll be able to get away with this. I have a feeling that they might be in for a rude awakening, though.

[owsf2000.livejournal.com]

Yeah that sounds exactly like what they're doing. Not so much putting Xbox on the PC so much as restarting Games For Windows Live and trying to force customer adoption by integrating with the OS. But since most anyone would see this as a shitty move and balk at it if they did this with GFWL, they rebrand it to Xbox and integrate it with Xbox as well so they can plausibly deny it's actually a GFWL in sheeps clothing. Gives the apologists something to use and all that. >_>

And of course you know the reason why they feel integrating it to the OS is so important.

GFLW failed because nobody wanted it (mostly nobody mind you) and it was optional.

Orion is not a market leader because it is also optional, and nobody wants it. (But some swallow it because EA pretty much requires it for their own games that some players do want.)

You can probably throw in a large list of Steam me-too's that also failed or are doing weakly because they're optional.

So to prevent their GFWLv2 from failing... take the decision out of consumer hands. Because that never causes class actions down the line.

[kane-magus.livejournal.com]

"Origin is not a market leader because it is also optional, and nobody wants it. (But some swallow it because EA pretty much requires it for their own games that some players do want.)"

That and EA does dubious shit like making a Humble Bundle (http://kane-magus.livejournal.com/663091.html) of games that require Origin. Honestly, at this point, I'm a little surprised that we haven't seen a Humble Microsoft Bundle yet, given how otherwise watered down the Humble Bundle brand has become lately. ¬_¬

And while Steam is technically optional as well, it was also first, and thus has become the de facto standard (aside from maybe GOG, but even GOG is only a distant second to Steam). Which is, as you say, what Microsoft is hoping to take a pickaxe to with this bullshit of bundling this crap in with Win10 (and which some idiots in the comments under that RPS article I linked to before actually said (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/01/22/windows-10-xbox/#comment-1798635) they hope will happen).