Has Microsoft u-turned on Windows 10 'free for everyone' promises?

It seems Insiders will not receive free Windows 10 upgrade after all

Microsoft created another minor public relations nightmare for itself over the weekend, following up an unusually generous Windows 10 announcement with a quiet volte-face.

On Friday, the company announced that its scheme to provide free Windows 10 upgrades to existing customers of Windows 7 and Windows 8 was being extended to cover those who were using preview versions of Windows 10 under its Insider Program.

This would effectively mean that anybody could download a Windows 10 preview, install it on any number of systems they wished, and enjoy upgrades to Windows 10 for the full life time of the operating system.

This could have been especially interesting news for the enterprise, as it appeared that an IT manager could theoretically roll out as many versions of Windows 10 preview as they liked, then sit back and save huge amounts of money on buying Windows 10 licences as the previews all became final builds.

To clarify, the blog - the wording of which has now been changed - said preview users would "receive the Windows 10 final release build and remain activated".

But Gabriel Aul, general manager of Microsoft's operating system, tweeted a clarifying line on Friday, too, saying:

"Install [preview build] 10130, connect registered Insider MSA, upgrade to RTM, stays genuine."

Since Friday, however, that essential "remain activated" phrase has been dropped from the blog, which now reads, "as long as you are running an Insider Preview build and connected with the MSA you used to register, you will receive the Windows 10 final release build".

It's also followed by a reminder that "only people running Genuine Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 can upgrade to Windows 10 as part of the free upgrade offer".

Of course, it's not been proven or publicly stated whether Microsoft is now dropping free upgrades for Windows 10 preview versions from these words alone. But clearly, somebody at Microsoft decided that effectively giving users licence to print their own copies of Windows 10 was erring a little too much on the side of generous.

Computing has approached Microsoft to find out whether Windows 10 is still fully upgradable from preview, and whether such upgrades will be fully legal, licensed and accepted.

Computing had presumed that Microsoft would continue to try and make the bulk of its Windows-based profits from selling Windows 10 licences on new machines, as well as raking in cash from enterprise licences - Friday's promise could severely undermine the latter if true, and potentially cost Microsoft dearly in terms of lost revenue.