Windows 10 Gets 'Free' Upgrade Rule Change

For all the criticism thrown at Windows 10 – including a recent triple blow – there have also been several occasions where Microsoft MSFT +0.00% has made smart and sensible changes. And here is another…

Picked up by BetaNews, Microsoft used its official Microsoft Community forum to soft launch Windows 10’s new ability to upgrade versions seamlessly by using a ‘free’ product key. It also admitted the current upgrade process isn’t up to scratch:

“We are going to make these steps more visible and easier to find for folks. Sorry that has not been the case. The process is not really straight forward; I guess we were hoping folks would upgrade their 8 PCs to Pro and then upgrade to 10.  Well we have lots of people and lots of scenarios and lots of folks want to start fresh.”

Windows 10 now has support for version upgrades as well as Windows 7 and Windows 8 licence keys. Image credit: Gordon Kelly

So what is this product key and how does it work? Here are the steps:

1. Go to ‘Change Product Key’ (easily found by typing this into Cortana)
2. Enter the ‘free’ Microsoft key: VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

After this your system will automatically begin the upgrade process to Windows 10 Pro. So why do I say ‘Free’? Because while Microsoft is freely giving out the key it stresses this only permits the upgrade to be carried out, it doesn’t give you a free copy – that still needs to be Activated and that then prompts the user for payment.

An additional caveat is users will need to be running Windows 10 version 1511 (the latest public version at the time of publication) for this feature to be supported.

Upgrade Value and Future Potential

Of course the obvious questions to ask here are: Is the upgrade worth doing? and What is the potential of this new functionality?

Looking at the upgrade aspect, if you have the money (at $199 Windows 10 Pro is $80 more than the $119 Windows 10 Home) then I’d say yes. Windows 10 Pro offers far greater control over upgrades and privacy settings than Home and last month this has been further upgraded. To the understandable frustration of Windows 10 Home users, no improvements will be coming to them.

Secondly there is a lot of potential giving Windows 10 the ability to respond to a new kind of product key. For Microsoft simplifying the up-sell path is a no brainer as Windows 10 momentum has dropped. It also makes for easy promotions across all forms of media and makes life a lot easier for users who regret purchasing the version they have (I’d love to see Microsoft offer a downgrade option, but that will never happen) and can change in a heartbeat. Given Microsoft’s comments, it also seems like further usability improvements are on the way.

Is this another sign Microsoft is warming to customer feedback? Yes and no. Given the importance of Windows 10 to the company I very much doubt it will lead to a softening of its ever more aggressive Windows 7 and Windows 8 upgrade tactics. Then again, if users are going to be pushed into upgrades, finding an increasingly flexible and powerful OS waiting for them on the other side will certainly soften the blow…